Uniforms Vs School Uniforms Essay

Parents and their children are constantly arguing about the way students dress in school. This debate has become a national conversation which has been going on for more than a decade. However, there still hasn’t been a final resolution. The questions “Why do I have to wear the uniform today?” or “Can I wear this t-shirt because the color matches with my school t-shirt?” have become part of our everyday lives. Before we go any further, we have to understand the difference between uniforms and dress codes. A uniform is simply a garment worn that is the same in all cases and at all times. Whereas, a dress code is a set of rules regarding the required manner of clothing in a certain context. For instance, a school might not allow students to wear

t-shirts with certain pictures or wear tank tops. Schools should have a dress code, but it shouldn’t be very strict. A student should be able to wear whatever they like as long as it doesn’t violate a school’s rules. If dress codes were made stricter, then it will be known as a uniform because a dress code is in between a uniform and regular attire. Dress codes should stay the same and students should only be told to not wear clothes that are inappropriate in a school environment. A school shouldn’t tell students to wear a baby blue top with dark blue bottoms. However, the school can tell a student to wear clothing that has any shade of blue. Dress codes should stay the same because student’s right to express themselves won’t be violated, as much. Also, parents won’t have to spend as much money on their child’s attire, their expenses will decrease. Lastly, school is a learning environment, not a fashion show.

Students disagree to wear uniforms because it violates their right to express themselves. However, if students have more choices to choose from, they won’t feel pressurized. A school asked their students what they thought about dress codes and most students were in favor of dress codes. For instance, Nastya Losenkova (student) said, “I think that it is better to have dress code than school uniform because dress code does not suppress the expression of individual.” Nastya additionally stated that dress codes were very comfortable and made her feel creative. She could basically wear whatever she wishes, but it must be school appropriate. Another student said, “I mean I agree with you can't wear short skirts/shorts and stuff, but uniforms are just too strict.” Uniforms are stricter than dress codes and make students feel trapped. Every person in this world has their own point of view, but if students come together, more or less they would all agree in using dress codes rather than uniforms. Basically, dress codes are 50% fair and 50% unfair. This makes it a very awesome deal for students and lets them express themselves.

Another advantage of dress code is less expense.

The logic here is that usually we have a different uniform for elementary, middle, and high school. Elementary uniform can be found in stores and we can use coupons to reduce the total. However, once we go into a higher grade, the expenses increases. When you go to middle school, you most likely have to choose an academy and academy shirt can only be brought from school. One shirt from a school can cost $10 and your expenses just increased. The average annual cost to parents for the uniform is $249. But, the U.S. annual school uniform sale is $1,300,000,000. Whereas, if we don’t have uniforms, parents can buy clothes that can be worn in school and at home. This way they won’t spend more money. Additionally, a low-income family won’t have to spend all their money on buying their kids uniform and only have to make sure that the attire they get their children is appropriate. Schools using the uniform system are causing problems for low-income families by asking them to provide their children with a uniform. Instead of suspending students from school for not having a uniform, we can simply make it easier for parents by using the dress code system. Also, using the dress code can take some burden off from low-income families by reducing their

expenses.

Many school officials have become strict about a student’s attire. Administrators are going to classes and telling students to be in full uniforms or else they will face consequences. However, study shows that if you force kids to do something, they would do the opposite of it. Students not wearing a uniform is caused by the pressure adults are putting on them. In fact, students don’t even care about the consequences- no recess, lunch detention, extra homework, meetings, etc. Such consequences won’t change the attitude of students toward uniform, it actually would make it worse. Students are tired of being told to do something they don’t favor. Based on my research, 1 out of 2 students would be found without uniform or wouldn’t be wearing full uniform. Those who don’t wear their uniforms would most likely be found in clothes that are very revealing. To state it in another way, the clothes would expose a lot of skin. For example, a girl might wear a see-through t-shirt and guys will wear baggy clothes and show their undergarments. A school is a learning environment and many students take it very seriously. However, it can be distracting to see others in clothes that reveal too much and some students might even feel insecure. On the other hand, students wear whatever they like at home, so they shouldn’t argue about not being able to wear tank tops, shorts, etc. in school. On average, a U.S. student will only spend 6.64 hours in school. Also, in the U.S. the average number of days in a school year are 180, this means that students spend only 1,195.2 hours out of 8,760 hours in school. Students are only expected to wear something they prefer 50% of the times for only 1,195.2 hours. They have 7564.8 hours to wear whatever they prefer.If administrators keep forcing students to be in uniform, then there will be a day on which nobody would be wearing a uniform. But, if the dress code system is used, then students would actually be more serious about their studies and pay attention. To make it clearer, a student wouldn’t be as much pressured to wear something they don’t like even 1% than wearing something they like at least 25%. Also, students that were serious about their studies in the first place wouldn’t get off track, either. All in all, some distractions would be restricted and many students would be able to focus or concentrate on their lessons.

However, it can be argued that dress codes should be made stricter(uniforms) because there would be more equality between students. Students that wear a uniform and are serious about their studies would fall in the category of a nerd. Whereas a student who doesn’t wear a uniform and is serious about his/her studies would fall in the cool kids category. As it can be seen, just that one component altered the category of the students. According to Word Generation(Unit 1.09), students have been teased and criticized for wearing the “wrong thing”. Also, many more people think that dress codes can make things worse by removing all the equality. For example, students would be teased regarding the company there clothes are from. It is undeniable that students would be teased about the company there clothes come from, but it is also true that students are currently teased about where their uniform came from. Whether there is a strict dress code or no, those victims would stay the victims. Also, bringing a change that has no benefits is just useless. Additionally, uniforms don’t have to be the reason behind equality. There are many other reasons people are equal to each other. The truth is that every student is equal. They all have the same rights.

Dress codes should not be altered, they should stay constant. If dress codes are made stricter, then it will become a uniform. An advantage of a regular dress code would be that it does not violate a student’s right to express themselves. Many students don’t prefer wearing the same thing over and over, this is a great advantage for those people because they get to be creative and appropriate about their choices at the same time. Another advantage is for the student’s parents. Parents try their best to do as many savings as possible, so if their children can wear anything that is appropriate, it will save them a lot of money. Lastly, students would be able to grasp their lessons thoroughly. With students wearing clothes that expose a lot of their skin, many students were distracted and thought of it as an obstacle between them and their success in studies. But, once all the distractions were removed, students will be able to get back on track. As mentioned before, this debate has not come to an end yet. People are still arguing about student’s attire. Many students are separating themselves from uniforms and want the world to notice them. Adults won’t understand what it feels like to wear the same thing over and over again. We students have to come together and convince the elders to think from our point of view. We should start by first by bringing students together. We must raise our voice and make adjustments regarding the school attire.