All throughout high school we have been told we are and will be treated as “young adults.”

So, why are we as “young adults” told what not to wear by those who supposedly respect us?

Teachers and administrators constantly articulate the fact that they so often see outfits that are “inappropriate” for school and even went as far as creating a “thumb rule.”

The only thing I find to be inappropriate is that a teacher who doesn’t even know my name is able to walk up to me and ask, “Do you have something to put on over your dress?”.

When a teacher overhears my friend complaining about the climate of the school, I certainly should not expect for her to sneer, “Well, maybe you should put some more clothes on,” in response — but now, I do.

And, not to mention, if girls like me, who were so unfortunately blessed with extremely long, lanky limbs follow this new “thumb rule,” we, along with our bermuda shorts, will be banished back to the fourth grade.

Day after day, I hear girls repeating teachers’ comments in regard to what they were wearing. I find it not only disrespectful but embarrassing for all parties involved.

The school’s female population is being punished because a little skin creates a “distracting learning environment” for male students. It’s only continuing to perpetuate the idea that, rather than teaching boys to control themselves, girls should change.

When it comes down to it, if a boy is attracted to me or interested in me (I know, good joke), it is not because my shoulders were showing at school the day before.

“Spaghetti straps” do not mean I’m trying to divert a guy’s attention to me instead of the lecture going on in the front of the room.

High-waisted shorts do not imply that I sleep around nor that I am willing to.

And a top slightly more low-cut than others surely does not entail that I have no self-respect.

I wear the clothes I wear because I like them, because they make me feel good, because this pair of shorts cost me four hours of babysitting the spawn of Satan, and I am going to get my money’s worth.

Lack of a dress code will not send the girls of Blue Valley on a spaghetti-strap-high-waisted-shorts-wearing rampage. I’m not asking that as girls we be able to show off all of our bits and pieces. But, when we’re around teachers and administrators, we shouldn’t have to hike down the same shorts that our parents complimented us on that very morning.

I am not going to go out and buy the overpriced floral-patterned potato sack that is Lilly Pulitzer just so the boys around me can focus.