Dress code doesn’t wear well with senior class
October 18, 2016
When the Bishop Blanchet administration established a new dress code coming into the year 2016-17, the student body had mixed reactions.
The ban on leggings has upset the girls, while the guys are somewhat satisfied with the latest dress code improvements since are now allowed to wear sweats and basketball shorts on Fridays.
Many students seemed to disagree with the dress code, but don’t care enough to speak up.
Most resistance comes from the upperclassmen who have seen the evolution of the dress code first-hand. Three years ago, leggings were allowed to be worn as long as you didn’t have a “crop top” or a shirt that showed your rump and tummy; however, girls took advantage of the administration’s leniency and wore outfits that were not “school appropriate”.
Prolonged pushing of the leggings rule caused the deans to put their foot down, enforcing a whole new rule. Leggings are only allowed on Fridays. This was a big shift for many girls because these pants have become both popular and are very comfortable.
“Leggings were never a distraction to my learning environment or anyone else’s”, said senior Isabella Sundy. “Girls wore leggings with nice sweaters and coats and could still look nice. They are a contemporary fashion, and that’s just the way it is.”
Many girls didn’t even seem to care about the fashion part of it, yoga pants were just so comfortable for long school days. Boys, freed from wearing khaki’s and jeans everyday, on Friday’s they can scrub and wear basketball shorts, or sweats.
“The new dress code on Friday’s is nice ,” said senior Raider Marek. “We can come to school in something comfortable and focus on learning. It takes a good amount of effort every morning to get ready for school, and it takes away from our learning environment.”
Marek sees the change as being unjust. focusing on it’s restrictions of self-expression.
“I feel like it’s way more fun and fair to express ourselves as individuals by wearing what we feel best in,” said Marek, “as long as it’s not offending anyone else.”
Marek said that he feels kids would spend less time in the office and out of detention if we didn’t have such a strict dress code.
“You shouldn’t be punished for wearing a type of clothing that expresses you in an appropriate manner,” said Marek. “On a Friday now, I like to wear a pair of joggers or some sweats and a t-shirt. It’s easy to wake up and be ready for school and not have to worry about your outfit being accepted.”
Many seniors don’t agree with the new dress code, seeing it as a restriction to our personal freedom. Because they feel strongly about this, many state they are going to continuously break the dress code as a form of protest.