With winter here, the weather is becoming cold and windy, (except for those random weeks when it’s sunny and 75 degrees because it’s Texas). Students are wearing jackets and sweatshirts to keep warm. The All Saints’ Student/Parent Handbook states, “Only All Saints’ logoed wear may be worn over the uniform in class and on field trips.” But do students actually follow this rule?
A good portion of students do wear All Saints’ outerwear, but many choose to run the risk of being caught in non-uniform outerwear by a teacher, Mr. Worden or Mr. Menendez. Reasons for wearing non-uniform jackets range from wanting to support a college team or the outlawed sweatshirt is simply more comfortable than the ones students can buy from the 51 Store.
When asking students for their opinion, the responses were overwhelmingly anti-uniform.
“We are already wearing the uniform, so we should be able to wear whatever outerwear we choose. Why do we need to ‘represent our school’ when we’re already at our school,” said Ellie Palmer ’19.
Out of 61 students that chose to participate in the poll, 75.4% students said they do not agree that All Saints’ students should only be allowed to wear uniform outerwear, and 96.7% of students said they wished All Saints’ would change the rule to allow for students to wear whatever jacket they want. When asked to select every reason that applies for why he or she doesn’t like to wear uniform jackets, 48 students said All Saints’ outerwear isn’t as comfortable as their other outerwear, 36 said the All Saints’ outerwear is overpriced, 27 said their non-uniform outerwear is more stylish, 23 said a different reason not listed, 22 people said they wanted to support a team, and 4 said none of the above because they like wearing All Saints’ outerwear better than other outerwear.
All Saints’ teachers and administrators claim, however, that they have good reason for banning non-All Saints’ outerwear.
“Having spent first through twelfth grade in uniforms myself, I can understand how having to wear a school ‘approved’ piece of outerwear can be frustrating,” said Sra. Taulbee, Upper School Spanish teacher. “When students are in uniform it doesn’t detract from the academic focus and it cuts down on conscious and subconscious comparison of material goods.”
When Mr. Worden was asked for his opinion on why he enforces the All Saints’ outerwear rule, he said, “Uniform means same. So in order to control the uniform, we have to limit the choices to receiving it from a coach or purchasing it in the 51 store.”
While the general consensus is that students do not like the rule on outerwear enforced by teachers and administration, would you agree the rule exists for the overall benefit of the student?
