Thought Pages (2)
School Uniforms [About.com]
Issue: Effects of Violence On Girls
Student Rights (ACLU Page)
Education today is full with problems, including overworked teachers, violence and drugs, uneducated students, lousy physical plants, and more. The solutions are complex and highly debated, including federal and state funding, federal standards, school vouchers, privately controlled schools, ignoring certain students from various neighborhoods and ethnic backgrounds, and so on.* Pretty far down the line is requiring students to wear uniforms, uniforms that are often boring unless they are used for some twisted fantasy or something. After all, I do not think requiring me to wear blue or white shirts, grey pants and tie (is anything more useless in the fashion world?) was the reason my parents sent me to Catholic school for sixth grade. The purpose of school uniforms mainly is to unify the student body and build self-respect and respect for education in general. This can be compared to a dress code at work, which is supposed to establish a business like atmosphere, as well as a generally shared fashion statement. Furthermore, uniforms would reduce the competition to keep up with the latest fashions, which often includes a needless waste of money (uniforms generally would be cheaper and those who could not afford them could be subsidized), and a lot of extra work for the parents. The value of school uniforms is shown by their presence in many successful private and parochial schools, which often are superior to their public alternatives in both education and discipline/safety, which are clearly connected in many ways. The net value of school uniforms might be arguable, but they still seem to provide various benefits with little downside. Appearances can be deceiving. First off, the value of school uniforms is questionable, though experience does show them to be useful to a degree. Other factors such as the efforts of the teachers, funding, location, and the nature of the student body itself (and various personal problems of it that leads them to violence, drugs, and so on) generally are much more important than dress code to the success or failure of schools. I myself from personal experience (having gone to both parochial and public schools) can tell you dress was not really a major factor in the success or failure of my education. Children and teens will find other ways to compete, while buying two sets of clothes (school/after school) means extra work. Furthermore, many parents will be on the edges even if some subsiding is provided to help pay for uniforms, and the extra cost will matter to many of them. Finally, does letting people in business dress in "business casual" make them much less productive? After all, much of the work is done by low level support staff, including secretaries/receptionists who often do not dress in the formal way of their superiors. The reduced value of uniforms must be combined with the main problem with them, namely their very uniformity. Childhood, especially the teen years, is the time when one's personality and identity is developed, and clothing is a key way in which it can be expressed. One of the values of a public school education is the union of various cultures and personalities, and the attempt to lessen the differences in this way is misguided, if not just a tad fascist. In constitutional terms, it is a clear violation of free expression, as can be seen by the various types of dress different groups (nerds, jocks, goths, brains, and so on) tend to wear to express themselves. Furthermore, aside from depriving minors with a major way to express themselves, uniforms tend to be less comfortable and bland. The educational value of wearing shoes over sneakers or dress pants over jeans to me seems somewhat slim. Though line drawing is sure to be hard in certain instances, regulations against messy, offensive or overly sexual dress can insure a proper educational environment. Let's worry about all the other problems with education today before inflicting this questionable uniformity on school children. * All these issues (nearly endless in scope) are much more worth discussion than school uniforms. For instance, does vouchers improve education for all, or does those truly in need just have less money spent in the inner city public schools many must remain in? Furthermore, does vouchers threaten the separation of church and state, since ultimately tax dollars go to religious schools many rather not support, or can it just be seen as a matter of freedom of choice of how spend those dollars? Does federal education standards violate a state's right to control education, while not allowing enough local creativity? Or does it help promote some minimum (with help of federal funding as a stick to enforce them) education level, especially since education is so important for a good national economy, as well as being a good citizen? Does zero tolerance drug, violence, or sexual harassment rules really work or waste too much time and effort concerned with petty or nonexistent offenses? Finally, there is the issue of state funding of education with concerns of inequal allotment of funds, including concerns of de facto racial discrimination. Or we can worry about school uniforms, or maybe spend precious time and energy to worry about Heather Has Two Mommies, sex education, or the like ... apparently that's the choice many want to make.