The Eagle Times

As you all know, or should know, this year a few changes were made to the uniform. Students are not allowed to wear shorts, even in hottest weather. Guys have to wear pants and girls get their choice of pants or skirts at knee length. Another big change is that tennis shoes were outlawed this year at St. John. A smaller change is the socks. There are no ankle socks permitted in this school as well as white socks.

How are the students reacting to these changes? Well, it may not be as bad as you think; sure, nobody here likes these changes. Some of them are not only less fashionable, but uncomfortable as well. Some people don’t really know why these rules were put into action. A lot has to do with the word uniform; the word uniform means “one form.” These rules make the student body a better representation of this word. It also puts an end to a lot of the problems of last year’s dress code. It’s more difficult to have shorter skirts or the wrong shoes, which makes the administrations job just that much harder.

Upon asking some of the students what their opinions were about the changes, I got some shocking answers that I didn’t expect. Mark Dupont, a senior here at St. John, said that he understands why the rules were made and it’s not that big of a deal. Similar to his response, Brad Ducote said that he also understands why and it looks more professional. It’s not that big of a deal either to him. Most of the responses for male students were like that. The majority said their least favorite rule would have to be the pants, which is understandable considering that it gets pretty hot outside. The socks seem to be nothing to them.

The girls, on the other hand, seem to have more of a problem with the changes made. They don’t like the fact that they can’t wear shorts. They all have something to say about the skirts. Some thought that they should have just enforced the rule they had about the skirts last year and they wouldn’t have had to do this.

For the most part, the rules aren’t too dreadful. They just put the students at more of an inconvenience because of the heat. That has got to be the biggest problem with the rules. Everybody has seemed to be doing well with the change and considering that the new changes give everybody less room to get a uniform infraction, which should continue throughout the school year.

By Scotty Baldwin