If you flip through the first several pages of the student planner, you will not come across the dress code policy. Instead, you will find policies on the use of electronics, student I.D. cards and athletic eligibility.
If you happen to be strangely inclined to find out the school dress code, you will have to turn on your computer, open the school website, click on the student handbook and scroll to the section under “Behavior.” There, you will see it in small font.
The school’s dress code is not only unknown by most students, it is also loosely enforced and followed. Since there is little effort to make it known to students and the main consequence of a dress code violation is merely changing into different clothes, many students, especially girls, generally do not heed it. Since this is true, is a dress code policy needed?
The way a student chooses their dress is not based on the regulations set by the dress code, but by their own moral standards and comfort level with wearing more revealing clothing.
Perhaps it is not important whether or not students know the dress code policy, but more so that students are taught at a young age to respect their body. Otherwise, a dress code is ineffective if students’ morals do not align with the dress code.
The dress code policy in the handbook states “attire that is disruptive to the teaching/learning process will not be allowed.” Many students will agree that the wording in this statement is vague, and leaves a lot of room for disagreement.
Consequently, many students are not afraid to “push the limits” in terms of their dress, and teachers ignore the ones that seem to cross the line. For example, when a female student’s shorts are questionably short, the teacher might not mention it because she does not want to start an argument about the ambiguous policy.
The dress code goes on to list prohibited clothing, which includes: shirts, shorts and skirts that are not school appropriate, pants that sag below the waistline and clothing that exposes the midriff or undergarments. It doesn’t take a genius to see that many of these “prohibited clothes” are worn by students on campus daily.
The portion on the school dress code in the student handbook concludes with the blatant statement, “school administration has final authority on what constitutes inappropriate dress.”
While most students do not wear provocative clothing to school, this may not be the case for other high schools and SHS is one of the few schools that is an exception where having a strict dress code policy is not critical.
There are, nevertheless, always students who challenge the dress code, either on purpose or unknowingly. Though it is not a major problem at SHS, the dress code policy is useless and ineffective. However, assuming we have to have a dress code, the wording in it should be improved and clarified, and efforts should be made to promote this policy and make students aware of it.
