I walk through the hallways of Hall High School with my weathered ‘Rhode Island State Parks’ baseball cap atop my head. The security guard glowers, and then barks at me “Hey kid! Take that hat off.” I take the hat off, only to put it right back on as soon as I am out of eyesight of the security guard.

This experience is not unique to me. Many kids in Hall can be seen with hats on throughout the school day, despite the no-hats rule. This editorial aims to outline the efficacy of this policy.

Why are hats banned?

According to administrator Shelly Solomon,  “It’s because of the respect. You’re not going to wear a hat sitting in a restaurant with your family, you’re not going to wear a hat at church or synagogue, or in your home necessarily. So it’s really out of respect.”

Removing one’s hat as a sign of respect is ingrained into our culture. However, this custom is slowly fading from oursociety. The tradition is based off the norms of the early 1900’s.

The Emily Post Institute explains the origins of this cultural norm: “In the old days, men took off their hats in Christian churches, when they entered someone’s home, when greeting a boss, and always in the presence of a lady.” In my view, the no hat policy does not align with the progressive nature of Hall High School in 2017. Even some teachers have admitted that the policy is now out of date. Ms. Hill explains, “I used to be in support of it because of the respect- taking your hat off in the building, taking your hat off at the dinner table etc. But, I feel like now that is kind of an old fashioned tradition that has gone by the wayside.”

I can understand and respect teachers who do not want students wearing hats in the classroom. However, many teachers simply do not care. If they enforce the policy at all, they are usually only doing so in accordance with school policy. I am asking administrators to let teachers determine their own classroom rules about whether or not they let their students wear hats..

Regardless of whether or not you consider wearing hats indoors disrespectful, the dress code does not take respect into consideration. In fact, the dress code explicitly states, “the rights of students regarding their appearance will not be interfered with except when their choice disrupts the educational process or creates disorder by containing offensive or obscene language or symbols oriented towards violence, sex, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or degrades any gender, cultural, religious, or ethnic values.”

This brings us to administrators next argument.

In our interview, Ms. Solomon argued that “it is a safety issue so that we can identify students.” She also clarified that the rule applies to hoods as well as hats. I see a major flaw in this argument. There is nothing to prevent a student from putting a hat or hood on to protect their identity from administrators. The people who enforce the no hat rule in the hallways are the security officers. They also are trained to handle legitimate safety issues. When a security guard is present, you cannot hide who you are. When a security guard is not present, there is nothing to stop you from using a hood or a hat to hide your face. The problem with the “safety” argument is that there is no real enforcement mechanism. Students will wear hats whether the administration wants them to or not.

Exempting religious students from the no-hats rule makes sense. As Ms. Solomon stated, “We want to respect everybody and we have to allow everybody to practice their religion. It’s the right thing to do.” I agree with her. However, in my view the exemption should not be necessary. Many students that I talked to agreed with me. Carla Canovi is a senior at Hall High School, when I questioned her about the exemption she said, ““I understand why they are the exception to the rule, but the rule doesn’t make sense in the first place. If they’re the only ones covering their heads while everyone else can’t, they end up being the odd ones out.” No student I talked to felt that religious students should not be allowed to wear hats. However, students feel that rules should apply equally to everyone. Simply because a student does not belong to an organized religion, that does not mean that they do not have strong cultural or psychological reasons for wanting to wear a hat. The first amendment protects the freedom to practice religion, however it also asserts that the government cannot promote religion. Justin Suroweic argues, “If nobody was allowed to wear hats you could argue that the school is prohibiting the free exercise of religion. That’s wrong. But, you could also argue that giving only religious students the freedom to wear headwear is promoting religion.” Creating different sets of rules for different people only divides our school further.

Furthermore, how does the school determine if your religious beliefs are legitimate. Ms. Solomon told me a story: “There was a student who came in and gave us the name of some religion. We contacted his parents and he said ‘no, it’s just my religion.’ And he wanted to wear a hat.” I asked her if the student was allowed to wear a hat. She replied, “No, because there was no proof that it was truly a religion” If a student claims that they hold religious or spiritual beliefs that compel them to wear a hat, who are administrators to tell this student that their beliefs are not legitimate?

For these reasons, I call upon the no hat policy to be taken under review by administrators. I hope that they can come to the conclusion that the rule does more to damage our school than to help it.