Pants on the Ground: Students need to pay more attention to learning instead of sagging

Lucas Hamilton/Entertainment Editor

Trends move quickly in this new age of globalization, but one trend that persists in the youth is sagging.

Sagging is looked at as a symbol of freedom, cultural awareness and as a rejection of mainstream society by the “saggers.” The concept of wearing your pants below your waist and
revealing your underwear originated in prisons where belts were prohibited because they could be used as weapons or for suicide. Hip-hop artists in the 90s then began to take the concept and make it mainstream. Now, we have a new concept of fashion with all of the baggy and saggy clothes.

Cities have been actually putting laws in effect to prevent the excessive exposure of underwear and other unnecessary things. In Opa-Locka, Fla., a vote was held and a unanimous decision was made that individuals who refused to simply pull their pants up would be faced with a $250 fine or 10 hours of community service.

At Westside Middle School in Memphis, Tenn., the policy for sagging is either pull them up or get “Urkeled,” like Steve Urkel from the TV show Family Matters. The whole idea behind “Urkeling” is that teachers would pull the students’ pants up and zip tie them to hold them up, fighting pop culture with pop culture.

Why do people insist on sagging their pants? Here are the potential reasons I’ve come up with. It is possible that they forgot to wear a belt that day and the pants happened to just sag because of that; harmless mistake. Someone could also have some sort of deformity that causes the waist line to be much lower than the general population; medical reasons. It could be that they enjoy the brisk autumn breeze blowing down their pants; leisure reasons.

It is guaranteed that a majority of people who sag do not justify their fashion choice in these ways. A majority of people think it makes them look tough or “manly” when in actuality, it makes you look lazy and a little less than intelligent.

Maybe it is just me or an actual problem, but lately, walking through the halls, I’ve noticed more people walking with underwear showing and their “swag” on. What is even the point of wearing pants if you are just going to have them hang around your knees? What is just absolutely astonishing is that people will sag their pants and then wear a belt in order to keep them in that place. I couldn’t care about how you wear your pants outside of school, but please have some respect for this place. Yes, it is school and not fun all the time, but you are not here to show off new underwear you just got. No matter how cool your new Batman or Superman underwear is, it is very well guaranteed that not many people care to see it. You are here to learn. Turn your “swag” off, pull your pants up and get something out of this place.