Controversy Over The Use Of Uniforms In Schools

On her second day as a junior kindergartener, Holly Huehn's daughter kicked up a fuss over the uniform she was required to wear as a student at St. John's-Kilmarnock School in Breslau, Ont.

"She wasn't keen on it," recalls Ms. Huehn. "She wanted to accessorize it."

Ms. Huehn and her daughter--now in fifth grade and proud to wear her uniform--aren't the only parents and students to get pulled into the uniform debate.

The question of whether or not it's a good idea to put students in identical, school-issued attire is one that continues to elude unanimous agreement.

The most recently released survey by the Ontario Student Trustees' Association found that a majority of students--close to 65 per cent--didn't think uniforms would

When classes restarted for the 2014-2015 school year, its students came in wearing the school's new, green-and-gold uniforms.

"The No. 1 objection we hear is that uniforms take away opportunities for students to express their individuality," says Joanne Hewat, vice-president of business development and customer care at McCarthy Beatties, a Toronto-based uniform supplier for hundreds of schools across Canada, including about 200 private schools. "Another key objection is cost--a lot of people think uniforms are costly."

The notion of allowing students to express themselves through their clothing is one that's embraced at Blyth Academy, which has headquarters in Toronto and 11 campuses in

Aitken. "They like the idea that uniforms put the focus on the larger group and on community identity."

Uniforms also level the playing field because there are no designer brands to suggest that some students are more stylish than others, or that some families can afford more expensive clothing, Dr. Aitken says.

Ms. Hewat at McCarthy Beatties says safety is among the top benefits of having a school uniform.

"You can easily identify who does and doesn't belong in the school," she says. "With a quick glance, you can instantly determine that a person shouldn't even be in the school."

The convenience of uniforms also gets a lot of thumbs-ups from parents and students, who no longer need to rummage through their closets in the morning in search of something to wear to school, Ms. Hewat says.

"Ease of care is also something parents find so important," she adds. "Everything we make is washable in the machine so you don't have to dry clean, and we have minimal shrinkage on our products."

Cost-savings is also a key consideration, she adds, as parents do not need to buy as many clothes for their