The ripped jeans rule needs to be changed (2024)

It is unfair to punish students for holes in their jeans when those same students are allowed to wear more revealing shorts and skirts.

Students at MacArthur are allowed to wear shorts and skirts three inches above the knee, but I do not understand why prohibiting torn jeans is such an emphasized rule when it is not as revealing as wearing short skirts and shorts. This rule needs to be rewritten.

As the rulecurrently standsin the MacArthur Student Handbook on page 10 under the 3.0 general guidelines for school attire, itreads, “Clothing must be free from tears,rips, holes etc…”

As a student, I believe that torn jeans are not that big of a deal. However, Assistant Principal Ms. Jamie Bates makes a point when she said, “We are at school for business and not for a fashion show.”

Bates also said that school is for learning, and torn jeans could cause a distraction because students pull on the strings of the hole and make it even bigger. “This is a rule here because we want to provide a college going culture for students and we want them to dress for success,” said Bates.

I believe this rule is unnecessary because the students who get caught with wearing torn jeans are given a dress code for the holes, not for distracting behavior.

In order to reduce that number of dress code infractions, the school can change the rule to only having a hole two inches above and below the knee, and holes cannot be where the back pockets are. Obviously, it would be inappropriate for students to show their undergarments. Holes do not need to be revealing.

Torn jeans are not as revealing as skirts and shorts. Holes often are found in the front and on the knees, which we already have to reveal during PE every day. As Bates had stated before, torn jeans are trendy. Sometimes people even buy jeans with holes in them. But what if the hole was not put there purposefully?

Anybody could fall and tear their jeans on the cement. Students should not be punished for accidentally falling.

In addition, students should only receive dress codes or a detention for playing and/or tugging on the tears, if it is as distracting as Bates said. This is a behavior problem since students should not tug on each other’s clothes anyway!

The solution is simple: the torn jeans rule needs to be changed to be fair.