The Visor

Dress code punishment too unreasonable

May 12, 2010

Editorial Board

Forgot to shave this morning? That’s one thing – guys can easily shave off their beards with a razor and cream courtesy of the dean of discipline. Skirt too short? Pants too tight? Well, that’s another thing entirely.

Archbishop Hoban as a private high school is different in many ways; a more stringent dress code than public schools is an obvious one. In general, the dress code is a beneficial part of the Hoban atmosphere. The familiar polo shirts and non-denim skirts and pants create a sense of unity in the school and contribute to a more professional learning environment. However, there is a lack of unity and understanding when a student is in violation of the dress code.

Dress code violations vary in their consequences. Students with illegal jackets or sweatshirts on are usually asked to take them off, which is understandable. This logic works until students are wearing illegal pants, skirts or shoes. Teachers can’t always simply ask a student to go change their pants if the student does not have a spare outfit. Thus, the Hoban Handbook states that a student wait in the Central Office until the dress code violation is eradicated.

This form of punishment is illogic. How can the administration expect parents to simply leave their workplace to drop off a new pair of pants or a longer skirt? Students often miss several classes of the day, waiting in the Central Office for hours for new pants. It is the student’s responsibility to follow the dress code, but it is an overly exaggerated punishment for students to miss valuable class participation and discussion for wearing pants or a skirt that may not even be distracting to other students in the learning environment.

Students should not have to be quarantined for having improper pants or skirts on, as if they are poisonous to the rest of the school. Instead, the dress code violation punishments could be amplified to intimidate students from even thinking about trying to get away with skinny pants or short skirts. The dress code is not a difficult code to follow, but its punishments are too unreasonable.

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