Miles Hayter ’24
The dress code has been a point of contention in the student body for a long time. The students want to know the “why” behind the clothes they are forced to wear.
Mr. Tajan, assistant head of school and unofficial “enforcer of the dress code,” said the purpose of the code is “to draw a line between the super casual clothes that you wear at home, for lounging, sleeping, or working out, versus the classroom learning.”
Students see its objective differently. Junior Jackson Sherman said, “I think the dress code is supposed to be mainly for teachers and tours going by, and it doesn’t have any actual effect on students’ work life or productivity.”
Many students wonder what the clothes have to do with the actual learning and how students are supposed to represent themselves through the clothes they wear if they have limitations on allowed clothing articles.
“It all comes down to what the person is doing rather than what they’re wearing,” said Sherman. “You can be misbehaving in khakis and still be unpresentable, or you could be doing your work in sweatpants and be presentable.”
Mr. Tajan had a contrasting view of the dress code, saying that it still gives kids the ability to represent themselves through the clothes they wear.
“There are parameters that restrict a little bit, but at the same time we are giving kids the freedom to dress in ways that reflect who they are,” he said.
In my opinion, any ban on what students should wear should have a clear and provable effect on the learning environment and educational purpose. It should not be based on subjective societal norms or corporate ideas of what looks nice. The dress code has loose values around identity, freedom of expression, and representation, but the khakis and polos that resemble corporate offices make these ideals feel hollow and disingenuous.
We should not confuse the student’s learning and character with the clothes they wear to school.
Being a private college preparatory school does not mean that students need to look like they wear business casual-type clothing. If some students would like to dress like that, then that is okay. If some students do not, then that is okay too.
As long as students are following the school’s other rules and principles, they should not be forced to dress themselves like product managers.