By Jaylynn Donaldson ’25
Derby High School is planning on implementing uniforms and the students are not enthusiastic about this new possibility.
For example Aliyah Morales ‘25 she says, “I feel like clothes just express students more and they should be comfortable in what they are wearing instead of the school choosing what we wear.” The implementation of uniforms would strip students away from their independence and self-expression.
As a freshman who was insecure and now a senior who is confident and flourishing, I am against the idea of uniforms because, for students like me, clothes are an outlet for us to express this newfound confidence. Wearing the clothes we pick out not only helps us express ourselves but also makes new connections. A new friendship could be started just by someone saying “Hey I love your shirt! Where’d you get it?”
Uniforms are being discussed due to the fact people are not following the dress code. This is one of the many reasons Vice Principal Ray Coplin explains, “There are a number of reasons why we are considering uniforms. One, it’ll help to unify the school and helps provide a sense of pride and uniformity by definition everyone kind of looks the same no different than the cheer team, and basketball team everyone wears uniforms and it kind of shows that cohesion, but there is also an element of helping families who have a more difficult time of getting clothes.” He also told me that after every Board of Education meeting, it seems like Derby is moving in the direction of having uniforms.
Even though it is expensive to keep up with the latest trendy clothing items, there are many ways for students to stay in style without spending a lot of money. For example, thrifting is very trendy right now: people can buy cheap hand-me-down clothes, and many find cool and unique items for cheap this way. In this day and age, it is not necessarily about the brands you buy from, but simply how you put the clothes on so there is no need to splurge on expensive brands. I also believe that even though we do not wear uniforms, our school still has a sense of unity. We see this at our school sporting events when we are cheering on our teams and we see this unity at pep rallies.
Instead of implementing uniforms due to people breaking the dress code, there are other ways to control student dress. The dress code should be more reasonable and fair. Student Giana Ropiki ‘25 expresses her frustration by saying “I also think that our dress code rules are messed up. I don’t agree with the dress code, I think not being able to wear crop tops is unfair because nowadays when you try to go buy a shirt they are all crop tops, and it is hard to find shirts that aren’t cropped.” Many students, mostly girls, get an in-school suspension or even out-of-school suspension just because a little stomach is showing.
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