By: Ariel Brittain
There’s been a lot of talk about the dress code here at Ardrey Kell. So, let’s break it down a little bit.
The first few rules are common sense: no shoes, no shirts, no school. The next couple ones, however, are another story.
Banning profane language and other suggestive material rule is understandable, but what about material that isn’t profane to one person but can be to others? For example, a male student wears a t-shirt that says “cutting isn’t cool.” He means it to be helpful and supportive on a sensitive issue, but a female student sees this and starts sobbing in the middle of the hallway. What then? Should every student have to self-censor because someone might be offended?
Sometimes it feels as though we lose our freedom the minute we walk through the door.
One rule that has everyone talking applies to the length of our shorts. The Dress Code section in the Student Handbook states, “Shorts, skirts, dresses (or their slit), and athletic shorts must be fingertip length when standing erect with arms extended by the sides and shoulders relaxed.” What about the students who have longer arms than others? They are now forbidden from wearing the same shorts as a student with shorter arms. A proposition is that all shorts are allowed as long as they are appropriate possibly meaning a rule that measures from the knee instead of the fingers. No Daisy Dukes, girls.
Another unnecessary regulation is the hats. Gang related hats can be a problem, but basic blue baseball hats pose no threat. Other schools, such as South Mecklenburg and Myers Park, allow hats when appropriate. If identification involving the hat is an issue than the student must take it off, but if it isn’t, it should be allowed.
We, as students, need to understand that this is a school, not the mall. However, the staff needs to realize that we are only teenagers. Unique and beautiful teenagers at that, and we want to have a voice in what we do and wear here at AK. Yes, we need to learn how to dress appropriate for certain occasions, but this is a public high school. We learn to better ourselves morally and academically, but how does the length of our shorts affect that? If our dress code is supposed to keep us active in school work, then why is it restricting our creativity? Creativity will not only help us in school, but in the real world. So let’s get creative, Ardrey Kell.
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