“The Fact That Not ONCE Did You Shame Her” — Teacher Praised for Dress Code Convo With Student

An educator named Mrs. Lewis (@mrslewisyall) is receiving tons of praise from TikTokers after she recorded herself addressing a female student's violation of school dress code policy. From the sound of their conversation, it appears that the young woman wore clothing that was considered too "revealing" for school.

However, Mrs. Lewis, instead of talking at the student, asked a series of questions about the young woman's thought process in picking out the clothes she wanted to wear, helping the girl reach her own conclusion as to why the outfit garnered such negative attention in school.

"Walk me through your process this morning," the teacher says to the student, who is off camera. Mrs. Lewis asks the girl to explain how she arrived at the outfit she ultimately decided to wear to school.

Someone else's voice can be heard off camera issuing a reply — it sounds like she says that she looked through the clothes that she had and put together an outfit that she liked.

The teacher then asks the young woman if she "planned" the outfit and wasn't being rushed in the morning to simply throw something on.

"No," the student replies, that she wasn't rushed. The teacher, in what seems to be an attempt where she is trying to seek even further validation, asks the young woman if she saw her outfit, approved of it, and thought to herself that she looked good and was confident in what she was coming into school wearing.

The student confirms that this was the case, before the teacher asks her other questions regarding her outfit — she soon learns that there was another student, who the girl she's speaking to is presumably friends with, who was supposed to wear a matching getup.

"They got on what you got on? There's two of y'all walking around like this?" she asks, looking incredulously at the young woman who confirms that this is the case.

However, after a bit more prodding, Mrs. Lewis asks the student if the twin is rocking an identical feature that she points to, but the student states that this isn't the case.

"Because she probably got sense enough," she tells the young woman before asking her if she feels like she should be able to wear her clothes "however" she "feels like."

The student says that this is the case and it's her "final answer," and Mrs. Lewis begins to tell the young girl that if this is the case then she doesn't really have much else to tell her.

The young woman does tell Mrs. Lewis that she would like to hear another "perspective" on her outfit. The teacher replies with a question of her own, asking the young woman what she believes people's issue with her clothing is.

The young woman can be heard referencing that people would think her outfit is too "revealing" and she goes on to comment on the outfit as being "bad."

Mrs. Lewis rejects the idea that the clothes she's wearing is "bad" but goes on to say suggest that the issue could probably have more to do with the fact that the "setting" doesn't match the style of clothes she's wearing.

Mrs. Lewis put it into context: "Imagine if I decided I was gonna roll up in here and give it to the people ... what would you say to me?" she asks the girl off camera who tells her that she probably shouldn't wear the same outfit in school.

"I think you figured it out," Mrs. Lewis tells the young woman off camera and again asks her what she believes she's figured out: "You can't wear these type of clothing to school."

Commenters who saw Mrs. Lewis's video applauded the way she handled the situation, highlighting how she didn't shame the young woman or reference her body, but just used a series of questions/prompts that allowed her to figure things out for herself.

"All jokes aside, calmly walking through this and letting her figure this out, and having some perspective on the thought process for next time is 10/10!" one TikToker wrote.

Someone else replied: "The fact that not ONCE did you shame her, or make it about her body!! This mindfulness and self-analyzing is what our kids need more of. Thank you."

Another user also respected how she offered up her viewpoint to the student: "And the 'do you want a different perspective' OMG so amazing!"

How do you think Mrs. Lewis handled the situation? Did you have similar educators/parents respond to you in a similar way? Were you a fan of this approach, or do you feel like there are times and places and different people need to be forced to reconcile with their actions in different ways?