Long Beach, CA- For most of the current class’ experience in education, students and staff have been on opposing sides when it comes to enforcing the dress code. This debacle sparks the question: should there be a dress code? 

It was anonymously stated that the only reason for even having a dress code would be to discourage gang activity, and that dress code wasn’t needed at Wilson. With there being more leniency with the dress code, it seems like if enough people wanted, the dress code could go away.

The oldest articles even mentioning gang violence at Wilson date back to over a decade ago. Overall crime violence in Long Beach has also gone down according to the Long Beach Police Department on longbeach.gov., with a 75% decrease from 1991 the violence has only been decreasing. 

Jorge Ruiz, a senior in the Leadership and Public Service Pathway, stated, “Wilson students are restricted to their clothing options. Not only are some families not in the financial situation to purchase Wilson clothes, the prices on the clothing are expensive, so in reality we should be open to wearing what we want.”

Wilson High School’s dress code was changed when students returned to school in 2021. As the requirement shifted from Khaki and Cardinal bottoms to any color bottoms, students and staff have raised many new thoughts and concerns.

According to Wilson homepage, “Student tops and outerwear may be any combination (solid or patterned) of Wilson colors that are cardinal, gold, khaki, or white.”, and “Student bottoms may be any color.” This has allowed for students to have more freedom while still maintaining the image of wilson.

From the Tech pathway, Diego Estrada, grade 12, is a student at Wilson High School who stated that, “Even with the dress code, so many students are still wearing what they want, so I believe there is no point in having a dress code.” 

Although the dress code is less strict, students at Wilson High School still feel it is  unnecessary. Students also seem to have a huge problem with the expensive pricing of the Wilson spirit wear.

On the other hand, there are Staff at Wilson who disagree with the current dress code for a different reason. 

Mr. Schlesinger, a teacher at Wilson, is more in favor of going back to the classical full high school dress code. He stated, “I think that it brings cohesiveness”, just a sense of unity that brings students together. Understandably, he also just disapproves of inappropriate clothing that could disturb students.

Dress code has been a very hot topic at Wilson High School. Throughout the recent years the uniform policy has been shifting and it’s raised many ideas and concerns. Students are continuing to ask for a more lenient dress code. They want more freedom and feel the uniform is much too strict. Staff and teachers are much more concerned and want to return to the old policy. There are many split opinions on the dress code at Wilson High School.