Tattoos planned for most students

Kimberly Dominguez and Maria Sanchez

Most Morton East students plan on getting a tattoo at some point in their lives. 

Tattoos have a long history, a tattoo is a form of body modification where a design is made by inserting ink, dyes, and pigments, either indelible or temporary into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. The art of making a tattoo is tattooing. The word tattoo, or tattoo in the 18th century, meaning “to strike”. Since the 1970s, tattoos have become a mainstream part of global and Western fashion, common among both sexes, to all economic classes, and to age groups from the later teen years to middle age. Students that are under age want a tattoo but what they don’t know or forget is that getting a tattoo must be with a parent’s permission. A lot of them decided to get a tattoo on their friend house or any other place that is not safe to get their tattoo. In a random survey of 174 Morton East students, 133 students report they will get a tattoo.  

“I am 16 years old and I got my tattoo when I was 15 years old in a friend’s house it was easy, and I did not need a permission sign from my parents,” junior Kevin Aguilar said.  

Another student feels differently.  

“I love my tattoo.  It represents my family and the religion that I am from. I got my tattoo when I was 18 years old; in my opinion, kids who are under age should wait before getting a tattoo without the permission of a guardian,” sophomore Gerardo Gutierrez said.  

But, the lunch ladies of the school feel that every student is free to do want ever they want to do in their body.  

“I feel we are in a free country where anyone can have a tattoo on their body as long as it’s appropriate or it symbolizes something that is very important”, said Kimberly lunch lady 3A. 

Another student thinks differently.  

“No one should get a tattoo because if you try to donate your blood you won’t be able to do it; the tattoo pigment is bad for our blood and you will not be able to donate blood,” senior Gabriel Santana said.    

Finally, one of our adults tells us about their experience.   

“My tattoo took about five hours; my experience was amazing.  (Tattooing) does hurt, but in the end, the tattoo symbolizes a lot of things to me, and I don’t regret tattooing my skin even though I know it’s sometimes bad for work, or people see you in a bad way,” Marcela Garcia said.