Unified By Uniform?

By Stephanie Colon, Journalist

As a student of the Bronx Academy of Letters, you must come in with your uniform everyday. According to the Bronx Academy of Letters Dress Code, “Students who do not adhere to the dress code will be sent home to change after parents have been notified.” So why is it that seniors come in wearing sneakers that aren’t all black and long sleeve shirts under their uniform and no one says anything?

Many Students, like myself, feel that the seniors get special privileges when it comes to the dress code. The deans stay on top of the underclassmen but the seniors get to slide by like nothing. Everyday you see seniors coming in with sneakers that aren’t solid black, but if anyone who isn’t a senior comes in like that you are harassed until you change.

Every morning as we walk into school one of the deans are standing at the door to make sure we are in uniform, and everyday you see Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshmen being yelled at for not following the dress code. Then, on top of that, the deans go around to each classroom to make sure no one is wearing sweaters or long sleeve shirts under the Bronx Letters polo shirt. Many students are pulled out of class and escorted to the bathroom to take off the shirts and then brought back to class. Now ask yourself this….Have you ever seen this happen to a senior? I think not!

Juniors, sophomores, and freshmen all have to follow the dress code strictly. All the deans the deans make sure of this, “I think if we’re supposed to follow the code strictly so should seniors. They go to this school just as we do” says sophomore Iliana Aragon. According to the Bronx Academy of Letters Dress Code, “Repeated violations of the dress code may result in in-house suspension, conference with the principal, a principal’s suspension, and/or transfer to another school.” Now, I cant lie, most of these things don’t happen, BUT I have seen students go to in-house for not following the dress code, but none of them were seniors.

Something needs to change. In this school one of the things we strive for is unity. We aren’t going to achieve this if everyone isn’t in uniform and everyone isn’t following the same rules. We are all part of the Bronx Academy of Letters, so the rules apply to the seniors the same way they apply to us. Everyone in this building should follow the same rules and be treated the same way. Sophomore Luis Burgos says, “If they are supposed to be prepared for college this is not teaching them the facts of life; that you cant have everything your way.”