By Cecilia Hernandez

cghernandez1.wordpress.com

In the 2012-2013 school year, the Lane Tech Administrative team, and Staff,  announced during the Rules and Regulation meeting that skirts/shorts/dresses at mid-thigh length were not acceptable anymore. Any one caught wearing anything above knee-length bottoms, were sent to the Disciplinary Office. Why did Lane make this amendment to the Dress Code? Well, it’s mainly because so many students were wear inappropriate clothing that it became impossible to enforce. This year, the Dress Code was changed again — back to mid-thigh length.

Personally, I don’t have a problem with “mid-thigh length” bottoms; I think it’s a decent length to base our clothes on.  The problem is, some students — in particular, the ladies — decide to abuse the privilege Lane gave back to us. I see, on a daily basis, ladies wearing underwear-looking shorts to school, and I’m left thinking: “the few rotten apples ruin it for the rest of us.” I agree that students should be allowed to express themselves through their clothing, but that does not mean we should lose our decency. There is a fine line between classy, and trashy; unfortunately, that line is blurred by the limited options department stores offer us.

I went shopping last week to Forever21, and I was sad to see that it wasn’t what I was used to. Normally, I would find cute tops that were feminine, but not too revealing. Now, the shirts are see-through, cropped-tops looked like bras, and skirts were barely covering my crotch. Granted, I’m 5’6, a little above average height (which, in the U.S., is 5’4 for women, according to the National Center for Health Statistics). However, every skirt I tried on — even the high-low skirts — were too short. Our options are limited, either buy a maxi skirt/dress, or a too-short one.

Another thing I noticed was that some of these ladies weren’t sent to the Disciplinary office like they were supposed to be. I’ve seen some greet the security guards who just smile and wave back. What happened to enforcing the dress code? I’m not asking for a class-to-class inspection, but at least send the ones that you do notice. Then these ladies would get a demerit. The Demerit System, new to Lane this year, also includes dress code violations. If a senior receives 25 demerits, or more, they can not “walk at graduation.” Enforcing the dress code as much as possible, would help deter these problem from occurring.

Remember guys: it’s school. Not a night-club. What I propose for Lane students to do is just follow the dress code.  It’s beneficial because you are not at risk for getting a demerit. And, as the Dress Code says, your “clothing reflects the educational environment and therefore should not be offensive, provocative, or disruptive to instruction.”