School Uniforms Essay Example for Free

School Uniforms Essay The issue of school uniforms in today’s public schools is a silent but very controversial issue, Gaining momentum with school administrators and parents debating on whether or not to convert their public schools. With academics on a decline compared to the world average, (Wu, Elaine) along with school violence at its highest that it has ever been. The United States is a seeing a change towards school using school uniforms to help solve many problems associated with public schools. School uniforms in today’s society â€Å"promote school safety and enhance the learning environment, and diminish the clothing completion† As said by Marsha Boutelle. School uniforms unify a school and help the blending of the school cultures, instead of massive polarization among students. Of course student who could not wear uniforms due to religious reasons or other appropriate reasons could sign out doing so along with parent permission. Along with School uniforms we see a boost in academic performance. With the United States dropping behind other developed nation ranking in at number 18 of 24. (Wu, Elaine) this is low for a nation that is spending a lot on education every year. Kids are losing focus on school and are competing for what the newest fashion or gadget rather than focusing on school these days. With the addition of school uniforms in American society kids can focus more on their classes rather than social factors that students focus on when there is no school uniform and the dress code is not strict. With the addition of school uniforms in public schools you can see students bonding together helping students feel like they are accepted and part of a much bigger picture than just them. Also the boost in academics helps out everywhere with helping students get into universities of their choice rather than just a university that excepts them and helps them get scholarships, which a lot have a GPA requirement, that must be met in order to qualify or to continue receiving. This helps out students and parents get funding for the college or trade school they attend. And with the millions of dollars in scholarships that go unused each year. Students could defiantly use this money to pay or help pay for their college. And this helps out businesses get tax cuts find what could be future employs and save them money in the end when taxes are due. But many people argue against school uniforms in America and say that it affects their creativity and violates the first amendment. (Cornell) Arguing against school uniforms parents feel that not being able to dress in the latest clothing fashions. They feel that their children are being restricted on their creativity and ability to freely express themselves. Coming back to the United States constitution’s first amendment which is the freedom of speech, saying that what the students are wearing is a symbol of speech and is expressing them. But this argument is flaw when it comes to students who still cannot abide by even the schools standard dress code policies. For example â€Å"sixth grader tiffany gets sent to the principal’s office because the teacher thinks she is dressed inappropriately. She is wearing a micro mini skirt and a halter top that shows her midriff. Principle Judy Montgomery, of Sacramento’s Bear Flag Elementary School, takes Tiffany home to change her clothes and to check in with her parents. There reaction isn’t what she expects â€Å"Her mother was upset with me† Montgomery says. Her mother says she looks cute. † (Boutelle) This is showing that some parents can’t even enforce a school appropriate dress code on their children in this day and age. This example is showing how kids are being influenced by today’s hip hop culture. Effecting what young people are wearing even if it is degrading to them. And its creating distractions to other people in the academic environment therefore hindering others ability to do their best and distracting them from being creative in their own ways. So this argument is invalid when kids are so dressed down that it’s distracting to others. And the inability for parents to be able to tell their children that what they are wearing is inappropriate and shows that a standardized dress code should be put in place. There is a time and place to dress however you like and that is outside of school. Kids can dress however they please outside of a standardized institution. Also it would be very unprofessional if parents had to meet a teacher or principle for a conference or something school related. And the teacher or principle was wearing unprofessional clothing looking unclean and not clean cut, In other words not looking professional for their job. Students and parents alike don’t like to see this it’s very hard to take them serious and consider them professional. So the argument is flawed when it comes to it in the end, because in schools are supposed to be unifying and be an academic environment. Another problem in American schools is school violence School violence can be greatly reduced by the use of school uniforms. With kids unable to noticeably tell or distinguish which kids belong to what gangs in school if any at all. Also with uniforms it’s much harder to tell which kids come from money and which kids come from needy families. Relieving kids of the stress of which social economic status you come from. With a blending, it helps kids see who the actual person is rather then who or where they came from or what their culture is or background. For example all you have to do is step in to any public school with a normal dress code during lunch and you can just see all the different groups that are happening in a school from rich kids and jocks to the nerds and the poor kids. You see the school gangs separating representing for their gang or group. At any moment there could be a confrontation between any of these groups and instantly a conflict has started or worse school violence could happen between people. Since something has happened everything is stopped until the situation gets resolved whether it’s broken up by the school cop, teachers, or resolved by the people it happens between. Some of this can be stopped, as bill Clinton said in his 1996 state of the union address â€Å"I challenge all our schools to teach character education, to teach good values and good citizenship. And if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms. † (Clinton) This quote is showing how kids are committing violence in school over something as simple as a â€Å"designer jacket†. (Clinton) everyone wearing uniforms also makes it very easy to recognize people who are not supposed to be there or can make an intruder stand out in a crowd. So what is to stop kids in school from killing or committing violence over any other reason in public schools? But David L Brunsma begs to say that school uniforms can actually solve school violence or even boost school academic performance. After he did a study on how school uniforms. His graph (summary of uniform policy effect) shows that there is either not enough of a change or there was a drop in performance according to his graph. But the graph does not show any numbers on it so it’s hard to say anything about also. On this subject there is a lot of supporting data for both sides which make it hard to say what is legit and what is not because not every study is reproduced in this field. Brunsma says that school uniforms actual cause a false sense of security and are actual detrimental to what is going on in the climate of the school. (School Uniform Policies in Public Schools†) With so much contradicting evidence to his claim it only raises questions to why uniforms help in some parts of the U. S and across the world but not all over the united states. In conclusion school uniforms should be instated in public school, with a boost in academic performance. Which would in turn boost the United States in the ranking system of developed nations, and along with that would make it a much more respected educational institutional as a whole in the world of education. Also school uniforms unify schools bringing them closer to a whole and unifying the school. School uniforms help students feel a part of something bigger than just them. Also it keeps schools much less polarized making students safer and keeping the school violence significantly low. But it won’t solve all conflicts because there is always someone out looking to start something or is suffering from a severe problem. This can be prevented by students taking initiative to help protect their school. Students should help everyone out in their school by helping keeping it unified. Works Cited 1. Boutelle, Marsha. Uniforms: Are They a Good Fit? The Education Digest. 73. 6 (February 2008): 34-7 2. Brunsma, David L. School Uniform Policies in Public Schools. Principal (Reston, Va. ). 85. 3 (January/February 2006): 50-3 3. Brennan, Timothy. Do uniforms make our schools better? Ive seen them boost school climate. American Teacher. 89. 5 (February 2005): 4 4. Firmin, Michael, Suzanne Smith, and Lynsey Perry. School Uniforms: A Qualitative Analysis of Aims and Accomplishments at Two Christian Schools. Journal of Research on Christian Education. 15. 1/2 (Spring/Fall 2006): 143-68 5. Brunsma, David L. , and Kerry Ann Rockquemore. Statistics, Sound Bites, and School Uniforms: A Reply to Bodine. The Journal of Educational Research (Washington, D. C. ). 97. 2 (November/December 2003): 72-7. 6. Daugherty, Richard F. Leadership In Action: Piloting a School Uniform Program. Education. 123. 2 (2002): 390 7. PRESIDENT CLINTON, WILLIAM JEFFERSON, STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS,U. S. CAPITOL JANUARY 23, 1996, http://clinton2. nara. gov/WH/New/other/sotu. html 8. Wu, Elaine, â€Å"U. S. falls in education rank compared to other countries†, The Kapio Newspress, 2004, http://kapio. kcc. hawaii. edu/upload/fullnews. php? id=52 9. Cornell University Law school, http://www. law. cornell. edu/constitution/constitution. billofrights. html.