Dress coding: going too far too fast

As a high school student, style is important. What you wear is a way of representing who you are to people who are looking from the outside in. So, what do we do when certain factors restrict our sense of fashion freedom?

Wakefield High School’s dress code has fluctuated throughout the years, progressing from a no tolerance policy on athletic shorts and leggings, to welcoming them with open arms, while also placing subjective limits on ripped jeans. There is no doubt in mind that the majority of these new policies are being looked upon favorably by the student body, but certain aspects have made abiding by this new code very difficult for some people.

By banning ripped jeans, as well as continuing to ban short jean shorts, and many low cut or spaghetti string tops, summer dress coding levels have been through the roof. While administrators may not think that the dress code is too hard to comply with, many students would strongly disagree. Factors, like a student’s height and body shape, can make their perfectly appropriate clothes look inappropriate and out of code. Many tall girls can agree that finding appropriately long shorts is practically impossible. Factors like these need to be taken into account.

Along with this, it’s difficult to understand why ripped jeans are unsuitable for a school environment. They aren’t distracting to boys. They aren’t distracting to administrators. They are not provocative. So what’s the issue?

It’s possible that the issue is that dress code is typically based off of what boys may find “distracting.”  People think that boys will be distracted from their education by the way some girls dress.  Numerous girls and their parents have complained about how sexist this action is, and how we should teach boys to learn to respect girls’ bodies and better focus on their own education. It seems that policy-makers would rather reprimand girls for dressing comfortably than boys who choose to be distracted instead of paying attention in class.  Along with that, another factor that is upsetting to many girls and their parents is the fact that they are actually taken out of educational time by a teacher to go to the office and wait for a change of clothes. Some of these particular instances are extremely minor dress code violations, nevertheless these girls lose valuable learning time due to their minor “mistake.”

A big problem is that a small minority of students make poor choices that reflect on the rest of us and get our privileges such as wearing ripped jeans taken away. There are just a select few who show Wake County why we can’t handle freedom of dress, which is truly disappointing for the rest of us who are just trying to clothe ourselves sensibly. Girls who choose to wear their shirts too tight, leggings too see-through, and shorts too short are a large reason why these styles ultimately get banned.

Adding on to this, we need to be prepared for college, where there is virtually no dress code other than not showing up naked. With enough freedom and time, we can be taught how to dress appropriately for ourselves without the overbearing rule of administrators. Learning good skills now will help us better present ourselves after high school, for future employment, and make the idea of dressing wild much less attractive than it currently is.

Dress code controversy will likely always exist. Enforcing certain boundaries to how thousands of people are able to dress is a very tedious task to have to carry out. With all things put aside, school dress code would be more tolerable if students could find comfort in knowing that there would be no bias on what is considered appropriate based on their race, height and body type and students should show appreciation for the updated dress code by not exceeding it.