CRACKING THE DRESS CODE

CRACKING THE DRESS CODE

Students feel the current dress code doesn’t comply to today’s definition of acceptability

WORDS: Jailene Aponte, Meghan Beilfuss, Emily Brown, Niko Krajisnik, Della Steif and Abbey O’Neill DESIGN: Kevin Aharrah

PHOTO: Eden Schilling and Alison Irace

As Chloe Cembala (11) walks down the halls, she’s stopped by a teacher and gets reprimanded for her tank top. She pulls out a sweatshirt and pulls it over her shoulders. Cembala and other students have recently raised questions surrounding the purpose of the dress code, and question why they feel some students are targeted more than others. “Guys are not very sexualized by their clothing items like girls are. Their dress [codes] tend to be straightforward and pretty easy to follow while the girls are kind of vague in some ways,” Cembala said. Debate circles around the policy not being gender fair. Some of the dress requirements such as no skin showing above the knees, no skin showing on shoulder and shorts having to be a certain length, are considered unfair and over the top by some students, and necessary for others. “I got dress-coded for having holes above my knees. I do not think it was really that fair considering it was literally just above my knee and it was not on my thigh or anything. I think some of the rules are dumb and some of the rules are too strict,” Isaiah Williams (10) said. Not all students disagree with the clothing attire rule. Joseph Veroresi (9) agrees with the policy's way of keeping things in line. “If you see it from a certain person's eyes, if there wasn’t a dress code, they’d see anything as socially okay and some things are just wrong. No one is going to be wearing [butt]less chaps to school, but I see why people want it to be a little more lenient,” Veroresi said. With the rise of social media and organization, it is easier for students to see that other teenagers around America think the same as they do about the dress code in schools. Some might have multiple questions and things they want to say in regards to the policy and how they view it. Other schools in the area have taken a different approach to the policy debate. According to Hobart High School’s Handbook under “Dress and Grooming Regulation” policy, hats and hoods are allowed as long as ears are shown, and clothing choices are not restricted with the exception of articles of clothing that exceed public decency, and pieces of clothing with inappropriate words and symbols on them. “I feel like Hobart’s dress code sounds much more reasonable. Honestly, I am jealous because some of Lake Central’s dress code is unnecessarily strict,” Brooke Batema (11) said. Much of the debate surrounding the dress code involves the preparedness for the real world. Dependiing of the career, some employers may expect employees to follow a strict dress code. “I have seen some tops that are really no more than a bra. That is not suitable. You would not wear that at your job at McDonald's. You would not wear that to an outside organization or if you are going to a family dinner. There is a time and place for everything. I think school does need to take a little bit more of a conservative approach,” Novak said. Other high schools such as Griffith, Crown Point and Highland have similar policies such as no shoulders showing and no hats or hoods. Schools like Illiana and Hobart are lenient in allowing things such as shoulders. “They do what they feel is best for their school and we'll do what's best for our school. If wearing hats and hoods works for Hobart, great for them but in a building our size we kind of have different needs and different things that we have to implement,” Novak said.

despite the risk of a referral, students continue to break the dress code. Some feel the code is unfair and restrictive.

“FEMALES TEND TO HAVE IT MORE STRICTER. I SEE GUYS WEARING TANK TOPS OR EVEN JEANS WITH RIPS ABOVE THE KNEES.”