Is it Time to Rethink the Senior Uniform?

Every year, there appears to be a small yet vocal segment of the senior population that is discontent with the senior shirts, which are designed by a senior student, purchased by each class member, and worn every Friday. This discontent minority might be unhappy with the shirt’s design, its price, or just the inconvenience of remembering to put it on every Friday. While all of those factors might contribute to discontent, there seems to be one constant complaint: The material is too warm or too uncomfortable to wear.

The material is inadequate.

When I wear the shirt, I feel the material is too warm and itchy, so I am forced to wear a shirt underneath that is of a softer material. It might seem like a small inconvenience, but when having to wear it in a country where most of the year is spent in temperatures that hover between 27~34° C, it can become an annoying struggle to endure. Adding on to the fact that most senior shirts employ black, a dark color, causes them to feel even warmer in sunlight. Some students of the class of 2023 opt out of the shirt and prefer to wear their everyday uniform polo or our farewell shirt, which was supposed to be for just one event.

Could the design improve? That's a matter of opinion.

A fellow senior and friend of mine, David, was kind enough to share his opinion with me about the senior shirt. In contrast to my view of the shirt’s material being a problem, he commented that he actually liked the material but felt the shirt’s design “seems a bit empty,” adding that he wished more was added to it. It seems to me a reasonable idea that, in order to set this year’s shirt apart from other senior shirts, the design could be a little louder. However, I think that the simplicity of the design and the different color palette from last year are enough to make the ones who wear it stand out.

Is there a better option?

All of this begs us to ask whether a change might need to be made. Such a change would have to be employed by the class of 2024 as the current seniors already have their shirts. For now, I do suggest that in the future shirts employ a lighter color and a different material. This would substantially improve the quality of the shirts, reducing how warm they feel in the sun. Simple solutions would include using lighter colors like our everyday white polos and changing the material to something like the PE shirts or this year’s long sleeve farewell shirt.. Of course, changing the material could eliminate the unique aspect of having senior shirts that serve as a ‘hybrid’ form of the regular polo. While they may look quite different from the school uniform and such a change might be controversial, I think it’s worth considering.

How far can we drift from the uniform?

A change like this would obviously break the tradition of senior shirts and would make the shirts less similar to AST’s uniform polo. My idea creates the reasonable concern of making seniors not appear to be from AST when they are out and about. However, the senior shirt as it is currently already lacks the prestige and responsibility that the regular polo does off campus, so this change probably would not affect the image of the school.

Whether reforms are to be adopted is up to the grades that will graduate after me, but at least the ability to have the choice to wear the shirt or not is a very important aspect that I appreciate.