Upon returning to school last August, the Christ Church Upper School girls were shocked to discover their right to wear leggings had been stripped away from them. Leggings are comfortable, stretch fitting pants that are an essential for any girl’s wardrobe. The 2015-2016 school year has been rough for Christ Church girls without their ability to wear leggings.

As the days grew colder, the girls reflected upon the days when they were able to wear leggings to school. Without leggings, girls are forced to wear jeans or pants when the colder months approach. This would be no problem if jeans or pants were as comfortable as leggings. As senior Mae Ling says, “Once you start wearing leggings, you can never really go back. It’s like trying to go back to Android after you’ve used Apple.” In my personal experience, after a long night of studying, I would roll out of bed, put on a pair of leggings and a sweatshirt, and go to school. Without the ability to do so this past year, I found the school year to be that much more trying.

Girls have the classic Wednesday dress day where they put effort into their appearance. Other days of the week, the motivation isn’t necessarily there for everyone. As grade levels increase, the workload and rigor increase as well. Many students, myself included, work for hours each night and are still required to wake up in the early hours to get that last bit of studying in. On such days, it is easier to throw on leggings as opposed to dressing up, especially when time is essential. Other students live far away from school, such as senior Keri Barker, and find that “leggings are more comfortable for a long ride than jeans are.”

Junior Victoria Haskins questioned, “Why exactly are leggings banned? I would just like there to be clarification as to why we can no longer wear leggings. If it’s because they are inappropriate, I have yet to see as to how they’re inappropriate. If it’s because they’re not dressy enough for a school setting, then I understand a little bit more.” Victoria represents the vast majority of girls at Christ Church who have been left wondering why they can no longer wear leggings.

When asked why leggings were banned, Mr. Sanders said “because some girls took it too far.” While I completely agree with this statement, I’m unsure if it is a valid reason to ban leggings. As I’m sure the student body is aware, some girls take wearing dresses too far. Some girls wear dresses that are much too short for a school setting. Some girls wear dresses that show too much cleavage for a school setting. However, it would be unjust to ban dresses simply on behalf of a few students. The right to wear leggings should not be taken away from students on behalf of a select few who took the right too far.

Along with bewildering questions surrounding the prohibition of leggings, are questions of what the future holds for leggings. Junior Roe Wilcox had “dreamed of rolling up to school in leggings and a tee shirt as a senior. Now [she] can’t do that.” I propose that leggings be brought back. Not necessarily for the senior class, as our time here is limited, but instead for the grades below us. The re-institution of leggings could be easily monitored if leggings were brought back under the condition a shirt must cover the girl’s bottoms. If a girl were to wear leggings without a top covering their bottom, then the same punishments for other dress code violations would apply. May the future women of Christ Church never have to know the feeling of wearing constrictive, life threatening-jeans.