Self-expression through clothes

Self-expression+through+clothes

Brandon Antunez, Staff Writer

The dress code is a very important rule of many schools. Depending on the school the rules for what to wear may defer. Most schools are pretty open to their dress code, but others aren’t and enforce many rules on how students should dress. This asks the big question at Hoover if the dress code is strict or not.

Many students had varying opinions. But the real question was “is it strict”  The dress code contains rules like; clothing, jewelry, or accessories cannot demonstrate gang association/affiliation; hats and other headwear must allow the face to be visible to staff, and not interfere with the line of sight of any student or staff; hoodies must allow the face and ears to be visible to school staff; undergarments should not be visible, excepting for the waistband and bra straps/securement; students must wear a top. Crop tops must come to the bottom end of the ribcage, and tops cannot be undergarments.

To some it might look real simple and fair. But there’s others who believe it impacts them due to their own personal style. Some of the types of clothing they wear may not follow the dress code which they believe should be allowed because of freedom of expression. Many might believe it only impacts women on campus because they can be arguably the ones who usually like to wear questionable clothing. Some feel they can hide under a hoodie or sweater, to prevent them from getting dress coded. They might also feel like the dress code is unfair because of things they can´t control.

Teachers on campus are told to take action to those students who are violating dress codes. They either inform the students to cover themselves because they might be wearing distracting clothing or they can send them to administration to get clothes if they don’t have any to change into.

Associate Principal Mr. Charles De Freitas, and the school’s government team, used parts of the dress code from last year as a starting point. They also looked at other dress codes in cities such as Seattle and Los Angeles. They ultimately tried to make the dress code more towards benefiting students. They have not made it as strict, so students can express themselves through their clothing. They all exchanged ideas towards the dress code and they all agreed towards one single dress code.

Ultimately we believe it is not strict, but is fair to all. They tried their best to implement how students felt. But if you think it’s inappropriate, you would be wise not to wear it.