Recently, a few other HCK correspondents and I attended a discussion sponsored by Crozier, PEKK, and Sisterhood called “Dress Code or Stress Code?” It didn’t take me very long to realize how easy it was for me to dress every day in middle and high school compared to other Kenyon students. I spent seven years wearing a strict uniform every school day, and it was the greatest thing in the world.
Now, it’s important to note the difference between dress codes and uniforms. If given the opportunity to choose between an environment that instilled a uniform and one that had no uniform but implemented a dress code, I would pick a uniform every time. To me, the beauty of a uniform is its simplicity. Every day, I wore a white polo shirt and a green skirt, no exceptions. When it got cold, we could choose among a few approved sweater options and could wear tights or leggings underneath. Dress code rules, however, can be completely arbitrary, like the amount of inches across the shoulder a tank top could be, for example, or the banning of leggings while yoga pants are deemed appropriate. I never had to worry about any of these rules.
Though a strict uniform often implies stress, I always felt completely relaxed getting dressed for school. I never had to spend twenty extra minutes in the morning worrying about if what I was wearing was “cool” because everybody at my school was wearing the same thing. I could own a polo shirt for four years without worrying about it going out of style, and I could wear the same skirt two days in a row without being labeled an outfit repeater. Issues of money also never came into the picture. There is no such thing as a “designer” or “knock-off” uniform skirt, because they all come from the same store. Plus, my school offered hand-me-down uniform sales. I could focus completely on my schoolwork and my friends, without worrying about if I looked fashionable or not (or without worrying about being shamed for my too-short tank top straps).
Those against uniforms may argue that uniforms take away an individual’s freedom of personal expression. Clothes are often a teenager’s most important means of expressing herself, and taking that away can be harmful. While that may a good point, school is only eight hours or so out of a student’s day. Anybody who didn’t like the uniform could change after the final bell rang. Luckily, my school allowed us to style or color our hair in any way, wear jewelry, and paint our nails in bright colors. And we could wear any fun cold weather accessories like hats or scarves as long as we took them off in the classroom.
School dress codes have gotten a lot of backlash recently, mostly because teenage girls feel like they are being shamed if they show too much of their bodies, and are forced to either cover up with clothes from the lost and found or go home if they break the rules. That sounds awful, no doubt, and it seems like the whole conversation could be avoided by implementing uniforms. Yes, teachers did give out detentions for uniform violations, but those were mainly given out if a student wore an out-of-uniform sweatshirt in class too many days in a row. We were never punished for wearing “inappropriate” clothing because we were so limited on what clothes we could wear.
I loved wearing my uniform. The stereotypes of uniform-wearers as robots parading in straight lines, controlled by their school’s administration, are just completely false. In fact, some days, when all of my clothes are dirty and I can’t seem to find anything that matches or looks good, I wish that Kenyon had a uniform, too.