[vc_row][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]The school administration has enforced the dress code by punishing violators with a day of PAS. This form of enforcement is ineffective in punishing violators.

The problem with the dress code enforcement is that there is no incentive for change in student behavior. A student wearing inappropriate attire for school is told simply to sit in a white room and waste his or her day, while not experiencing any real penalty. Despite the fact that students have their phones taken up, they can still get away with sleeping and are not necessarily required to finish any work. This punishment does not teach the student about his or her mistake and only hinders the learning experience.

Similarly, dress code policy isn’t defined as clearly as it could be. There are many gray areas where a student may be confused about what exactly is acceptable to wear, but later could be refuted. For example, the rule that female students can only wear sleeveless shirts if they are two fingers wide can be argued, since it is not clear if the policy means a student’s fingers or the administrators’. There is no way administrators can catch everyone in violation due to the fact that some students are able to bypass the staff at the entrance or camouflage among a group of students in the hallways. Therefore, it’s difficult for the dress code to be enforced fairly, because there cannot be a way for the administration to catch everyone violating dress code without outright forcing students to wear all the same things, which by definition is a uniform.

Some students complain that if the administration is going to make the dress code so strict, they should simply resort to having the whole policy changed to uniforms. However, there are many cons to having a uniform, the most prevalent being that many students would feel that their freedom of expression would be limited.

The administration needs to find a different alternative, as well as a better means of dress code enforcement. This could better benefit the student body and also cut down on the workload of the administrators. Instead of a list of guidelines, a manual would be a better way to clear up any subjective areas, and clear expectations for the dress code, such as the finger measurements.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]