Suha Choi ’22, Yuslis Ramirez ’24, Victoria (Tori) Merlo ’24, Netty Andrews ’25, Julie He ’23
No spaghetti straps— but really, no showing shoulders. No leggings— but really, no showing tight legs. No blue jeans— but really, no representation of the working class. As St. Markers, we are accustomed to following many rules— all so neatly listed out in the SM handbook, the “SM communist manifesto” as some call it— in order to ensure our community values and RUSH. But that doesn’t mean we need to blindly abide by rules and traditions without ever questioning why they are written the way they are. In particular, the school’s dress code has had questions and a recently increased dissatisfaction in the way they are created. In the recent poll that the St. Marker staff sent out to all-school, 166 out of 205 students (81%) expressed that they would like the dress code to become more flexible and comprehensive. This overwhelming student consensus goes far beyond the mere teenager complaint about wanting to wear their hoodies all day long. The current dress code reflects upon what our community values and simultaneously, what issues we are neglecting— to name a few, sexual objectification of women, socioeconomic diversity, and the priority of making students feel “comfortable” and “at-home” in this community.
St. Mark’s has long emphasized their beloved words: “business casual.” Although many incoming students every year and even upperclassmen who have been at school for some time continue to be uncertain about what that term is supposed to mean anyways, they gradually adopt what other people wear: khaki pants, the Nike Airforce 1s, the list goes on. But let’s face it. As one student reflected on their poll responses, khakis and collared shirts are simply expensive: “To expect a student to be able to wear them five days a week is to demand a certain level of economic availability, which is something SM should strive to stay away from.” This is not to take away the atmosphere of a formal, college preparatory institution (again, whatever this is supposed to mean). From the discomforts that so many students expressed, a compromise between these two conflicting ideas would be most beneficial. Or as another student puts it, “Yes, it’s important to look professional and respectable however not everyone in our St. Mark’s student body is able to buy clothes that are up to ‘standard.’” After all, what is so wrong about seeing Nike shorts around the school day? Shorts that allow students to wear after school for sports without having to ask their parents for an extra set of “formal” clothes. Will Nike shorts be a threat to the school’s prestige and supposedly traumatize the prospective students and parents visiting for tour? These questions are not discussed enough in our community, and the consequence to silence is far-reaching.
The dress code and the new dress code violation cards that were announced during school meeting, promotes a shame culture inside the SM community, whether we all know it or not. This shame culture is especially true for female students. The opinions that female students at St. Mark’s shared were incredibly overwhelming and disturbing. Here are some representations of the responses we gathered:
“The 4-inch requirement for skirts is really hard to meet, because it's hard to find them in any stores. I asked at least 8 of my friends and they all agree with this. Also, over the summer a friend and I found 10+ boarding schools that don't have this requirement.”
“What’s up with spaghetti straps and leggings and short skirts? Is it inappropriate and “not professional enough” if our legs and shoulders start showing? Are our bodies disturbing and against the “academic environment”? Why do they go against the “professional” and “respectable” environment? This is an implicit sexualization.”
So… Why do we have only a few faculty members decide the dress code without student discussion, when it is building rage and confusion among nearly half of our community members? Indeed, it’s not just girls. When the discussion starts flowing, you realize it is boys, too:
“I feel as though the dress code isn’t fair for the male side of St.Marks. Why can’t the male dress code be more relaxed? I find myself picking out the same type of pants and the same shirt every morning before school.” - anonymous male St. Marker
“I don’t understand why I am only allowed to wear a St. Mark’s sweatshirt to school. How about all my other hoodies that don’t even have anything offensive on them?” - anonymous male St. Marker
Living in a culture that already encourages a very limited form of masculinity, male students at St. Mark’s are taken away to express creativity and their identity, subconsciously pushing them to conform and dress up like every other male. Clearly, the dress code doesn’t take into account that everyone is shaped differently. In the words of an anonymous St. Mark’s student, “dress doesn't really impact learning (unless taken to an extreme). Professional clothing can be hard to access for some people. Professionalism is a social construct. What looks professional in one culture is different from another culture and another community. The dress code impacts girls/women disproportionately (skirt length among other things).” As a community, what do we want to value more, “formality” or the communal sense of being comfortable around one another? And of course, as many students brought up, compromises are always possible: perhaps, it is possible to capture both the school’s formality and the comforts of our students, but only once the school starts incorporating student opinions.
