This school year came with several new things; a new principal, a new stadium, and a newfound focus on the dress code.

Lately, quite a few Panthers have been unhappy with the dress-code enforcement because it is something we are not accustomed to. In previous years, the dress code, which was the same policy, was never enforced with much diligence.

Although a dress code may seem like a nuisance to some, it is a necessary action. Too many times, I have come to school and seen girls showing their butt cheeks or walking around with their stomachs spilling out of their jeans and crop tops.

People sometimes forget that Paint Branch is a place for learning, not a place to make a fashion statement.

Some may argue that a dress code promotes conformity and restrains conventionality but, you have more ways to express yourself than exposing your body.

Have some self-worth. You know who you are, but what message you are sending to other people by wearing revealing, sexually explicit clothing?

Plus it’s getting cold. Cover up! It is no wonder everyone gets sick every year because many girls ‘expose their chests to the elements in the name of fashion, and “individuality.”

It is time to face the fact that these rules are here, and they are going to be enforced. It is much easier to abide by the rules, rather than suffer the consequences. Either get with it or get lost; get lost in someone else’s clothing, that is, when they ask you are asked to change out of your revealing clothes, and into baggy Panther wear.

According to Dr. Rogers, students will not be sent home for dress-code violations; however, they will have clothes available to them that they can change into for the remainder of the day.

All the administration is trying to do is help us respect our bodies, since it seems as though we are having a problem with doing so ourselves. There is nothing wrong with that. In the real world, no one will take you seriously if all you have to offer is your body.