New rule regarding school uniforms for students

Many notable changes in SMIC-I were made in the past few years, but the launching of the new school uniform proved to be the most prominent. Since the 2017-2018 school year, students were to wear the uniform to their respective classes every Monday. Some hesitated to attend school in the attire, but now the majority of the school population can be seen wearing it. The change largely relies on the new regulations initiated in the 2018-2019 school year.

On September 9th, Mrs. Bates conducted an assembly regarding new school changes for the upcoming year. She states that from the following Monday, all students are required to wear the uniform in the name of school pride.  In contrast to last year’s policy, students unable to follow the dress code every Monday will be met with a conduct mark deducted and parents will be notified.

Anastasia Crook (9B), a new student, stated that “the uniform design is quite simple and school uniforms aren’t supposed to be a fashion statement anyway. I think the new school rules are not a problem.”  Furthermore, several of the returning students, such as Jenny Seo (11A), expressed that “as much as I can understand why my peers are so upset about the uniform procedure, I can agree to some degree with our school’s decision because discipline is important. I can’t think of any better option for the school at the moment.”

While students such as Anastasia and Jenny provided a positive reaction towards the new uniform policy, others thought differently. Cathy Liu (10C) pointed out that she understood “the need for the school to implement the uniforms, but I do think that they could have put a little more effort into the design, material, and comfort.” Another student, Rincy Mohan (12B), remarked, “The color of the uniform is really good, and it is very comfortable, but I don’t like that fact that we need to tuck in our shirts…I prefer to wear normal clothes, and I think I will feel sad and scared if I am caught by the teacher not wearing [the] uniform. Maybe there could be a better rule.”

Middle school students also provided their opinions regarding the uniforms.  Sybil Zhang (8C) claimed that “the uniform is both inconvenient and uncomfortable, not to mention impractical. Since the school is not a public school dictated by the government, there is no reason for SMIC-I, as an independent group, to put the uniform rule in place.”

The controversy over the new uniform policy seems to vary among the students.

Featured Image – SMIC-I school uniform design Photo Courtesy of smicschool.com

By Amy Kang