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School 'Bans' Yoga Pants And Leggings, But Not For The Reason You Think

They want to teach their students an important lesson.
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In the past, a number of schools have banned yoga pants and leggings because the tight legwear are considered “distracting” to male students and teachers. But now a Massachusetts high school has restricted the bottoms to teach students an important lesson.

This year, Cape Cod Technical High School changed its dress code to read: “Leggings, tights, yoga pants and any other extremely form fitting apparel are considered an accessory and must be worn with dress/skirt or shorts.”

According to school district superintendent Robert Sanborn, the reason for these restrictions is to help prepare kids for the workforce. “Vocational technical education is about preparing people for a career,” he said. “It has to do with employability. We're passing on the skills that are needed in the workforce, to know that's not proper attire when you're at work.”

Despite this valid reasoning, students are upset with the change. Emily Connolly, a 16-year-old student, told ABC News: “My friends and I didn’t agree with it at all. [If] we want to just kind of go to school and sit there for eight hours in a t-shirt and leggings or yoga pants, then I feel like we should have that option.”

Connolly is now organizing a protest and is asking all female students to wear yoga pants on the first day of school on Wednesday. According to the teen’s Facebook post, the students aren’t buying the school’s reasoning for the change of dress code.

“Girls in today's society are forced to cover [their] bodies and considered more of sex symbols than actual human beings,” Connolly wrote. “Just because some guys don't know how to ‘control’ themselves doesn't mean girls need to pay for it.”

While superintendent Sanborn is anticipating a lot of yoga pants on the first day of school, he says that students who break the rules won’t be unfairly punished. “Nobody's going to get thrown out of school. Nobody's going to be put in detention,” he said. “We're going to use this as a teachable moment.”

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