You wake early refreshed for school and put on your new dress you bought this weekend. You walk into the doors of the school feeling cute and confident, only to get yelled at for the inappropriate length of the dress. You argue that it’s at your finger tips, but the security guards stand their ground, unconvinced. Just then you see a girl ahead with a different body type than you that appears to have a dress not at her fingertips. Yet, she walked away unpunished. Sound familiar girls? Most students complain about the dress code and will give any reason as to convince the security guards their outfit is appropriate. Some people think the rules are ridiculous, but little do they know that other schools have it much worse.
“The dress code is unfair. I feel really limited in the things I can wear,” quotes senior Sarah Wysock. Most students feel West has it worst but schools like Troy Middle School, Dirksen Middle School, Troy Craughwell Elementary School, and many more have stricter codes than we do.
Excluding schools who wear uniforms, most middle and elementary schools have it bad. At Troy Craughwell Elementary School the only shoes allowed are closed-toed shoes with socks. No sandals or flip flops can be worn. West’s dress code states we just have to wear shoes and we’re good to go! At least we have freedom in the shoes we wear! Also, Craughwell has limits on shirts that can be worn. Nike shirts are acceptable but they can’t have the saying “just do it” because it’s deemed inappropriate. That’s thinking way too outside of the box. V-necks are also against the dress code, only crew neck shirts are acceptable. Even skinny jeans aren’t acceptable. I suppose they’re “too revealing.”
The rules get even more ridiculous at Dirksen where sweat pants aren’t even allowed! Kids’ bum-days are over. Another rule is no over-sized bags. Girls can’t bring in purses or bags that are too big. Since when do we discriminate against purses? Junior Bree Gray is a graduate from Dirksen Middle School. She personally was stopped by a security guard because her bag was too big. They made her go home and get a new one. Is this making sense to anyone? Another middle school, Troy Middle School, also has strict codes like these. Only solid colored polos are allowed. No shirts can contain a logo like “Hollister” that is too large. I suppose size does matter. With absurd dress codes like these schools there might as well be uniforms.
Joliet West allows us to wear most anything we choose as long as we’re covered shoulder to mid-thigh and it doesn’t contain offensive language or inappropriate holes. It may appear West has it worst, but think about how bad other schools have it before you believe our codes are unfair.