Schools all over the country have had debated school dress codes. Rolla High School is no different. One of the main issues concerning dress code stems from rule 10 in the student handbook, which states:
“Student tops, blouses, shirts, etc., must have sleeves. No spaghetti straps, tank shirts, muscle shirts, halter-tops, tube tops, etc. will be allowed. In addition, students shall not wear mesh or transparent shirts, or any shirt that exposes midriff, clothing with tears or holes in inappropriate regions, or severely sagging clothing. Also, clothing that exposes undergarments shall not be worn”
The rule against shoulders tends to be challenged more than any other rule.
“Sometimes I think there are things the school is a little too strict about, and I would say that if I were to wear something that violated the dress code I may get in trouble, but the person right next to me violating it would not get in trouble. This is not okay.”
Students expressed concern that the rule is not applied equally to all students.
“Personally, I feel that [the dress code is] very unequally distributed. For example, whenever a girl will wear something like a tank top, and they get chastised for it. But whenever a guy wears it, it’s not usually as big of a deal. And I personally don’t think it’s very well enforced. I understand why there is a dress code, but I think we need to stop sexuallizing girls. It’s inappropriate.” Senior Joseph Sweitzer said.
So how should we address this issue? Should we issue school uniform rules in our school? We can address this issue with school uniforms, but that is very unlikely for a public school to wear uniforms.
“I wore [uniforms] in fourth grade and I guess they were okay. A uniform doesn’t really help the dress code because it doesn’t help prevent the problem. You can wear a shorter skirt or roll your sleeves up” Junior Delanie Winchester said.