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Choosing an outfit to wear to school is hard enough. You have to check the temperature.Is it a short-sleeve, long-sleeve, or hoodie day? Should you wear shorts or long pants? Would this match your shoes? The already lingering stress of looking your best is amplified when there’s a constant fear that you’ll be dress coded and have your shirt taken by administrators before the day has even started.
Instead of choosing which shirt would be the cutest, you have to find the shirt that covers your midriff, shoulders and back to administration’s liking. Your shorts need to “adequately cover the thigh,” and if worst comes to worst, you can always wear a dress, but make sure it covers the thigh as well. With the administration believing that student’s appearances should “demonstrate respect for themselves and others,” as quoted from the dress code statement, it certainly must mean showing a bit of stomach means you have no self-respect.
The dress code is one of the many limitations that students have during their time at South and in the school system. This year in particular, students have been feeling rather stuck, not just with their freedom in the school, but also with freedom in regards to their learning pathway.
We at The Tower understand how frustrating these limitations are for all students. Some students feel lost in their learning process, as all these new changes in their daily routine have affected them, even in the slightest amount. New changes and rules can be tough to adapt to; even the regulations that aren’t new are an adjustment for everyone in the beginning.
There’s one harsh truth all students have to deal with: if you’re seen with your phone out once, don’t count on bringing it to your next hour.
Tutorials are another major adjustment for most students, as the no phone policy is carried through all classes, even the one that was once used for any needs of the student. Instead of being able to relax on your phone after completing homework, you can sit on your Chromebook with Schoology loaded up, or you can try (and fail) to access the many sites that the school system has blocked.
Along with the rulebook limitations, there are unconscious limitations as well. Bigger class sizes decrease your chances of learning better. A class of 20 turns into a class of 30, even a class of 40 if you’re lucky. No phone, no cute outfit and no improvement in your learning process.
We at The Tower prompt our fellow students to speak up on things they believe aren’t fair. Speak up on the things that don’t make sense to you, the things that negatively impact the student body Speak up loud enough for the small chance our voices are heard by the district. The students, and whether they mean it or not, run the district, and students can make a change for the things that really matter.
It’s students’, not administration’s, learning process, and open shoulders and a bit of stomach showing don’t contribute to students struggling in school. Students struggle if their voices are not heard, if we are threatened in our classrooms and if we spend every day trying to make it through the next with no source of energy. When the students aren’t listened to is when the struggle becomes a genuine issue.
While one voice may not immediately change the district’s way of thinking, one more could get us a little closer to that.
