“Are Those Sneakers?”

“Are those sneakers?” “Tuck in your shirt tail.” “Those look like jeans to me!”

These are just samples of the aggravating, yet oh so familiar quotes that the male student body of Mcnair Academic have to listen to everyday. While this happens, girls get around practically problem free, even though they’re breaking their already loose dress code. Sure the blame can’t all go on the girls because teachers are the ones that choose to focus on what’s in front of them and not what’s going on behind their backs. Everyone must admit that it’s easier to tell if a male student is breaking the rules than if a female is, but the fact is that while teachers are being hard on one gender, the other takes advantage and gets away.

Ever since I saw the dress code, before becoming a freshman, I always thought it was strange that girls dressed so freely, yet the boys were so restricted. Another thing that seemed weird was the explanation: The academic high school’s dress code is meant to be business attire. Most mornings, on my commute to school with friends or alone, we come across plenty of people going to New York , etc. for their business jobs. Not once have I seen one of these women wearing t-shirts (or inverted ones so the logo doesn’t stand out), shoes that are practically sneakers (with absurdly bright colors like yellow and orange) and the list goes on. The point here is that, most of the female body takes advantage of the already lenient code by which they have to abide.

A dress code should be something that distinguishes one school from another, something that can help strangers realize that a person attends one of our Jersey City ’s public high schools. When a male is from Academic is seen anywhere in Jersey City , it is instantly obvious that they come from McNair, yet if a female is seen, she could be from anywhere.
“McNair boys dress like they’re heading to work and after school they have to change to do anything, like play sports or just to go out because they might ruin their clothes, but girls can wear their “school” clothes to do anything and most of the time they’re seen wearing them casually.”, says a consensus of male students who believe there is an injustice in the school’s dress code.

The purpose I hope this article serves is not for teachers to give females more detentions, but rather bring attention to the lack of respect female students have for the dress code. It was part of the agreement we accepted when deciding to attend McNair just like how we are suppose to maintain certain grades, we are suppose to look the part as one of New Jersey’s most prominent high schools. So female students of McNair I am asking you to step it up and take pride in the fact that you are someone that is going somewhere in life with a good job and let the dress code play its part.

-chris