The major change is that girls can’t have bare shoulders. If a girl decides to wear a tank top (as is common in Florida), she must wear a blouse or cardigan to make sure her shoulders are covered. I thought this rule odd because after all we do live in a sub-tropic climate. But really I didn’t think anymore about it.
Then school started and the student body got amped for the first football game of the season. This year’s opener was against the Mustangs’ rival. A team that they hadn’t beaten in four years. On game day, the football players wore their shirts and ties, the students wore their school t-shirts, and the cheerleaders wore their cheer uniforms.
Awesome school spirit, right?
Well, guess what? The cheerleaders’ uniforms are sleeveless leaving the girls shoulders bare. When the principal of the high school realized this, she banned the uniforms from school.
Let me say that again.
The high school principal banned the existing approved cheerleading uniform of a school-sanctioned activity but because the girls have bare shoulders and therefore violate the district-wide dress code.
While the principal’s reasoning does follow logic, I’ve got to wonder what happened to school spirit.
Another Florida high school had a similar issue because of the length of the skirts on their cheer uniforms. The skirts were too short to meet the dress code requirements. The cheerleaders of that school were finally granted an exception.
On the flip side, cheerleaders at a high school in Connecticut petitioned to have their uniforms made less skimpy. The girls were embarrassed to wear the outfits that exposed their midriffs and affected their self-image.
In my opinion, high school is more stressful now for teenagers than it’s ever been. When the students show enthusiasm for school spirit, small allowances should be made in the school rules. Over-enforcement of rules can squash an upbeat attitude in a flash.
Let the cheerleaders cheer on the team all day long.
How do you feel about school dress codes?
Should an exception be made for the cheerleading uniform?
Are you for or against uniforms in public schools?
How strict are you about enforcing rules?
2 comments:
I think schools should have dress guide lines, but they should have taken in consideration the cheerleader uniforms before hand and dealt with that. I can't imagine how that has dampened shcool spirit. Most highschool uniforms I have seen are tasteful. I don't think young girls should be wearing provacative or extremely skimpy, but I've only seen those types of uniforms on NFL cheerleaders! (Of course, it's not like I hang out at school games or watch competitions so I wouldn't really know!)
That is absolutely insane. I am sick to death of common sense being sacrificed for rules that are meaningless. Surely we can prevent skimpy clothing from being worn to school while allowing well-meaning kids to be comfy in their own skins.
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