For a long time at JC, the girl’s uniform has been under scrutiny, whether cracking down on skirt length to considering leggings as a winter uniform change. However, no permanent changes have been made to the girl’s uniform, specifically the winter uniform. The girl’s uniform is slowly becoming outdated. While the khaki pants was a good option for girls to wear, it did not go far enough.

The skirt within itself looks grungy to say the least. The combination of gray and black results in a dirty appearance, especially by the time most girls are seniors. At that point in high school, no senior girls will purchase another skirt due the impracticality and price.
Every year, there is the constant struggle of teachers to maintain the skirt length. In addition to addressing the issue with the person, maybe the fit of the skirt should be considered.

Switching to a skort or khaki style skirt would even be cheaper, benefiting freshman and transfer families. The JC plaid wrap-around kilt costs between $50.25 – $51. However, a basic khaki skirt is $31.75. This significant price difference would help lower the overall cost of uniform each year and potentially encourage more students to purchase newer skirts once theirs become outdated.

The girl’s winter uniform needs complete updating as well. While the boys are put into a strict winter uniform from quarter two to the start of quarter four, the girls have no rules whatsoever. This creates an inconsistent look among students and causes anger among people for the lack of attention given to the girl’s uniform. Because of this, JC should consider implementing a blazer into the winter dress code.

Some of JC’s strongest competition such as Maryvale, NDP, and McDonogh implement a blazer into winter dress code, and girls are required to wear them for special occasions. Through this uniform requirement, the girls look significantly more put together than JC students. The lack of dress code makes JC students have unprofessional appearances and creates a lack of unity among students. Through this new uniform change, it would also begin to eliminate the undershirt issues, due to the inability of the shirt sleeves being visible and help solve the riff between boys and girls in regards to their uniform.

JC prides itself on being a college preparatory school; however, our slack and outdated uniform creates an appearance of laziness among students. Through a better-looking uniform, our school can continue to prepare students for college and their careers through a simple change of encouraging students to dress better.

This would also help combat some issues such as non-dress code outerwear and shirt sleeves being visible, another uniform issue throughout the school.

This implementation of a blazer could also have a variety of effects beyond appearance and even benefit academic performance. One of the most widely known facts about education is the fact that the better the student dresses during a lecture or test, the better they will perform academically.

Overall, the girls uniform needs more attention and updating. The skirts leave most students looking grungy while wearing them, and there is always the faculty’s constant struggle with skirt length.

Along with updates to the skirt, an implementation of a blazer would greatly increase our student body’s professionalism, uniformity and general appearance.