School uniforms not only make students more disciplined, uniforms also make the students more reliable and respectful. School uniforms have been mandated in many school districts because it lessens the violence, promotes safety, and helps students from being distracted and more concentrated in the education.
According to Randy Rockney, “Overall school crime declined by 36% fights and weapons offenses by 50%, sex offenses by 74%, suspensions by 32%, and vandalism by 18%.” School uniforms are not only beneficial for students, it’s also beneficial for parents and teachers. Also, if all the students wore the same kind of dress code, then there wouldn’t be any sort of competition either, and we wouldn’t see the division we see in schools which is based on the type of designer clothing a student wears. Some kinds of clothes disrupt learning, clothing that includes vulgar or violent language or graphics, or that advertises alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs, is a distraction.
Julia Wilkins stated that, “. . . assaults on teachers are frequent and children are routinely killed over designer clothing, (and) have been constant over the past few years. These reports have placed pressure on schools and politicians to act quickly, before the situation gets out of control.” So if we don’t make it mandatory to make students wear uniforms more and more students would be killed and teachers will be assaulted. Wilkins also stated that in Long beach, California, “there was a dramatic decrease in violence, and discipline problems, as well as higher test scores.” The uniforms help students gain more focus on the education rather than themselves, and takes their mind off getting into the wrong things in life. “Middle-class students report peer pressure to buy expensive clothing, cliquish behavior exacerbated by differences in what students can afford, and kids wearing inappropriately sexualized clothing that isn’t conducive to studying” (Boyd).
A lot of parents can afford clothing that are from expensive stores, but the parents that can’t provide it, their kids suffer and it makes them upset, which could lead to violence. I think if most of the schools made it mandatory for students to wear school uniforms a lot of parents won’t be economically disadvantaged, there won’t be so much violence in school, and the students will be more focused on their education.
Works Cited
Boyd, Hannah. “School Uniforms.” Education. N.d. Web. 9 Sep. 2009.
Rockney, Randy. “Should school uniforms be mandated in elementary schools?” Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter. May 2005. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Sep. 2009
Wilkins, Julia. “School Uniforms.” Humanist 59.2 (Mar. 1999): 19. Academic Search Premier. Web. 9 Sep. 2009
I do agree with most of what Saba is saying in her thesis, except for one issue. Saba says "If we don't make it mandatory to make students wear uniforms more and more students would be killed, and teachers would be assaulted." However, I'm not so sure that uniforms would be a useful tool to work against such intense violence. Yes, uniforms do put students under a state of submission towards teachers and adults, but they don't hold the power to change a student completely. Changes in smaller issues may be apparent, but killings and assaults should be handled in other ways besides enforcing a dress code.
ReplyDeleteDana, I understand your point about killing, but the fact of the matter is that even I was shocked when I read it in my research! I have been to schools which don't have it mandatory for the students to wear uniform and I can relate to the violence, it was indeed physically abusive but it wasn't violent enough for it to lead to killing. The killing hasn't taken place many enough times for all schools to make them mandatory for the students to wear uniforms, but it has possibly happened a few times, and that's why Wilkins mentioned it in her article, "School Uniforms."
ReplyDeleteSaba stated that "if we don't make it mandatory to make students wear uniforms, more and more students would be killed, and teachers will be assaulted." I don't believe putting on a uniform is the right way to handle the situation. If the school is having problems with violence then the school has another problem on their hands. They should find another effective way to lower the violence in the school, like better security, harsher punishment and more discipline. Instead they seem to have chosen a cheap alternative and not very effective way, and just slapped a uniform onto a student in hopes of changes.
ReplyDeleteI agree that uniforms will decrease gang related incidents because students will not be able to show off their gang colors, but uniforms will not make a student's grudge against another student go away. If it worked that well then there should be close to zero violence in schools that require uniforms. There will always be violence in school due to other reasons other than gang related fights. Bullies will still pick on the nerds or geeks because they're smart or know too much. The better looking students that are full of themselves will continue to lower students who don't have the looks. And there is still the issue of race that will not go away anytime soon. People grow up in different environments out of school that lead them to racism and simply throwing on a school uniform so everyone dresses like will not change the fact that there are different races in that school. From the time kids begin school, if their parents don't teach how to respect another person regardless of that they are, wear or do, then the student will be more likely to grow up corrupted and a school uniform will only cover up who the kid actually is.
I think there always a point where a person or a student needs to start becoming a better person and the environment that person lives in makes a huge impact on that person’s life. Suppose a really bad student who fails, and doesn’t focus in class starts going to a better school, a school with higher standards, and even more stricter rules and regulations compared to a school with a higher rate of violence, there is no reason why that student would not start doing better academically. Usually the environment makes a person change drastically and I have seen that happen to a very close friend of mine. Jamal used to go to a school which didn't have it mandatory for students to wear uniforms, where there was a higher rate of crimes, and the students were never focused on their studies. As soon as he started going to my school back in Pakistan, he improved not just as a person, also with his studies because in our school, there were rules. Rules that you had to abide by, like wearing school uniforms, proper language, proper behavior, and hope to achieve the best which made a whole lot of difference in Jamal’s life. Again, I would conclude that wearing school uniforms definitely makes a huge impact on a lot of students lives, and if wearing uniforms helps students than we should all be for wearing uniforms rather than against it.
ReplyDeleteAs you can see in my previous comment, I already agreed that school uniforms are not the way to handle intense violence and killing. For that particular issue, I completely agree with Phong that more dramatic measures need to be taken.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I don’t agree with some other issues that Phong mentions in his comment. According to Phong, "If it (uniforms) worked that well then there should be close to zero violence in schools that require uniforms." This statement is completely irrational. Zero violence in schools would take nothing short of a miracle. I have not said that uniforms will take away all violence and discipline problems in schools; I've simply shown that uniforms will reduce the amount of these problems. Saba listed some very interesting statistics that I will restate now. "Overall school crime declined by 36% fights and weapons offenses by 50%, sex offenses by 74%, suspensions by 32%, and vandalism by 18%" (Rockney). Those are very high percentages no matter how you look at it. Going with uniforms will only help reduce the amount of violence in schools. Yes, students will still find things to pick on each other about and bullies will still be present, but wouldn't you rather have a 50% decline in violence than nothing at all?
In conclusion, I would simply like to say that despite the arguments of the opposing side, I still believe uniforms are an excellent tool that should be taken advantage of in schools. I have shown that they reduce costs for families, take away from major fashion distractions, and indeed reduce violence among students. All three of these things are relevant and real issues in schools today. I realize that some parents are worried about their children not being able to express themselves because of uniforms, but this shouldn’t be a concern. Students required to wear uniforms are able to focus more on expressing their creativity through school work than through their clothing. As you can see, the benefits of school uniforms far outweigh any worries parents may have. School uniforms are intended to prepare each student for the future by keeping their focus on education throughout their school years.
Works Cited
Rockney, Randy. “Should school uniforms be mandated in elementary schools?” *Brown University Child & Adolescent Behavior Letter.* May 2005. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 9 Sep. 2009
Many of the statistics about how great school uniforms are and how much they have decreased violence, crimes and increased acedemics cannot be trusted. In an article, "Do School Uniforms Make a Difference", written by Pauline Wallin, a Ph.D in Psychology, states that "On closer examination, school uniforms and dress codes don't have nearly the impact that we assume" (Wallin.) She makes perfect sense because she goes on and writes "That the problem lies in how the bulk of the research was conducted" (Do School Uniforms Make a Difference.) In my research I've found that many people, like the parents, teachers and even the principle saw changes. This was due to what Wallin calls the "Hallo effect," and she refers to the fact that "when we see one positive feature about a person, we tend to infer others." I could see where she is coming with this as it happens every where in today's society. If people want to see changes, they will see changes because their mind is so set upon it and when a little change occurs, they see it as a big change and make a bid deal about it. I'm not saying all schools with uniform dress codes do that now but it may be one of the leading causes in why they see such dramatic changes once the dress code is enforced.
ReplyDeleteAs Saba stated about Jamal going to a new school that had "rules you had to abide by, proper language, proper behavior...," those could have contributed more to Jamal's improvement, it wasn't just the uniform. Wallin's research found, many of the schools who implemented dress codes also implemented other rules at the same time that could have contributed to why they saw such decreases in violent activities and increased academics. These changes could include upgraded cirruculum, enforced rules more often, better security measures and more parent involvement. These factors would seem to have more of an effect on violence than a uniform dress code.
All in all, I stick to my decision that school's should not enforce uniforms onto students. Every research entry I've found lead to the same arguments that, it limits the student's creativity, limits diversity among the students, and suppresses their individualism. Student's go to school to do great deal of learning and it is not just all for academics. They need to learn about different enviroments, different types of people and everything else outside of just books and grades. This is why I say schools should not have a uniform dress code.
Works Cited
Wallin, Pauline. "Do Uniforms Make a Difference."
The Parent Site.com. Beyond Words Publishing, 2001.
Web. 14 September 2009