Every day moans and groans of complaint can be heard in the hallways of Kingswood-Oxford Middle School. Many students are putting unnecessary blemishes on their school records from countless warnings and detentions as punishment for one thing: being out of dress code. These uncalled for penalties are and will keep happening because the dress code at K-O is ill conceived.
The Kingswood-Oxford dress code is too strict, especially for boys. The Kingswood-Oxford Community Handbook and Student Directory basically states that boys are limited in their dress to oxford shirts with ties and dressy pants. Girls are allowed to wear any pants that are not sweat-pants, jeans, or cargo pants along with any top without writing or a hood. They are forbidden to wear T-shirts, capris, or shorts. “Pretty much all girls can’t wear are sweatshirts and jeans, while guys have to wear ties,” says Alex Roth, a Form 1 student. “The guys have a more unfair dress code and girls have way more options,” agrees another seventh-grade boy, Gabe Lorenzo. Girls can wear many different styles of shirts and still follow the dress code, while the boys’ dress code is similar to a uniform.
The Kingswood-Oxford dress code is also very wasteful. Most students purchase regular clothes such as T-shirts, jeans, sweats, and outside jackets to wear them, but they cannot because these clothes are considered “out of dress code.” K-O students have to buy special clothes that they would not normally wear, such as oxford shirts and ties, dressy pants, sweaters, and special fleeces, and other selected articles of clothing, just to follow school rules. Seventh grader Hannah Rosenthal comments, “I hate the dress code. I never get to wear what I want to.” At K-O, many female students wear Abercrombie henleys as a top along with corduroys as their bottoms. At Abercrombie, a pair of cords costs $39.50, along with $24.50 for a henley. This adds up to a total of $64 for just one outfit. If a student wants to wear a different outfit every day of the week, they would have to spend a grand total of $320 on clothes for one week, to fulfill the dress code’s requirements. In addition, Kingswood-Oxford is located in New England where different seasons call for different clothing. Kids can’t wear skirts or short-sleeve shirts during the frigid winter, or pants and long-sleeve shirts during those blazing hot days in the early fall and late spring. Finally, kids our age grow out of clothing, and frequently need to buy more clothes that fit them. Without a dress code, students could wear looser fitting clothing such as T-shirts, sweat pants, or sweat shirts, clothes that last longer and can fit kids longer than tight fitting corduroys. Parents are throwing away their money on unused clothing because the K-O dress code is very limited and, therefore, wasteful.
The last reason that the Kingswood-Oxford dress code is ill conceived is that it doesn’t allow kids to express their originality. Many kids express their own sense of style and uniqueness through their clothing, but with K-O’s dress code, they cannot. Everybody looks the same or quite similar because there are only so many choices of clothing that can be worn. “People are always dressed like me,” comments seventh grader Caroline Harvey. Like me, Caroline tends to wear V-necks and henleys as her top, and corduroys as bottoms. Many days I see other students wearing the same navy blue cords from Abercrombie, or the same khaki cords from American Eagle that I have on. Outside of school, I would never wear corduroys or fancy henleys and V-necks that I wear in school. I would much prefer to wear a Hollister T-shirt with a sweatshirt, and a comfy pair of jeans. Students like me are forced to wear clothing they would not normally wear, meaning their clothes are not really reflecting their true selves.
To improve this ill-conceived dress code, boys should be allowed to wear polos instead of oxford shirts and ties. This way, the dress code would be more equitable, and the boys would still look respectable. In addition, there should be more dress-down days for all students so they get to wear all of their clothing and express their style and creativity more often.
In a school where looking “presentable” has turned into a punishment, wouldn’t it be better to put marks on one’s school record for reasons that actually have to do with one’s academic performance?
~ Paula Hagopian