School spirit. You either bleed proud for it, or don’t give much thought to the idea. High schools often have several weeks during the year solely dedicated to displaying how proud the student body is of its sports teams.

School spirit days can easily become tacky when there is a lack of purpose for the theme. The entire point of a spirit day is to support the school, and when the theme becomes too abstract it loses the original purpose of dedication. During school the hallways and classes can quickly turn into a perplexed bunch of students who are unable to focus because of the distracting ways their peers are dressed.

High school already has a variety of competitive events for students to participate in that have true meaning and importance. School spirit is just another way students can become unnecessarily competitive. There is almost always a group of students who go the extra mile to make sure they are the most spirited among their peers. These students become obsessed with outdoing each other in an event that has no true impact on any of the sports events.

Preparing for the spirit day themes is often time consuming and is not always inclusive of everyone. There are students who are unable to participate because they simply cannot afford to buy clothing that is appropriate for the spirit theme.

Feeling comfortable at school is extremely important for most students. When the spirit theme involves elements that take that away, the experience is not enjoyable. One of the most annoying days of the year is mum and garter day during homecoming week when the entire school building is filled with ringing bells and oversized decorations. The irritating sound is accompanied by self-absorbed teenage girls who are only concerned about the sizes of their mums.

Breaking dress code is another problem that comes along with spirit days. With some spirit days, students are technically allowed to break the standard dress code if it is part of the theme. For example, hat day and pajama day enable students who are participating to dress differently than what would normally be acceptable. It is pointless to spend money buying clothing students can not wear every day.

So before going overboard, take a moment and think about how you can use your time more wisely. Instead of spending countless hours preparing your outfit for the next day, you could use that valuable time and actually have an impact on your community.