As everyone knows, not everyone at Watertown Middle School likes the dress code.

     According to assistant principal Jason Del Porto the point of the dress code is so that the students are focusing on learning and not paying attention to what clothes their peers are wearing.

     Everybody know that girls have more rules than boys and that is not fair. The most-complained about rule in the dress code is about spaghetti straps. Every girl interviewed complained about this rule. The section reads: “No halter tops, spaghetti straps, backless tops, or muscle shirts shall be worn. Shoulders should not be completely bare. Shoulder straps should be at least 1 inch in width.”

     Mr. Del Porto said that this rule exists because they don’t want a lot of skin showing because that can be a distraction.

     Eighth-grader Eva Henry likes nothing about the dress code because she says it is unfair. She says that it is unfair that girls can’t wear something just because of boys.

She said that “people should put their own limits, and that there shouldn’t be a dress code.”

     If she could change one rule, she would change the rule of spaghetti straps because there is nothing wrong with wearing a tank top.

     Eighth-grader Niamh Murphy said that sometimes she wishes there wasn’t a dress code so her friends would stop complaining about it.

     Niamh said she doesn’t mind the dress code that much. However, the thing that she and a lot of students hate the most is the two-fingers rule about tank tops.

     One thing that Niamh likes about the dress code is that students can’t come to school wearing pajamas. When asked if she thinks the dress code is fair for boys and girls, she said, “No, because girls have more rules than boys.”

     Niamh also thinks that it is not fair for girls not to wear something because boys “get distracted.” She said, “They should teach the boys not to get distracted.”

     Joey Borelli likes that boys can wear whatever they want and not get dress-coded like girls do.

     Joey said he would change the dress code because girls should be able to wear whatever they want. He thinks that it is not fair that girls can’t wear some clothes just because people assume that boys get distracted.

     Fellow eighth-grader Mali Glemaud Thesee thinks the dress code is unfair for girls because boys don’t have as many rules. Mali said girls should be able to wear whatever they want because boys do not get distracted.

     As you could see, WMS students think the dress code in not fair for girls and they all hope girls will be able to wear what they want without getting dress-coded. As Eva said, “People should put their own limits.”

–March 20, 2017–