Tank Top Tuesday is a tradition that senior Josh Ehrlich founded and is proudly continued by fellow seniors Joe Roias and Dominic Proia. Unfortunately for them, Aragon’s new dress code policy states that “boys shirts need to fully cover the shoulder.” Thus, guys are no longer allowed to wear tank tops.
However, none of them have ever gotten in trouble for wearing them. Proia says that a teacher told him and Ehrlich that “their shoulders couldn’t be revealed,” but there was no further punishment, and they dressed the same way a couple of weeks later without further incident.
Why was there a decision to change the dress code? Assistant Principal Joe Mahood says, “It was pointed out to us by parents and students that it’s distracting from learning.” Prohibiting boys from wearing tank tops is a rule that is used by other high schools in the area, including Mills and San Mateo high schools. Mahood also said that “no one has got in trouble [from the dress code],” if someone is caught violating it, they are warned and either given a change of clothes or told to turn their shirts inside out.
Assistant Principal Jim Coe adds, “[dress code violations] are rather infrequent in cold weather,” and that there are “more violations at the beginning of the year” right after summer break. Mahood himself does not know how many people have been talked to about the dress code, because “most of the time teachers deal with it.”
But how often do teachers really enforce it? “I have never seen the dress code enforced,” said sophomore Kevin Ruttenburg, and most students agree. Ruttenburg was unaware of the change in the rules.
Juniors Nathan Perisic and Jon Howard have also worn tank tops to school without getting in trouble. They are both members of the Varsity water polo team, who wore ‘bro’ tanks with ties to school before a game.
Perisic comments, “I had no idea that this was against school rules,” and they both agreed that learning about the rule wouldn’t change how they dressed because neither of them was called out on it earlier.
So is there a reason to have this dress code? According to English teacher Victoria Daniel, the dress code does help keep kids dressing appropriately.
She explains, “earlier in my teaching career, when there was not a formal dress code, guys dressed more inappropriately, wearing shirts suggesting drugs or alcohol, and this kind of dress has decreased with the addition of a set dress code.”
However, she did say that girls have started violating it more, with shirts that expose their stomaches or are too low and skirts and shorts that are very short. Daniel also says, “I do not enforce the dress code more harshly because teaching is just more important.” For her and most teachers, it is more important to spend time teaching than it is to get mad at every boy who wears a tank top.
