Over the past decade students, teachers and parents have been arguing over the issue of student’s attire in school. Cliques, gangs and bullying have all become issues among students based on dress, and now we have a problem on our hands. Are school uniforms the answer? Or will they crush a student’s individuality and creativity? I say, go for uniforms. According to Jeffrey Warren, "Uniforms allow children the right to distinguish themselves by the deeds they've done, not the duds they wear" (Boutelle). Uniforms have proven to be an effective answer to problems by equalizing all students during the school day. In Jacobs vs. Clark County, the court stated, "the (uniform) policy had helped improve student achievement, promoted safety, and enhanced the school environment" (Walsh). Uniforms are low on cost, have helped reduce fighting among students, and take away the major fashion distractions that are so prevalent in today’s schools. Most students spend their last days of summer shopping for new school clothes at the most popular stores with designer brands. This can be a major expense to families, and with record job losses and such high unemployment rates, many families simply can’t afford to go out shopping. Uniforms take care of this problem entirely. They are affordable and they also provide total equality among students. This also helps control fights between each other. If every student is dressing the same, then there is no reason for teasing based on style, or lack of style. Even more, when a student’s mind is focused on learning instead of their outfit or the attire of the person next to them, learning is bound to increase. Time spent picking out an outfit or shopping for new clothes can be better spent by studying for their classes and getting adequate sleep. As I said before, some people are concerned that uniforms will crush a student’s creativity. I can see how this may be a concern to some, but I also think that life has many other areas to express creativity and students may just have to learn how to adjust. Also, when these students enter the work force, there will most likely be some sort of dress code enforced at their place of employment. Students may have to learn how to dress according to these standards in this situation as well. John Ginn, principal at Sacramento City USD's Bowling Green Charter School makes this same point when he states, "Wearing uniforms is promoting job skills at a young age" (Boutelle). As you can see, uniforms will only help students to be all that they can be while they’re in school, as well as preparing them for after school when they are ready to enter the workplace.
Works Cited
Boutelle, Marsha. "UNIFORMS: Are They a Good Fit?." Education Digest Feb. 2008: 34-37. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. 14 Sep. 2009.
Walsh, Mark. "U.S. Appeals Court Backs District's Rules On School Uniforms." Education Week 21 May 2008: 8-8. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 14 Sep. 2009 .
Once a kid starts school, the student will spend a huge amount of time in there. This is where the student will grow up, learn and go through various stages of life. It is the time for the student to explore their own identity of what the student wants to become. How do they experience these changes when there is little diversity in school due to school uniforms? They will be very limited. Sure they have time outside of school to do what they want and try things, and express themselves but they are in a totally different environment. The experiences they'll have outside of school will be different than inside of school. Students have their different friends in and out of school and see different people. This is why I do not like the idea of school uniforms. They are cost friendly for most schools, but we all know that now parents will not only have to buy clothes for school they will now have to buy another set of clothes for after school. Most parents will not let their kids wear their school uniform to go outside to play and get dirty. That's what kids just do, it cant be avoided. My nephews, 6 and 11, go to a uniform school and they come to my home every day after school. Once they get home, the first thing they do is change out of their uniforms and into what they say "something better." As Hethorn mentioned in his article, Uniforms won't impact school saftely, "There are also side effects to implementing a school-uniform policy, and those side effects often aren't taken into consideration when the policy is decided." (Hethorn)
ReplyDeleteI mentioned that dressing freely is a sign of self expression. Students can wear and show what the love, for example, if they like to play a certain sport or like a certain band they can wear their clothing and maybe they'll make new friends who love the same thing they love. When everyone is in a uniform, there is less ways for students to find out about what other students share their common interest. I'm not agreeing that students should get to wear anything they want to express themselves. The school and the district should set a line to what is appropriate and what is inappropriate. That way students will get to wear what they want and not offend anyone or provoke anyone. I think that the students should have a say in what they want to wear to school, because they'll be there for a very long time.
Works Cited
Hethorn, Janet. “Uniforms won’t impact school
safety.” Long Island Business News
5 2009, Vol. 47 Issue 46.: p27A. EBSCOhost. Web.
8 September 2009
Uniforms are not meant to limit diversity or change what a student will become. On the contrary, they help students focus on school work and real life issues, which in turn will help them decide what they will become. If students can learn to express themselves through their schoolwork, where it really matters, they’ll end up learning more about themselves. Just because a student is wearing the same clothes as the people around them for the school day does not mean that they will be completely transformed into a new person. It simply puts them in the mind set of going to school and aids in learning.
ReplyDeleteMost uniform schools have a “casual” dress day about once a week as well. Students can wear t-shirts showing their interests on these casual days, and this way they still have some freedom to express themselves. So, if the concern is that students won’t be able to make friends as easily because of uniforms, this is a simple solution. I grew up going to a uniform school all the way through tenth grade, so I know a thing or two about uniforms. We adopted this casual dress day a couple times a month and as a student, I can honestly say that most of us were just fine with wearing uniforms the rest of the days. In fact, the Student Handbook for ABI Christian Academy says, “We have found that the wearing of uniforms upgrades student attitude toward self, environment and responsibilities by increasing the quality of his appearance.” This is a very true statement when you stop and think about it. A normal person is obviously going to feel better about themselves when they know they look nice, rather than when they’re not looking their best. Casual dress is more comfortable, you may say, but is school supposed to be a relaxed, casual environment? Most people would agree that it should be structured, well planned and focused on learning. Therefore, the correct dress code would be structured, well planned and focused on learning. Uniforms are the key. Maybe they are not the answer to the deepest problems in school, but they are helpful in many other areas.
As for the issue of having two sets of clothes, one for school and one for play. Because uniforms are made to be so affordable, and only a couple sets are needed per year, it all balances out. Students won’t need as many “play” clothes because they won’t be wearing them to school, so the cost should just about even out.
Works Cited
Grant, Gerald. “Apostolic Bible Institute Christian Academy Student Handbook.” Saint
Paul: 2009. Print.
I agree with Dana, when she says “Uniforms are the key. Maybe they are not the answer to the deepest problems in school, but they are helpful in many other areas.” The biggest issue about the schools that don’t have it mandatory for the students to wear uniforms is that it increases violence as in gang violence, or it even makes a few upset. A lot of students come from lower middle class families that are not financially stable, and the parents cannot afford to buy their kids expensive name brand clothing. For example, when a student sees his fellow classmate wearing new outfits, and he or she knows that their parents can’t afford it. Then the child gets overwhelmed, and ends up with anger problems which could lead to violence. When parents send their kids to school, they are leaving the school responsible for their child because all parents expect schools to have a safe environment. No parent would want to send their kid to a school in which the staff does not have control over students.
ReplyDeleteI used to live in Pakistan, and I attended, The City School where it was mandatory for all students to wear uniforms starting from kindergarten. But that changed when I moved to America, starting eighth grade, I was allowed to wear anything I wanted to wear to school, and since I was so used to wearing uniforms since kindergarten being able to wear fancy clothes was quiet different and unappealing to me. I think wearing uniforms was so beneficial because then my parents didn’t have to go through the hassle of taking me to different stores and buy different clothes, and spend more money compared to just buying a few sets of uniforms. In Pakistan, we would just go to one specific store which carried only uniforms and that was it, my parents and I didn’t have to go about wasting time, and money on fashionable clothing. I also want to point out that during the time Clinton was president there was a manual passed back in 1996 which advised “nation's 16,000 school districts to legally enforce a school uniform policy” (Mitchell). Clinton also mentioned that wearing uniforms doesn't "stamp out individuality among our young people” (Mitchell). President Clinton said, "If it means that teen-agers will stop killing each other over designer jackets,” in his weekly radio address, "then our public schools should be able to require their students to require school uniforms.
Another point that I think makes my claim more a little bit more reliable is that students are very easily distracted, and more disrespectful, when they can wear whatever they want to. I remember that there was a time in eighth grade when the class had already begun and a girl walked in, and she was tardy. She caught all the students’ attention not only because she was tardy, but also because she wore heels to school, and the noise made it very distracting for us to focus on what the teacher was talking about. Therefore, if uniforms were made mandatory for all schools this wouldn’t have been an issue at anytime.
So Phong, hopefully you can see now that it is far more beneficial to have schools regulate school uniforms, and you would start agreeing that uniforms are mandatory. Any kid that comes back from school wants to change into clothing which is better, and more comfortable. But if the school uniforms are helping reduce violence in school, and the schools are academically better as well, then I don’t see the harm in it. Wouldn’t you want your nephews to be attending a safer and better academically challenged school? Or would you want them to go to a school that lets the children wear whatever they wish for, a school that possibly has a higher rate of violence and distractions?
Works Cited
Mitchell, Alison. "Clinton Will Advise Schools on Uniforms." *The New York Times.* 25 Feb. 1996. 11 Sep. 2009. Web.
These are really amazing snaps, I loved to see it.......uniforms
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