What you wear is key to expressing oneself at school, from whether you choose a sporty top and leggings to a flowy shirt dress from Brandy Melville. Fashion helps students at Dublin High School express themselves in any way that they want to. However, many students felt last year that the dress code was sexist and unfair. In our April 2016 issue, this controversial problem was highlighted in the feature “We Are Not Distractions”. Some of the major highlights from the article were:

“Instead of dress coding girls all the time, you should teach students to not objectify women,” expressed Yoo.

In a poll taken by 175 Dublin High students, 93% said that they feel that the dress code is unfair and unreasonable.

Words that students used to describe the current dress code included unfair, degrading, exaggerated, sexist, heteronormative, impractical, and biased.

This year, the Dublin Shield asked several students what they thought of this year’s dress code.

The question posed to the students was:

Has the dress code improved from last year? Why?

Junior Alyssa Kaatmann believed that the lanyards were another extension of the unreasonable dress code at school. She said, “It didn’t really improve. It kind of went downhill. Now we have to wear the lanyards.”

Nicki Butler, an enthusiastic junior involved in drama and varsity sideline cheer, was optimistic but expressed some concerns. “It’s improved a lot,” Butler said, “but I think that we should have one of common decency. It is still sexist.”

However, some of the reactions were positive. Senior Kayla Ishisaki acknowledged, “Yes, it’s a lot more lenient, appropriate, and fair.”

Junior Danica Bastress said, “I hope it’ll get better. They haven’t really caught me for anything.”

Just for the different perspective, the Dublin Shield sought the opinion of a new student, junior Arianna Feemster. She didn’t even know that a dress code existed, to the surprise of the students sitting around her. To quote her exactly, she said, “A dress code? I haven’t had an issue with it so far.”

It all ends with Dublin High School’s students and administrators knowing together that the dress code is improving, one baby step at a time. However, more students need to be surveyed in order to know the many diverse opinions of the dress code.