Opinion: Unfair Dress Code Enforcement

Students at Carter High School usually dress appropriately but sometimes even the best students have that I-don’t-care-what-I-wear-today mood and put on something that steps slightly out of line of the dress code. However, every staff member at Carter High should have the same idea of what is minorly out of dress code and what is majorly out of dress code. Dress code rules are told to every student when they enter high school and are also retold every year when students return from summer vacation in all four grade levels. What seems to be frustrating for some students is the fact that what is considered obeying and violating the dress code is different among staff members at Carter High School. It depends on which staff member walks by and notices that the way a student is dressed is not school appropriate. Some students have noticed that the staff members who have been at Carter for a longer time tend to be more strict on making sure that most -but not all- students are wearing what they consider to be appropriate. What causes students to dislike the dress code enforcement, even more, is when someone else gets away with wearing what they got dress-coded for. Zoey Finnely, a senior, says “One day I saw that a student got called out for wearing a shirt that barely showed any skin, but there are several other students that come to school wearing clothing that is much more revealing than what the student got called out for.” The dress code is not strict in the sense that it restrains students’ ability to express their creativity and style preference, but it is not enforced by all staff members equally so it puts a gap of confusion in what actually falls in line with obeying the dress code at this school.