"El Cid" High School Newspaper Editorial: Uniforms

It is now March 1998, but the problem of the Uni-form has not vanished as some had hoped.  In the first week of the month, the administration announced its new enforcement policy to combat student negligence by taking away spirit dress days and authorizing teachers to assign referrals for repeated offenses.  This negligence means primarily that students’ shirts are untucked or that they are not sporting an administration approved brand.  After a very positive reaction, the administration revoked their statement by the end of the week and spirit dress was re-instituted. 

However, the “get tough” policy remains.  

After a year and a half of uniform enforcement, it is conceivable that this new policy will clean up the students’ appearance, but it is hard to believe that it will ease the tension between faculty and students.  If anything, it will only create more resentment in many students annoyed at what they feel is administration “nitpicking.”  It is true that there must be a balance between the desires of the students and the decided requirements for a positive learning atmosphere, but for the administration to create such harsh punishments for non-compliance, such as assigning referrals for repeated untucked shirts, is diminishing to the faculty-student relationship.

Now that the Uniforms are an accepted facet of going to school at Uni, students and administration alike need to evaluate their priorities.  How important is it for the students to be able to dress with some degree of individuality?  Conversely, how important is it for the administration to go to such extensive measures to enforce policies that seem to many students trivial?  Feelings may run strong on both sides because it is such a tangible issue, but it is vital that it is not sensationalized or inflated any more than necessary to arrive at a solution.  Whether the dilemma will be solved in its context or will turn into a power struggle between the student body and administration remains to be seen, but the primary concern of both parties needs to be in preserving a positive learning environment, the main intention of un