photo source: www.stomp.com.sg
Republic Poly sends warning e-mail to students
By Amanda Jacquelin Phua
October 27, 2010
The long running debate on what is proper attire for tertiary students flared up again last week, when some Republic Polytechnic (RP) students were warned that they could be banned from lectures.
The warning came via an e-mail to students. It said: "Please note that students are not allowed to enter the class if they are found to be improperly attired."
After directing the students to the handbook on what constituted proper attire, it went on to say: "If you are seen wearing slippers, a stern verbal warning will be issued first by your class facilitator.
"If the warning is not heeded, and you return with slippers on the subsequent days, you will be refused student entry to the class, and will be marked as absent."
This is not the first time that the issue has been discussed or raised publicly.
In 2008, private school MDIS clamped down on students wearing shorts or skirts that ended 15cm above their knees.
The same year, students in local universities were reported as saying that they did not feel they dressed too sexily, though they were dressing down a fair bit.
In my opinion, tertiary school have no right to control the attire of students. Students should have the freedom of wearing what they like and feel confortable in what they wear. They should be old enough to know what to wear and what not to. As long as the dressing covers the appopriate parts of the body. Students should wear attire which they feel confortable in order to concentrate in lessons. Thus, schools should not interfere with the dress code of the students.
ReplyDeleteBoo Weisheng.
I think that after reading this, there are several ways to look at this issue. While the fact that being in tertiary education allows school dress codes to be relaxed a little compared to secondary and primary schools and some feel that as long as they are comfortable in it, they should have the freedom to wear whatever they like. But, however, they should also realise that they are studying in a school after all and the school have to keep up with its image and reputation of not just themselves, but also its students as well.
ReplyDeleteThus, while i think this control over the attire of students is not really necessary, i fully understand the reasons for the polytechnics to do this and students should also have some "self-control" over what they wear at times too so that this issue wouldn't be talked up again in the future.
As a polytechnic student, I believe that we ought to have the right to choose our attires. For some students, they express themselves through the attire they wear. However, the attire they wear does not necessarily reflect their behaviour. In this instance, the idiom ‘never judge a book by its cover’ comes into play. Students that wear slippers may look sloppy but it does not mean that they are equally sloppy in their grades. As long as they attend school regularly, excel in their studies and behave well, I do not see why schools should penalize them for their attires.
ReplyDeleteI believe tertiary students should be given the freedom on their attire, after all we're all young adults and we are able to make sensible decision in the choice of our dressing and i think we all have our own reason for the attire we wore(CCA after school, etc) i think the repective tertiary institution should repect that.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, it is also important to maintain a good image by dressing appropriately, mini skirts and such are clearly not appropriate, Having freedom is a privilage, students should not be taking advantage of it.
In conclusion, tertiary institution should loosen up on thier view of an "appropirate" attire so that both party could come to an agreement.