The new security guard uniforms feel like a failed joke. Rather than appeal to authority, they appear to ridicule it.

A callous transition, the change from professional attire to prison-esque garb comes  at a delicate time when, in light of the Michael Brown shooting, feeble relationships exist between police and communities, especially those with large minority population, including Prince George’s county, which is predominantly black.

With widespread cynical attitude toward authority, many youths already claim to abide by policies including “no snitches” and “don’t trust the police”.

Under the new policy, security guards are, more or less, the school’s police.

Uniformity and authority can be established through a less demanding uniform; this was demonstrated through the previous dress of the security and students have always been well aware of who is and is not security staff. Prior to the uniforms, I can find no evidence of ambiguity of which staff were administrators and which were security. Recognition was never an issue.

Inevitably, the uniforms unify security and disassociate them from students, as well as disaffiliate the security from administration.

Students have always taken comfort in knowing there were security guards, here for our protection and safety, without having it broadcasted so loudly. Without the uniforms there was an unspoken compromise between security and students. They guide us, we comply upon reason. There was always an option and a comfort in understanding this option.

But the new uniforms remove that trust and comfort, they scream ‘I am authoritative, obey me or be punished’. They scream ‘notice me, acknowledge me.’ They advertise our school to be one of intense and immediate danger and this message takes away from the atmosphere Roosevelt High School has established.

And just like that our school’s environment has lost its sense of security and sight of the Roosevelt Way and become suitable to that of a reformatory.

Having a security guard around every corner dressed in a security uniform, with a security badge teaches students that they are incapable of self-control and therefore must constantly be monitored like convicts; injecting students with a poisonous and deadly perception of life outside of school.

We are policing our schools. So are we shaping students to live the lives of pupils or prisoners?