The James Logan Courier

By Beatrice Esteban, Courier Staff Writer

In the third bullet of the James Logan High School student handbook’s dress code section, it reads:

“Students should not dress inappropriately for school activities as it detracts from the learning environment. Inappropriate clothing such as: Strapless or short blouses/shirts showing the stomach and mid-riff; see- through clothing; any low-cut tops that show cleavage: back on tops must cover the back shoulder blades: pajamas; and sagging pants/trousers/shorts. Undergarments must not be worn over outer clothing and undergarments are not to be visible. The buttocks must be covered completely.”

As many of the students and staff may realize, it is this particular rule that finds itself both under-enforced and disobeyed. It seems students disobey this rule for many reasons.
The first that stands out is the part about “inappropriate clothing.” Under this section they have included short blouses and shirts, along with low-cut tops. I remember during my freshman year that this list was much longer, including short-shorts and tank tops. Even though they’ve taken that part out, it doesn’t change the fact that people refuse to follow the rules, myself included. I try not to wear indecent clothing, but the fact of the matter is that the way I present myself – even to people who don’t know me – is through what I wear. Many people express themselves the same way, and sometimes they may not even realize that what they are doing is considered “inappropriate” to other people.

In addition, I find the clause about pajamas to be quite interesting. I see some people walking around in pajama pants and it bothers me. Even if the pajamas are absolutely adorable and something that I would wear at home, there’s a reason why it’s supposed to stay at home. I suppose it’s just another outlet of expression for people in terms of fashion, but it still bothers me. What usually goes through my mind is, If you’re going to look like you just got out of bed, you might as well have stayed there. However, I do understand that that is how some people dress, and I accept it.

Another thing that annoys me is sagging pants. I understand that it may be more comfortable for some boys (in what way, I will never know) but there’s just something about it that seems a little disrespectful. I understand that boys can’t really wear jeans at the waist, but at the point where it’s sagging down to your knees, it just seems more cumbersome than anything. I think that this rule is one of the things that actually does make sense because it seems uncomfortable for boys to be sagging that low.

What bothers me more is that the faculty fails to really enforce these dress codes. I have never been told by a teacher that I am wearing something that breaks the dress code, nor have I heard anyone else say that. The most I’ve ever heard a teacher say is, “Take the hat off” when the hat policy was still around. Even then, many teachers were very lax about it.

Some people might say that “inappropriate” clothing distracts from the learning environment, as the excerpt suggests. However, this isn’t unique to “inappropriate” clothing; people can get distracted from things like shiny jewelry or well-done hair, but there aren’t any stipulations about that either.

My stance on this is, if teachers aren’t going to enforce the dress code, and students aren’t going to follow it, there’s no point in having it. Even if someone says that other students do follow it, that doesn’t matter; they aren’t going to be affected by any revisions in the dress code regardless, so that kind of argument seems irrelevant. Rather than having a defunct dress code that limits originality, we should instead get rid of this particular section – or at least revise it so that it is more conducive to self-expression.