“The dress code has never been stricter.”  This complaint was recently stated by a senior student at Cotter.

Since the dress code got revised two years ago, more and more rules have been added to the code. Hoodies? Not allowed. Sweatshirts? No permission.

“The jeans we used to wear every day are now forbidden,” another student said.

Students are feeling more limited in their creativity of dressing themselves up – like a cod led by the string. It is still a common understanding to students that a regulated dress code serves the purpose of unifying the identity of each Cotter student, that we would feel like the same group of students forming a collaborative community.

I have two complaints with this theory, first is the limited colors we can choose. “Solid khaki, navy or black casual dress pants (chinos, Dockers, etc.)Solid khaki, navy or black casual dress shorts (knee length or slightly above)… Solid khaki, navy or black skirt, skort (knee length or slightly above), or collared dress. Solid white, navy or black leggings or tights may be worn under skirts, skorts, or dresses…” Such is the current dress code for students, which basically allowed only three colors to freely wear: khaki, navy or black.

As we all know, navy is only one type of blue, thus this specification was meant to ban all the rest of blue from the “menu”. All the rest colors of clothing I have are now resting in the closet, waiting for the resting period of school like the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday to cheer for their presence. The dress code is in general not considerate of our ability to manage our clothe and appearance, which is necessary to us once we enter society.

The second point I would mention is the ban of all jackets in the classroom. According to my understanding, it is for the purpose of security. All students are forced to go to their lockers before school, before lunch, after lunch, and after school now. And, most importantly, this doesn’t allow students to adjust to the different temperatures in the classrooms. This forces students to wear more layers, which is bothersome and against many students’ will. The purpose of security seems rather absurd to me: since when have we started to see jackets as a threatening sign? Couldn’t a person also grab a weapon out of their thick clothes?

The worst part of the new code may not be the pressure it puts on students, but the way it is enforced by teachers. Many teachers begin to judge the code from their experience within the classroom, rather from the perspective of guarding the rules of school. But is this a mistake by the teachers? They are being more considerate to students who live in this community, while it is the dress code makers who spend most of their time outside the building who are not being considerate to us, the students.

I disagree with the new additions to he dress code, and consider it necessary for the school administration to reconsider certain points of the code.