The dress code at Anderson High School has changed for the 2023-24 school year. The students are upset at the recent changes to the dress code because they feel it’s stricter than last year and they can’t wear particular articles of clothing. 

“Such things as shorts that are too short or cropped tops are against [the dress code] because they’re ‘showing too much skin’,” sophomore Alex King stated. However, King disagrees with the dress code, saying, “It’s poorly written to target feminine clothes.”

According to the student rights and responsibilities handbook, students are not allowed to wear pajama bottoms or pajama tops, shorts must not be shorter than the mid-thigh when students are in a standing position, no spaghetti straps, and shirts that must cover the stomach, underarm, chest, and back areas of the upper torso.

However, out of what was explicitly mentioned in the dress code, skirts, tank tops, and spaghetti straps are generally worn by female students. The clothing mentioned is more likely to get called out. “They claim to be used to keep people from disrupting the learning environment but it’s the grown adults who deem what’s too distracting for class and then pull people out of their classes, further disrupting the learning environment,” said Alex King. 

On the other hand, “Too many students wear things that are too revealing,” said AHS teacher Tandi Landes. “[Last year] we saw girls coming to school with only a sports bra, or showing their undergarments and boys wearing tanks and sagging so much I could see their boxers.”

Landes says that the dress code prepares students for the workplace later in life. “It helps us learn appropriate attire for the workforce.  You cannot show up at your jobs with pants sagging so low you have to hold them up or a top cut so low that most of the chest is out.  It’s considered unprofessional.”