Uniforms in Public Schools
Seventy-five percent of all schools in America require their students to wear uniforms. The debate over school uniforms is complicated. Debates about the school uniforms in public schools have received much attention in the past years. Dress is conduct where it conveys messages about self and suggests countless qualities about identity, attitudes, values and moods. Whether uniforms should be worn at school is a matter of opinion.
Does it really matter what students wear to school? Some argue yes that school uniforms make students feel more safe and comfortable because they look like everybody else. Others argue no and that it suppresses students’ individuality and creativity.
In 1996 President Clinton endorsed school uniforms in public schools in his State of the Union Address beginning the controversy of whether or not students should be required to wear uniforms in public schools. He said “If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require students to wear school uniforms.” Since then he has been promoting school uniforms saying that “we must get violence out of our schools and we must put discipline and learning back in our schools.”
In today's society image is very important to students. Students' main concern should not be about his or her appearance. Some say that students should get into practice of making themselves polished and neat. In the corporate world looking professional is mandatory, why not start at an early age. A uniform does not necessarily consist of everyone wearing the same color top or bottom, however, the sole purpose of a uniform is to be able to identify a particular group of people associated with professionalism. Children in uniforms tend to take school more seriously and focus more on their learning.
Crimes in public schools are on the rise and the majority of these crimes are gang related. Schools report that uniforms decrease fighting and violence that arise over certain colors and arguments over fashionable clothes. Children are often ridiculed by other children because of the way they dress. When this happens children start to withdraw themselves from people, therefore, forming a poor behavioral habit and failing grades. Teachers argue that school uniforms change a student’s outlook on school and are less of a distraction than revealing and inappropriate clothing. They also believe it aids in identifying students and separating them from intruders. School uniforms are a bargain; they are less expensive and more durable. From all of these positive outlooks, several schools are adopting the school uniform policy.
For example, the tragic massacre at Columbine High in Colorado on April 20, 1999 revealed a school dress code that permitted trench coats, excessive jewelry, make-up, eccentric hairstyles and clothing alone stimulates the argument that the lack of a dress code may affect campus safety. If those students were not permitted to wear coats such as those it would have been harder for them to hide their weapons.
On the other hand, there is no evidence that wearing uniforms will better the schools, because a statement could also be made that the Columbine massacre would have happened regardless of whether or not a dress code was instated. However, uniforms act as a Band-Aid solution to a set of serious problems that do not have easy answers. Under the first amendment, which states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances,” school uniforms violate students from freedom to control their appearance. A uniform is seen today as an act of forced disciplined and also being one with a group. The uniform is known to be the epitome of submission obedience system and education. What is the logic behind forcing children in uniforms? McCarthy in opposition of uniforms says that “the wearing of school uniforms is cosmetic at best and will not change the way a child learns.” If administrative spent less time acting as ‘dress code police’ and more time teaching and supporting the school programs, there would be fewer dropouts and more high school graduates.
From a financial point of view, uniforms are not cheap because uniforms are in high demand. Parents must now purchase an extra set of clothing specifically for events outside the school. Who has money like that? The primary focus should instead be on learning and the students’ safety. Danger is created not so much by the absence of uniforms, but by the way schools operate. At the beginning and ending of each school day schools have hundreds of people driving through to drop off and pick up their child. Since all students have to wear uniforms wouldn’t that make students an easy target for people with bad intentions?
What kind of people steer away from students wearing uniforms, rapist, pedophiles, street gang and bullies? Wearing uniforms make students easy targets and identifiable to strangers because some students walk the same route everyday around the same time. Dictating what students should wear suppresses individuality, development of personality, and creativity. In doing so this only causes rebellious students to alter their uniform by making some drastic change, such as, tightening, widening, shortening, or lengthening them.
Whether or not public schools should be required to wear uniforms will always be a heated debate. These ideas are not new or anything out this world. It is just now, with the freedom and globalization of the internet, that the ideas are more accessible to a wider audience and therefore, wider acceptance or non-acceptance. At the least, schools should address the uniform policy with the best interest and welfare of the students in mind. There is no simple solution to solving issues such as peer pressure, violence, and discipline among students in schools. The supreme decision is left up to the student themselves to choose to conform to uniforms or to be completely against them. The controversy of public schools requiring students to wear uniforms may never have a winning side. There is no definite proof that schools are better off with or without the uniform policy enforced. Our society as a whole has a responsibility of what it shows to the younger generation what is most important and valuable in life. Is it looking the best or a certain kind or way? Is it being the ''toughest”? Or is it being comfortable and confident in who you are as an individual ? It’s not what everyone else may be, but treating others with the respect and kindness that one would have wished to have done on to themselves. So the question still remains, does it really matter if students wear uniforms or not?