Saddle shoes, matching skirts, and uniform white polos. Looking around the hallways, one cannot help but notice the discrepancy between the girls’ uniform and the boys’ dress code. From freshman to senior year, the boys have a choice of shirts and can wear whatever khakis they please.
But all that is about to change, and it is about time. Standing at the office doors on the Class of 2013’s Orientation Night, I watched the parents of male students emerge from the Brown Room dragging their sons by the hand.
Half of them were borderline outraged: “We have to buy uniforms for next year! Seriously?” The other boys were just as frustrated. “I was finally getting away from wearing the same tie every day,” I heard one incoming freshman say.
Their feelings are certainly understandable, but as a female who has worn the same color skirt every day for four years and the same shoes for two, I cannot help but feel a sense of long-awaited satisfaction at this change.
Earlier this year, when “The Patriot” informed the school of the modification to the girls’ uniform with the addition of saddle shoes, we expressed our outrage that half of the school still had some say over what they wore each morning while the other half lost the last part of the uniform that was still open for them to choose.
The fact that, in four short years, the entire school will have a standard uniform may seem disheartening to next year’s incoming class, especially the male portion, but I doubt the skirt-wearing population of the school will be complaining. I would like to applaud the administration for making the decision to equalize the uniform policy.
Now the boys, just like the girls, will have uniform shoes. The solid brown shoes, like the new uniform khakis, are available from Flynn and O’Hara. The winter uniform will also see some changes. Black blazers will be required for all boys.
Matching blazers and uniform shoes are not the end of the world, but rather a final step toward uniformity at JC. In my time here, the uniform has evolved from blue or white or yellow shirts and blue or black skirts with brown or black shoes and semi-matching polos to the full homogeny that will begin next year.
Whether or not you agree with the change, the truth is that consistency looks better, and really, who has time to figure out what to wear in the morning when you’re still trying to finish math homework over breakfast?