ChanKelwin.com

decypher says:

Well, the dress code in my uni is rather strict, but the security guards don’t really give much of a hoot as long as we cover our private parts.

But at work, it’s different. Shirt and Tie all the time. Maybe it’s because it’s a marketing company.

My part time job is much more relaxing though, can even wear jeans.

decypher says:

i could have written a lot more, but that would put you in trouble with the authorities. Heheh.

Angie Tan says:

mmmm… i agree that there should be more emphasis on dressing decently than trying to impose students on wearing formal.

i studied overseas and you can’t imagine how some of the students dress there. they come to uni dressed in track bottoms and look as if they just rolled out of bed.

however, during important presentations, you’ll see them dress to the nines with their formal wear. in fact, some of the courses they take are internships with companies and that requires them to dress up for work.

i believe that students should dress decently enough to respect the institution of higher learning they are attending at. if they fail to understand that, then the higher education they are pursuing is of no use at all in expanding their mind.

consequence says:

Hey, just stumbled onto your post while taking a break from work. I was from UUM, and endured three years of the strict dress code you’re talking about. From an ex-undergraduate (or graduate, depending on your point of view) of UUM, there is certainly lots that can be said about the dress code there.

It wasn’t too bad for the guys. It got from bad to worse for the girls, though. It went from formal attire, knee-length skirt to (in my final semester) long-sleeve only plus long pants for the girls. I even heard a couple of cases where girls who didn’t wear long-sleeved attire were barred from going into the library and being “disciplined”.

From the undergraduates’ point of view, it is really troublesome to dress up like that, too freedom-restricting, too un-liberal. After all, I may LOOK professional (UUM is a “management university”, which means it offers managerial courses and that’s why it expects its undergraduates to dress up like executives) but if I ACT unprofessionally, it’s the same, isn’t it?

In short, the attire does not maketh the (wo)man. I can strip naked and STILL be professional, although this is an extreme example that would not be accepted as a norm in our society, and is invoked purely for argumentative purposes.

Furthermore, just imagine dressing like that and walking from one point to another under the blazing hot sun just to be in time for your next class. Not pretty, I can tell you that.

And the residential colleges are another point of dissent. UUM is a fully residential university, which means that the undergraduates live in the residential colleges offered by the university. There are attire rules there, too. You cannot wear shorts when going beyond your block, which is downright ridiculous. Of course, depending on the college, some administrators do not really bother much.

Some college administrators, on the other hand, seemed overzealous in imposing the rules. I have been reprimanded once, quite harshly, by the administrator of a residential college because I was wearing shorts to fill in water (the water dispensing machine was located just outside the college cafeteria) at 11.30 pm. Sure, there’s a 12am curfew (yes, there is) and I’m wearing shorts, but I’m just filling water. It’s not like I’m doing anything downright illegal! I have had to consciously remind myself to put on trousers every time I had to step outside my block for three years!

Some flexibility on the dress code in UUM is in order, in my opinion. Not only do the overzealousness of authorities in UUM in imposing the dress code show that they’re sticklers for rules, it also shows the “one-track-mind” thinking of those in power. How, pray tell, do we nurture a generation of open-minded and independent scholars when the institution itself is stifling creative thinking by imposing these ridiculous dress codes and rules?

So, you get followers instead of leaders, sheep instead of lions or tigers, who sheepishly follow instead of bravely lead. No wonder so many graduates are lacking in thinking skills. Even the most basic human right like the freedom to dress is being actively stifled and limited!

Just my thoughts.

totty says:

halu!
wah..such a hot topic..
im a uum student(still)..am a malay..am a muslim..
actually i just accidentally found ur blog while searching for sumting.
as 4 me..i dun see dat formal attire really bother us 2 study..ya knw..coz most of d place being air-conditioned plus got fan.. a reason 4 a person to study is not actually wat he wear..but d intention 2 stadi..rite?
d idea of wearing d formal attire during class isnt ridiculuous at all coz uum itself is a mngment university. let us think of a scenario dat visitors outside msia come 2 uum 2 see themself how evrythngs goes here and they found out dat all d students wear torn jeans,body hugging shirt,sleeveless shirt dat shows ur belly button etc..then how wud they perceive uum as a management uni?
it is such a practise 2 wear formal in order 2 prepare students 2 work..

emmanuel says:

Can join the university for postgraduate programme and willing to be working in malaysia to settle there with my family.I need your advise from Nigeria.

"Uni" undergrad says:

The most ridiculous fact is that we UUM students have to dressed fully formal according to our official dress code if we want to visit the campus clinic even when we are sick. Talking about being sick, what sick minded people created such a rule. Speechless….

consequence says:

Yes, Kelwin, I can vouch for the truthfulness of “Uni” undergrad’s comments — when I studied in UUM, we were already required to be fully dressed in formal attire when we wanted to visit the in-house UUM clinic.