Dress Code? What Dress Code?
This year at IKE, the dress code has been changed, and now everyone can wear what they're most comfortable in. This change can bring both positive and negative outcomes. During my three years at IKE, the dress code always felt like it was affecting younger women more than men, so the dress code always seemed unfair. This year that changed, and more people are happy with this.
With this new dress code, people can take advantage of this and take it too far, which can be a problem. How would we prevent this? When you go on the Yakima School District Handbook, it only says that private parts must be covered. Some people might ignore this and just show up to school wearing whatever, which will cause problems with staff and teachers. The handbook should be more detailed on what's appropriate and what's not. Now, with the younger men in this school, they might “ sag “ their pants and wear graphic t-shirts that are probably not the most appropriate for school, but they might still get away with it as guys are not as targeted as girls are in this school which is something that should definitely be talked about more and see why that’s an issue in today's world.
We should also talk about why some younger students nowadays like to dress a little differently and appear to look older than they really are. Almost every teenager has had a phone since middle school, probably even elementary school and many teenagers have social media. Social media has definitely influenced the younger generation; they see these older influencers and immediately try to imitate their lifestyle. I feel like we shouldn’t blame these influencers because, at the end of the day, they're just doing their job.
Who do we blame for these kids wanting to look or act older than they really are? Do we blame the parents for not being strict enough, or do we blame social media? Some kids like to look older because they think it will make them stand out more, and some even do it for validation from other groups. It all starts with one kid who sees something and starts to do it; they show up to school, and other kids see it and follow along.
Parents should take a little more action on this and see if what their kids wear is appropriate for school. A crop top and tank top does no harm. Everyone loves wearing them, and showing your belly is nothing bad, but sometimes students could take it a little too far! Do parents not care anymore, or are they not in their kids' lives as much? There's definitely more to this! Some parents are less strict than others on what their kids wear, and others are more strict, which is fine since they're just trying to protect their kids, but other parents are more easygoing.
Some teachers and administrators react and respond to some of the clothing choices our students decide to make. Some teachers are more chill than others, and others are more strict! The school district has obviously laid off some of the rules we had a couple of years ago and is letting the students here express themselves how they want with their clothing choices, but what if some students get carried away and take advantage of this new change? Would the Yakima School District take away this change and add more rules next year? They definitely would and probably go back to the way it was. How would we prevent this, though? We should definitely not go too extreme with what we decide to wear, and when we get ready for school in the morning, think if this outfit is too revealing or too much for school so that way the staff doesn't get tired of having to remind students that what they're wearing is not school appropriate. Staff and teachers would definitely talk to administrators about the issue if it got too carried away.
A couple of years back, you would most likely get told to cover up if you were wearing a spaghetti strap and if your crop top was showing too much of your belly. Now, kids can freely wear what they feel most comfortable in and won't have to worry about teachers and staff telling them to cover up. We should be happy that the dress code has changed for the better, know how to appreciate this, and understand what is school-appropriate and what is not! Most of us are almost young adults, so we act a little more mature and know what's right and what's not. That way, we don't have to go back to the old dress code. Let’s just enjoy this new change!