Whether you believe students should be wrapped up from head-to-toe or be free to roam the halls in their “birthday suit”, it is no question as to how contested a debate dress codes have created in the past decade. Recently, there have been more and more cries for reform in high schools due to the inherently judgmental nature of the age old system; however, there remains a clear argument on both sides of the fence.

Wheeling Park High School student, Maya, is completely aware of this. I have had the pleasure of knowing Maya for the past three years. She is one of those special people who, right when you meet her, you immediately think, “She’s going somewhere.” She’s an AP student, section leader in the school band, head of the theater paint crew, an impressive graphic artist and an exceptional photographer with big dreams in marine biology and serving our country in the U.S. Coast Guard. Maya certainly isn’t the kind of person you would imagine being sent down to the principal’s office twice in less than two weeks.

Before I had her tell me her story, I wanted to get her real opinion on the WPHS dress code policy (which is your everyday, run-of-the-mill no sleeveless shirts and no shorts past your fingertips set of rules). I was surprised when she calmly declared that the “rules are necessary” with a maturity way past her years. This set a precedence that I wasn’t going to be listening to an hour long rant about how terrible dress codes are, but I was actually going to have a level-headed discussion on the matter.

Maya prefaced her story by acknowledging why dress codes are historically sexist. She attributes this biased quality to the school administration consisting mainly of “white males.” To no surprise, a middle aged white male takes the role of the antagonist in this scenario.

It was a hot, summer-like day, and Wheeling Park High School was having troubles cooling down the classrooms. It definitely wasn’t ridiculous to see kids walking to their next classes in lighter clothing. Maya, thinking the same as everyone else, came to school dressed in modest, flowy shorts, a tank top and a light cardigan that covered her shoulders, arms, and down past her bottom. Nothing “bad” was showing. Even then, she was taken out of her seventh period AP United States History class (only weeks before the scheduled AP test that she paid for) and brought down to her grade level principle who I will name Mr. X for the purposes of this article. Maya, having just entered his office, was then called “skimpy” by Mr. X. He was even unable to come up with a clear issue with her outfit, for his only explanation was “I’d take that look to the beach.”

Having gone the entire day seeing other girls in similar attire, she was anything but pleased. Being taken out of her advanced class only to have her fashion scrutinized by a balding middle-aged man, the only thing she could muster up was “This is bullshit.”

This, however, was only the tip of the iceberg. About a week later, Maya was in her college-level English class, when she discovered she was reported once again for her outfit. That day, she was wearing a cross-front shirt that she had worn to school at least five times before and, once again, covered everything inappropriate for school. Nevertheless, she found herself heading to the office of Mr. X to be reprimanded again. This time was different though. Mr. X was busy speaking on the telephone, so Maya was escorted into an empty room to sit by herself. She asked the secretary what was happening, was blatantly ignored, waited alone for 30 minutes, and still nothing happened. At this point, Maya was getting distressed from missing so much class time, so she called her father to explain everything that was going on. She was then forced to get off of her phone by an administrator who overheard the conversation and was told “We are the only ones who can call your parents.”

Finally, she was ushered back to Mr. X’s office thinking she was just going to be judged by him alone and let free again, but, now, there were five people in the room including Mr. X, another male administrator, two female employees, and a resource officer. Why there had to be an armed cop in that office still baffles me, particularly addressing a straight-A student with a squeaky clean record like Maya. Her exemplary past clearly meant nothing to the five administrators as they judged her outfit and her body. “They were looking at me as if I was on display,” says Maya. They began conversing amongst themselves considering what to do about her outfit and how to “deal with the chest.” Mind you, Maya is a busty girl, but this top was by no means over-revealing in that respect. By now, the school officials were not only objectifying her as a young woman (still a minor), but also sexualizing her body type.

Maya had been insecure about her body forever. She had even found herself unable to eat full meals last summer out of this insecurity and ended up losing 20 pounds rapidly and unhealthily. It wasn’t until this year when she finally began to feel comfortable in her own skin and is now able to talk about those feelings freely.

Unfortunately, as the five administrators stoned her with these terrible comments, they brought back all of those negative emotions she just recently was able to move on from. They “Hit me all at once,” Maya admitted.

After more and more insults like “You look wrong,” she was then given three options:

• Change clothes and go back to class
• Be taken to I.S.S. (in school suspension)
• Go home

One of the things that bothered me the most of this situation is the fact that two of the three options consisted of her missing even more class time. This further emphasizes how unfair enforcement of the dress code infringes upon a student’s education. I find this to be incredibly counterintuitive. High school, an institution that is meant to build students up through teaching, sees it acceptable to break students down through judgement.

That doesn’t mean they’re all bad, however. Throughout the entire ordeal, she was able to talk to her guidance counselor who has been a helping hand to her the entire year. Maya also had an honest, emotional conversation with her English teacher who stopped class to take her outside and make sure she was okay. These are amazing, caring people in a broken system that allow men and women in power to prey over insecure and impressionable students.

Nevertheless, Maya decided to change outfits, and she put on a men’s plain white t-shirt from the clothes closet and went back to class feeling defeated. She tells me that if those administrators had simply “Done their job,” this wouldn’t have been nearly as big of an issue. One teacher/principal should’ve taken her aside, said her outfit was against school policy, and left it at that. Instead, five intimidating people removed her from class, insulted her body, and made her feel less than human.

One thing Maya said that stuck with me the most was “My body, my rules,” and that’s a principal everyone needs to live by, particularly Mr. X, his cohorts, and educators everywhere.