March 29th, 2023, published by Ami Seung 

I submitted the dorm policy survey recently, and what popped in my head was “Do they really take our thoughts seriously and consider them?” The purpose of the survey is to “listen” to the opinion of us and parents for the feedback and further suggestions and make changes to the rules if needed. But ironically, the number of times my friends and I submitted the survey is uncountable, and rules barely changed which I only saw once. So as I fill in the survey again and again, I feel like I am shouting at the wall. Schools need to listen and consider taking action on students’ voices.

There were several students in KISJ who were asked by the teacher to take off their long puffer jackets (school uniform) due to the rule that we’re are not allowed to wear in class, which often happened in my class. Presumably, this would not be a situation that seems new. Students in other schools also suffer from freezing temperatures without coats since the school banned them either, which means this is not the only issue in KISJ. 

Rules in schools are made intentionally to help us to focus on our responsibilities, in academics. School rules guide students towards positive life choices by providing structure and direction for growth from adults who have life experience.

However, there are debates on some rules whether it's necessary or not. Some of the rules are absolutely beneficial with no doubt, but some rules bring up questions. Some say that the school rules help them to avoid what they don’t need to spend time on, while some complain about the rules. 

Students wear their jackets in class, even non-KISJ jackets which are not allowed, and teachers ask us to take off. This is an issue observed often in our school. It’s like an endless game, but it is an important issue for us because we suffer from a cold every Winter. 

There are various interpretations about why this particular rule exists, such as it will distract us from concentrating on our tasks, eventually leading students to fall asleep. 

In the case of the other schools, they banned coats and other oversized outerwear in school due to the reason that administrators thought it is inappropriate attire for the classroom and it lets students to easily conceal weapons. 

Even though this argumentation logically makes sense, what is actually to be the “appropriate attire” for the classroom is still problematic and controversial. 

Rules disturbing students’ daily life and even distracting them to focus on their task, it would not be a reasonable rule for us to accept. For example, our KISJ students meeting hardships focusing on their tasks due to the cold weather without jackets in class resists taking off jackets and complaining about it. 

As a solution, the school can consider providing a hanger for us in each class. It would be a solution to hang it on the hanger during class since there is no place to put long puffer jackets even though it’s part of the uniform school provides. Lockers are spread out into three floors and break time is not enough if you’re far from your locker. Or simply turn on the heaters earlier. 

Other than regarding jackets, other rules could be considered changing or at least arguable. 

Although our school provides accurate rules for us to follow in general, controversial rules can still exist such as the previous case. However, as some schools did, our school should listen to us and take an actions, making adaptations for better changes to fully support us. 

Works Cited

Burney, Melanie. “Cherry Hill Schools Want to Adopt a More Gender-Neutral Dress Code, the First Major Revision in a Decade.” Https://Www.inquirer.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 20 Oct. 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/cherry-hill-dress-code-gender-neutral-attire-20221020.html. 

Gillespie, Claire. “East Sussex School Makes the News for Its Bizarre 'No Coat' Uniform Policy.” SheKnows, 22 Aug. 2020, https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/1109639/school-bans-kids-from-wearing-coats-even-in-cold-weather/. 

“High School Bans Coats from Classrooms.” Hartford Courant, Hartford Courant, 26 Aug. 2021, https://www.courant.com/1996/11/14/high-school-bans-coats-from-classrooms/.