Is It You?

By: Afif Ikhwanul M (An ESP Lecturer)

Happy Students

            College is a place for studying after graduating from senior high. Many new things are faced by undergraduate students after they become college students. For example, they will meet new friends from various places, find new environment after they have stayed along in their hometown, face new regulation of the college toward their study, and so on. Those all new things can bring them into good thing or bad thing. Consequently, the ability for adaptation and selection is very important.

            The way of clothing in the college is also one of the new things that the new college students face as rule. The college rule allows the students to go to college without wearing any uniform in certain days or maybe the whole college days. The students are free to wear their favorite clothes. But, the rule says that it must be formal and respectful since college is a place for studying and it is formal institution. In this case, the students are challenged to be mature on the way they cloth themselves to show their intellectuality and morality.

            Students are “free” to express their feeling and action because it’s better for us to develop and dig all our potential to get useful experience. In fact, many students look this ease as a free to express their feeling toward their way of clothing. When we go to some colleges to find some literature or information about something, we usually see many college students wearing informal clothes and sometimes it is not proper to wear in college. They use a non-collar T-shirt, trousers which is ordinary used in the house, semi shoes, many accessories in their body such as bracelet plait, cowboy hat, piercing, extraordinary make-up, and so on. On the other hand, some students are wearing more informal clothes than those above. They go to college by wearing press body T-shirt, tank top, mini skirt, favorite legging (likes trousers but press body and the materials are soft and stretch), and sandals. These kinds of clothing neglect the formality condition of learning and studying in the college.  Then, it also breaks the moral rule of respects.

            Nowadays, it seems like common while some women students open their two until three button of their shirt when they are in college. It is weird and able to attract man’s eyes to not concentrate on studying. It is impolite. In addition, some girls are wearing “Bath hair clamp” to tie their hair when they are in college. Actually that clamp is used when they are taking a bath. It is misplaced.

            In the simple thing we know that the lecturer never wear T-shirt in lecturing; never wear sandals, and other informal clothes. They always wear respectful and formal clothes. Moreover, in some universities, the lecturers are not allowed to wear jeans and soft jeans. From this thing, students actually should understand that college is a place for studying, not for hanging out.

            Many reasons show why students cloth themselves like that. The most stated reason is about time. It is the common reason told by some students who spend most of their time in college. They say that those clothes are the only clothes they have because they still do not have time to go shopping. Besides that, another common reason is that they want to go somewhere for hanging out after college but they are in hurry so that they do not have time to choose the appropriate clothes. Furthermore, another reason is all about students’ identity. They think that the way they get dressed for going to college is a matter of expressing their identity. In this case, most of them want to show their identity by imitating their idol. They want to be seen as the fan of certain famous person and they want to look like their idol. They want to express it by wearing some unique and unusual accessories even for going to college. Moreover, the reason why college students wear informal dress is that they want to be a center of attention and special. They will feel more confident when they wear such those clothes rather than the clothes which is polite and tidy. Some others argue that they are still polite because they compare the way they get dressed to the students in America and other Western countries. Finally, some students think that they are mature and able to be responsible toward themselves. They do not care what people think about themselves. They think that it is the best way for them to go to college.                                 

Each college has rules how students cloth. The rules say that students are not allowed to wear T-shirt, sandals, press body shirt and trousers, and impolite clothes such as mini skirt, pants, legging. Students in some days are also not allowed to wear jeans trousers. Though, part of the rules allowed for the students to have their freedom in clothing . But, when we get back to the essence of studying they must obey all the rules by clothing poperly since they are the member of community in a formal institution. Then, it is just the way they use the right and proper clothes in the right place and situation. So, is it you?