COMMODORE MEDIA GROUP

Georges St-Pierre once said, “If you look good, you feel good, and if you feel good, you do good.” This statement applies to many parts of our lives. We, students, can apply this to our clothing. People may say the dress code has created difficulty in our daily lives. Do you really have to look good to do good?

Clothing has become a controversy between students and teachers. The dress code is used to protect us, but we claim the rules to be ‘extreme’. A student was asked to describe the dress code with one word and many other students pitched in. Some of the responses were words such as unnecessary, annoying, and strict. There is a possibility the items we want to wear are not within the dress code, which creates difficulty in selecting an outfit to wear for school. The enjoyment we find in school should not be determined by the shirt on our backs.  

  Austin Community College created a study that shows comfortable clothing can be a role in your comprehension and performance of a subject. Before an exam, they had students rate their comfort level by their clothing, and the results showed the more formal the clothing the lower the exam score. This furthers the point that comfort can affect your performance. 

On the other hand, a study done by the University of Miami says physical attractiveness and proper grooming can be beneficial to your grade point average. These studies reveal to us it is hard to dictate what people should wear to learn best. Attire and hygiene can be distracting, so it is best to keep yourself well kept. 

Your outfit is a choice. What is comfortable to you may not be comfortable to your neighbor. A student expressed, ”It’s a huge thing, especially for teenagers to feel confident in what they are wearing. A lot of things we feel confident in are not allowed to be worn in our school.”  Clothing is a source of individuality, and when students are comfortable it creates a better learning environment and experience. Education is a valuable part of life, so wear what makes you learn best, whether it be a nice shirt or sweat pants!