Dress
codes are not meant for college crowd
Julie
Guevara
No Me Calles
"Uh,
excuse me Ms. Guevara. Would you mind pulling
up your pants a little? Your thong is visible
to the entire classroom." "Aye
Dios mio! Que verguenza!" Ohmigod!
How embarrassing! What kind of professor
would want to mortify his or her student
in such a way? Hopefully none of yours do.
But for those of you who are in the communication
studies department here at Cal Sate Long
Beach, you better start showing off your
thong while you can! (Guys exempt please.
Stick to low rise pants with boxers sticking
out.) Or better yet -- can you think of
a professor who "dresses to impress"
with not much left to the imagination? Well
your skimpy thong/boy booty days and professors
who dress horribly may soon come to an end.
Some
professors in the department have brought
it to other professors' attention that they
are not too thrilled with the idea of students
showing off too much skin. Some complaints
in particular have been females showing
too much cleavage, short skirts, bare midriffs,
and thongs sticking out. For males, the
complaints are basically baggy jeans that
show off their boxers and hats in the classroom.
What
the staff is in the middle of discussing
now is proposing a code of conduct for all
students and professors. The code would
force students and professors to dress more
conservatively along with other measures
dealing with cell phones issues and walking
out in the middle of a lecture.
I
could care less if my professor wants me
to turn off my phone completely. I can just
turn it on when I get out of class. And
if we have to leave a lecture -- we're not
trying to be rude -- but sometimes we just
have to go. What bothers me is that I would
hate to have a professor point out to me
that my undergarments are visible, possibly
deduct points from my grade for dressing
in such a way that they consider inappropriate
or ask me to leave the classroom.
We
are old enough to understand that people
are going to judge us by the way we dress
and personally, if a want to show off my
assets, than I think that it's my prerogative!
Not that I let it all hang out anyway, but
if I did, I certainly don't want to hear
it from a professor.
Sure,
many of you may argue that you don't want
to see a half naked girl walking around
on campus, but when mom said "If you
can't say anything nice than don't say anything
at all," she forgot to mention that
if you don't like what you see- don't look!
It's simple. If you can't stand the sight
of one of your peers showing off a little
too much, put your head in a book and study
while you walk or something.
I
am not against this policy because I enjoy
seeing "barely there" outfits.
Trust me, I have walked around campus several
days in a row saying to myself, "She
should not be wearing that," or "What
was he thinking?" Forcing us to dress
a certain way would only take away from
one of the things this country prides itself
in the most and that is our individualism.
What's next? Uniforms. Aye no! Oh no!
There
is one girl in one of my communications
classes that has a completely different
style of her own. Occasionally her outfits
consist of blouses that hang off her shoulder,
short skirts or halter-tops. What she wears
makes her stand out. She doesn't stand out
in a negative way. On the contrary, she
stands out because it's a style that's exclusive
to her. No one else on campus, or least
that I have ever seen, even remotely dresses
like her. Do you want your style to represent
you or do you want your professor to tell
you what to wear?
I
definitely feel that the opposing argument
has some valid points as well, but remember
one thing. We are all adults. Whatever we
decide, we either reap the benefits or lye
in our own grave. If we dress a certain
way and the world thinks poorly of us, oh
well. If we leave a lecture early and miss
out on vital information, it is our grade
and possibly our money. Just don't expect
our professors to take us seriously when
our butts are showing or drop everything
to help us when we don't understand an assignment.
"Que piensas?" What do you think?
Julie
Guevara is a communications major at Cal
State Long
Beach and can be reached at MissJewels212@aol.com
|
