School districts find them to be distractions to other students, a sneaky way of cheating, a weapon concealer, a way to smuggle drugs onto campus, or a sure sign that you are a gang member. Beanies, snapbacks, fedoras, or sunhats, the type is irrelevant. Every single hat is against the school dress code.

Apparently, in the eyes of the school, hats are worn with malicious intent. But truth be told, school districts tend to overthink the intention of a student wearing a hat. In reality, a student wears a hat for the sake of wearing a hat.

To address the argument that hats are distractions to peers, when compared to other bold articles of clothing that may be seen around campus, hats may be crossed of the list of “distracting clothing”.

Telling a student that wearing a hat is a distraction is no different than telling a student with a uniquely bold fashion sense “you cannot express yourself through your clothes because it is distracting the other students”. What about the students who express themselves via hat? A proctor would not ask a student wearing a kaleidoscopically colored jacket to remove it because of its distraction, so why should the situation with hats be any different?

If a school claims to be ruling against distracting clothing and accessories, then they might as well take away every exceptionally pretty dress, every face piercing, every pair of neon sneakers, and every bracelet and bangle adorning our wrists. If the school allows other “distracting” clothing to be worn, then the argument that hats are banned for the sake of removing a distraction is void.

As for a way of cheating, hats would be a blatantly obvious method of cheating. Resting a hat on one’s desk to glance at a hidden cheat sheet inside can easily be avoided by the teacher telling students “clear your desks and put everything under your seat”.

Additionally, hiding a notecard inside one’s hat and then pulling it out during a test is an act the teacher would probably catch. If a teacher is suspicious of a student using a hat to cheat, then he or she should walk over to the desk and check the hat. Checking hats for cheating utensils would solve any cheating problem that could potentially arise.

Hats banned for the fear of them being used as a weapon or drug concealer sounds like a decent rule because it is for the protection of the surrounding students.

However, I believe that if a student is going to smuggle drugs or weapons onto campus, their backpack or their pockets would be their first choice, not their hat. If a school district wants to use the argument of hats being a method of concealment, then they should also ban bags, pockets, shirt sleeves, and shoes. Hats should be the least of the school’s worries regarding concealment of weapons or drugs. And, as stated in the previous paragraph, if a student looks suspicious then check his or her hat.

Banning hats does not rid our school of the problems that are used to logicize the ban. It is an unnecessary robbing of our individual self-expression with no positive impact. So give us our hats back.