Each day this winter, thousands of students pile into CHS in coats, gloves, scarves and hats—the latter of which they are immediately told to remove. According to the dress code in the CHS pathways, “the wearing of hats in the building during the school day will not be permitted. Hats, bandanas or similar head apparel are to be removed prior to entering the building.” The reasoning, or lack thereof, behind this policy simply does not make sense. If a student is cold during the winter months, why shouldn’t they be allowed a small warm garment?

Many argue the reason this policy is kept in place is that students could be concealing illegal substances or weapons in their hats. If that is really the reason, shouldn’t backpacks also be banned? What about shoes? Or lockers? Or pockets? Weapons and substances can be snuck in whether or not students are wearing hats; in fact, it would probably be easier for students to sneak them in pockets or backpacks, so a ban on pockets would honestly be more effective than a hat ban in reducing illegal substances in the school. It’s ridiculous that people think a ban on hats will stop weapons and drugs from entering the premises.

Another concern is that people use hats to identify certain gangs, causing hats to therefore be associated with gang activity. However, CHS and the city of Carmel itself don’t seem to have problems with gang activity or gang violence. According to Neighbor Scout, a website which publicizes crime rates for cities across the U.S., Carmel is safer than 75 percent of the cities and towns in the U.S. and is also ranked among the top 100 safest cities in the country. Therefore, gang activity really isn’t much of a worry in this area, and refusing to allow students to wear hats because of a problem that is not at all prominent in Carmel is just an extraneous solution to a problem that doesn’t really exist.

Others say it is a matter of respect and etiquette to remove hats when entering a building. But that rule is outdated and not often recognized in modern society. Hats are allowed in most places, including stores, restaurants and theaters. There really aren’t any places besides school that have strict bans on wearing hats. When we keep this rule about hats in place, we make our school system and schools in general appear like they haven’t caught up to the modern era, which is absolutely not the message a school should give off. With innovative new programs coming from schools across the nation involving technology, testing and other areas that affect the lives of students, we don’t want people to think schools are still in the dark ages based on their medieval policy regarding the wearing of hats within the building.

Besides, hats are a staple of fashion and always have been. From the cloche hats of the 1920s to the fedoras of the 1950s, hats have played a huge role in distinguishing characteristics of fashion for decades and are simply a force that cannot be stopped.

And a policy that isn’t enforced isn’t really a policy at all. Day in and day out, I see students wearing hats during the school day and not getting caught or punished for it. Clearly the issue is either a part of the policy teachers don’t know about or don’t care enough about to enforce properly. If this ridiculous rule is going to broken time after time without consequence, why keep it around?

The hat policy at CHS is unnecessary, unenforced and unfounded by any principle of safety or etiquette. As these cold winter months continue, hopefully administrators will consider changing this policy and letting their students stay warm instead of clinging to an archaic policy that most students and teachers ignore anyway.

The views in this column do not necessarily reflect the views of the HiLite staff. Reach Emily Worrell at [email protected].