This is the last entry you can comment on for the first half of October.
What do you think about dress codes and where the limits lie for appropriate student clothing? Are these schools hypocritical because they don’t allow cheerleaders to wear their official uniforms in the school itself since the skirts are too short? Are cheerleading squads simply an outdated and sexist custom anyway, or would you like to see Slovak schools take up the practice?
I completely agree with the principals of the schools in Lake County, who require cheerleaders’ uniforms to meet dress codes. In my opinion, every student without exception should be able to meet dress code requirements set by individual schools. It enhances school environment and supports further development of a student in the matter of ethics as well. Dress code is definitely a way to make school a serious institution. As the article mentions, it would be unfair if cheerleaders were permitted to wear the team uniforms while other students would have to meet the dress code. To back up the idea of seriousness and fairness, I would suggest proper school uniforms to be mandatory for every student at all times. It would make students more equal, while it would probably eliminate the question of fairness as well.
ReplyDeleteThe article also raised the issue of school spirit and pride. I believe it is only a question of designating the cheerleading team from the rest of students. I don’t think they necessarily have to wear short skirts and sleeveless tops just to designate themselves. A team T-shirt or pants would be perfectly okay, while bringing the same amount of excitement into the classrooms, as the uniforms would. Afterwards, cheerleaders could easily change into their game uniforms.
In addition, there is a question whether short skirts are enough to ban cheerleaders from wearing the uniforms to school on game days or not. I definitely think it is. As I mentioned before, school is supposed to be serious institution and short skirts might not go along with this idea. They might even promote some kind of sexual harassment between students. In conclusion, I don’t think these schools are being hypocritical. They just want to keep a certain level of quality of school environment.
To sum it up, athletics (including school spirit and pride) and education should be separated. Dress code is one of the ways to promote the seriousness of education.
Simon Stastny
Much to everybody’s dismay, I am in favor of banning cheerleading uniforms from being worn during school classes. The cheerleading uniform has a purpose, which is to serve as a complimentary aid to the cheerleading squad and represent the school, though, during games exclusively. I don’t find it very appropriate to be using the said uniforms as a form of casual wear during classes on game days. In schools with uniform policies the official uniform is expected to be worn, in schools without such - everyday clothing and apparel would be more than sufficient. Unfortunately, numerous exceptions to the policy are being extensively made in some schools, which I consider rather disturbing.
ReplyDeleteI cannot leave the claim, which attempts to justify wearing cheerleading uniforms during classes solely based on the presumption that it “enhances school pride”, unaddressed. In my opinion, it doesn’t “bring excitement in the classroom”, it only introduces distractions to disrupt the learning process, which not something school principals should be going for anyway. Furthermore, I believe the outraged parents are posing an invalid argument by diverting attention to the cost of the uniform. They must have been very aware of the fact that they were buying a game outfit, which is only to be worn at the games. In that regard, the cheerleader uniform’s purpose should not be confused with that of the school uniform.
In conclusion, if a compromise is to be achieved the only reasonable one is in fact to tone down the skimpy outfits by forcing the students to wear garments underneath. In an attempt to prevent the complete ban on uniforms, it would be either that or redesigning the outfits altogether, which not many parents would agree on considering their already obscene cost.
The schools, which want to meet strict dress codes and ban wearing short skirts and sleeveless tops to school are in my opinion doing the right thing. According to my own experience, I can state that the cheerleaders don’t wear their customs to school to get inappropriate attention, but simply to support the football team. After all that’s their role to cheer and support. Neither though, most of the students don’t mind the cheerleaders wear their skirts and tops to school there will be always a minority which is going to be against it. Moreover, for some students, to see half naked girls in the school can be against their religion.
ReplyDeleteTo create a compromise, in Lake County ,Fla the cheerleaders can wear the short skirts and sleeveless tops but they need to wear shorts, leggings or anything else which will meet the dress code. However, the Lake County schools also want the cheerleaders to wear a t-shirt under the sleeveless tops but I would simply suggest making the cheerleaders t-shirts longer so it will cover up their belly. As Sheila Noone, a spokesman with the cheerleading uniform company varsity brands, said that the skirts need to be short so they can jump high and do several kinds of tricks but i am sure that the longer t-shirt would not influence there athletic skills.
I think the schools do understand that the cheerleaders want to create an atmosphere and make everyone come to the game to support the football team. Indeed, they are not wearing the dresses every day to school only in the football season. To be more precise, they go to school in the cheerleader customs around 12 to 15 times in the football fall season, because that’s the number of games the football team plays. However, I think that is still possible when they wear the customs but also meet the dress code using some other clothing.
At the end, it is a matter of opinion if the students at Slovak schools would like to see the schools to take up this practice. The dress codes in Slovakia are not as harsh as in America. They exist but they are not followed as strictly. Nevertheless, in the 11 years of me going to an ordinary school in Slovakia I saw students dress much worse that the cheerleaders do at American school. This means the students would not have such a problem with the girls dressing like that but more with the way the cheerleaders behave when they cheer. They shout and run in a group, and in my opinion, this is the only thing which would bother the majority of the Slovak students because they are not used to it from childhood as American students are.