Transitioning from
middle school to high school, there were a couple things that I was extremely
excited about; one of them being the dress code. For three years, I felt so restricted
about my clothing choices as the boundaries of what I could wear seemed to be
very limited. When middle school passed and I was getting ready to enter high
school, I found myself free to dress to my interests and express myself through
my clothes. It had become possible to utilize my whole closet from day to day.
I remember out of the policies that they had, the one
that I detested the most was the one that stated that you couldn't wear straps
thinner than three inches. Thinking about this rule, it wasn't the rule itself
that I loathed so much, but how they enforced it.
Knowing that I couldn't
wear a tank top thinner than three inches, I thought it'd be okay to put a
cardigan over the tank top the whole day so that I wasn't exposing my shoulders
or the straps of the tank top. I The whole day had almost been through and no
one said a thing about it, so I thought that what I was doing was completely
okay. At the end of 6th period, my P.E class, I was changing back from my
uniform into my normal clothes when I heard the teacher's voice yelling from
across the room. I had turned around and she was pointing at me. I walked down
to her, fully dressed in what I had worn that day, when she told me that I
wasn't allowed to cover my tank top with the cardigan because it wasn't appropriate
and that she should've assigned me lunch detention for doing so. I felt so embarrassed
about it afterwards because of the eyes that stared me down as I walked back to
get my backpack and the feeling of getting in trouble.
The first day into high school, everything about the
dress code was so different. Looking around, tank tops without a cover-up was
quite ubiquitous along with denim shorts and sandals. This was a common thing
to see until the cold weather rolled in and people were bundling up in boots
and jackets. I began to wear shorts, sandals, and tank tops too on those
extremely hot days. It was a different feeling than in middle school. That
change in feeling was probably because I was no longer melting in my jeans and
long sleeves when it was 80 degrees or higher.
Due to the fact that the less strict boundaries and
enforcements of the dress code, there were people who decided to push the
limits of what they could wear. From time to time, it seemed as if people were
coming to school half-naked. I support being able to wear what you want, but
there's a line that shouldn't be crossed. For someone who dislikes dress codes,
I found myself understanding why one exist. In the end, people should be able
to choose to wear what they desire, but while doing so, they should think about
how appropriate it is for where they are going.
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