Whether you love it or hate it, wearing the cheerleading uniform to school is, essentially, a right that your cheerleaders do have. In this country, and I imagine in your school as well, when you discuss stripping away a privilege from someone that they currently possess, you should have more than petty jealousies backing you up. That is mostly what I have seen here. You can say that isn’t what this is about, but about the best argument that has been mentioned for taking away the cheerleader’s right to wear their uniform to school is that it possibly could be a distraction. However, I’m not even buying that one. The cheer uniform is socially accepted in the society in which all of you live. You have seen thousands of girls wearing their cheer uniform from television, magazines to other schools as well. A cheerleader in her uniform is no more a distraction to your classroom as a kid wearing an expensive outfit or one wearing all black. It is something you see on a regular basis. Certainly there will be kids who make big deals over nothing. These same kids would be just as likely to make a big deal over just about anything. They are perhaps ‘overly observant’, or better yet, ‘fond of hearing their own voice’. If you can find a solution to dealing with these kids, and I am sure eliminating the cheer uniform from school isn’t it, please write an article about that. Besides, does it not seem a backwards way of solving a problem to take away from the girls because of someone ELSE’S bad behavior? If the distraction is actually just girls sitting around talking about how unfair it is that they are not allowed to wear a short skirt as the cheerleaders are (again, a very particular skirt, one day a week for PART of the year,) then I think we should all envy THEM because obviously they do not have enough real problems. If it weren’t about the cheerleader’s skirts, I can guarantee you it would be about something else. It is absolutely impossible to rid your school of people who choose to be distracted by others…and make no mistake, that distraction is ALSO a choice.

Challenging the dress code is by far, a better strategy than singling out your cheerleaders. Even then, be prepared to have better arguments than ‘it’s not fair’. Supposedly, the point of so many of your comments is that your school should do more to create equality amongst all the students. Be careful barking up that tree. Equality amongst you all is MUCH more of an argument for switching to school uniforms then it is an argument for short skirts. You all come from different cultures, and different economic backgrounds. How is it even possible to make you all equal when there is no way you will all choose to wear the same thing or even better, have the ability to wear the same thing? I spent half my life in a private school in which we all wore ‘uniform-like’ clothing, and incidentally, our school’s cheerleaders still wore a short skirt on game day to school. The only way dress code will ever create more equality is if you all wear uniforms.

The cheer uniform is considerably less revealing than several other uniforms that groups of your school wear for their activities, and this was intentional since it was designed to be worn to school! It was approved by the school administrators and considered to be in good taste. It actually makes me laugh a little to see anyone accusing them of not wearing their spanks. You may not like some of these girls, but the truth is all of them, both JV & Varsity have spent their entire life in gymnastics and dance classes to become a cheerleader. They went through an unbelievably rigorous try-out process, they do so many things for the school I couldn’t even BEGIN to name them all, and the time, hard work and money they spend on OTHERS is second to none. Instead of childish, unfounded accusations, give a little respect where it is due. Nobody says you have to be a supporter, but really, saying these girls don’t respect themselves and don’t wear spanks just makes you seem like a cheerleader hater, which has nothing to do with the argument at hand.

For the record, as also previously mentioned, the newspaper article that was passed out to the student body was NOT “the voice of the student body,” hence why this article was published under the category ‘opinion.’ Even the poll taken would indicate otherwise. The article didn’t even once reference the opposing argument. In fact, the disclaimer states matter-of-factly that the paper is the staff opinions and not those of Rider HS. As far as the comment about ‘cheerleaders being leaders and should never be caught up in dress code controversy’ goes, I believe that one school paper opinion article and a few agreeing comments based more on emotion than on factual arguments can hardly be considered a controversy. Also, by definition, leaders lead. They do not simply join the crowd, nor do they give in to peer-pressure, even though that is what so many commenting here would have them do. Otherwise they would be followers. In fact, the cheerleaders wearing a uniform to school that makes them stand out from the other students is actually more indicative of leadership than a t-shirt to blend in with everyone else would be. In many organizations the leader of such will wear a different color uniform so as to stand out. This article is irrelevant to their leadership role. They have done nothing new or out of the ordinary to stir this up.

Cheerleaders don’t merely support themselves. They support the other sports teams, they cheer for Rider High, and they try and encourage everyone to be proud of their school and to wish well for it. THIS is what sets them apart from the other organizations, not their uniform. If you want “a leap in the right direction,” then start learning right now that squashing the rights, privileges, way of life…whatever you want to call it, of others when they are not hurting anyone else, is not the way to go about things. You don’t have to like it, you don’t have to agree with it, but about the best you can do is come up with creative ways to encourage your own personal beliefs. Start an organization, begin a new tradition. Challenge the dress code. Rather than selling out your cheerleaders, find a more constructive way to make your school a better place for everyone, because I am pretty sure that is what your cheerleaders try and do.
***Apologies for the novel

I am on the soccer team though, and my problem with cheer skirts isn’t just because I think they’re too short. But it isn’t fair for them to wear skirts when after playing soccer outside all class period in the heat, I can’t wear shorts to class. There is nothing more disgusting or challenging than trying to put on a pair of jeans after being so incredibly sweaty. Sure, we can wear sweatpants, but it is so HOT. It is miserable. I am tall, so finding shorts long enough to wear to class that actually fit is almost impossible. Also, on my game days you won’t find me walking the halls in my shinguards and cleats. I’ll be in jeans and a game day tshirt. If the cheerleaders continue getting to wear their uniforms, then the dress code should be changed. If not, they should be wearing jeans and a cheer shirt like every other sport does at this school. It’s that simple.