It's official -- the largest school district in the U.S. has adopted school uniforms. Over a half-million elementary-school students in New York City will have to adhere to a dress code by the Fall of 1999. The president of the school board said the policy is "important to diminish peer pressure and promote school pride," but that it's not "an act of magic to transform schools overnight....It isn't going to replace good teaching, good principals, small classrooms."
It's a fashion trend that's spreading. From Los Angeles to Louisiana, from Maryland to Miami, public schools are discussing, and in many cases adopting, the old private school idea. School uniforms are designed to help kids focus on algebra instead of high-tops; to make students compete for grades rather than jackets.
"It helps to get up in the morning and not have to think about what you're going to wear," said Maria, a ninth-grader who swims, plays soccer, and wears exactly what everybody else does at her high school in Washington, DC. Each school day, Maria dons an all-white oxford shirt, brown shoes, and a gray/maroon plaid skirt that has to be long enough to the touch the ground when she kneels. After school and on weekends, of course, all bets are off. Maria has a simple yet effective strategy: she borrows her friends' clothes, typically baggy jeans.
School uniforms also take the pressure off students to pay top dollar for clothes, according to Reginald Wilson, a senior scholar at the American Council on Education in Washington, D.C. "I think it does lower the cost of clothes, and kids don't emphasize clothes as much when they're all wearing the same thing," Wilson said. "Certainly the competition to wear the best shoes or the best sweaters and so forth has been prevalent in school ever since I was in school, and the poor kids felt inferior."
Training?
The 'training' argument says that when you are employed, you are likely to have to wear a uniform. Is this true? What are the odds that children will wear a uniform later in life? Typically, the occupations where people have to wear uniforms are the lower paid jobs, nothing to look forward to, really. Generally, the more educated people are, the less they wear uniforms later in life. Look at teachers, they don't wear uniforms! Well-paid work tends to reject uniformity, and for good reason, the demands of the future include qualities such as assertiveness, creativity, individuality, originality, a spontaneous personality, being a self-starter, taking initiatives, being able to cope with change, etc.
... students in various ways, such as to learn how to ‘cooperate’ with their friends and work out the problem.” (Mr. Knight). Uniforms are not just for schools it's also for jobs or teams you play on, so you just have to sit down and think about how school uniforms can change and the rest of your priors for the good or better, uniforms can make your school a safe place, bully and gang violence free zone. Even the statistics show schools that have uniforms have a decrease bullying, gang violence and other crimes. Putnam City Schools should adopt school uniforms next year.
One aspect of having all students wear the same school-district uniform, is that it helps students focus on learning. In my case, I went to a private junior high school few years ago. Students there are required to wear the uniform every day; everyone dresses like a student. When I wake up every morning, I just grab my uniform and put it on without having any other thoughts about how it will look on me; thus I have more time to spend on learning. Therefore, I was prepared every day, and so were others. Yet, the high school I went to was a public school; it does not have any uniform policies. Comparing to my junior high, students dressed differently every day with different kinds of clothing. Since it does not require un...
For some, it means getting out of child labor and being the only person it their family who will know how to read, write, count and add. Yet with all the diversity of people and personalities that you find in any given school, there is one factor in a great amount of schools that binds everyone together; the school uniform. On ProCon.org, a website that details both sides of controversial issues, the history of uniforms is presented as such; “The first recorded use of standardized dress in education may have been in England in 1222, when the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that students wear a robe-like outfit called the "cappa clausa." The origin of the modern school uniform can be traced to 16th Century England, when the impoverished "charity children" attending the Christ 's Hospital boarding school wore blue cloaks reminiscent of the cassocks worn by clergy, along with yellow stockings.”1 Today, in schools from Peru through to Canada, from Kazakhstan through Chad, the school uniform is a common item that many schools around the world have adopted as the norm. Yet there is still controversy surrounding the use of the school uniform. Having a mandatory school uniform is not an aspect that
Since the 1990 's schools have reported amazing results by mandating a school uniform policy. Konheim-Kalkstein, Y. L (2006) write: “ School uniforms, proponents have said, can lead to improved discipline and classroom behavior, increased school attendance, respect for teachers, better school performance, higher student self-esteem and confidence, lower
Uniforms are to help students to focus and do better in school and outside of school. School outfits are one of several factors that influence learning. It allows students to look more formal in their personality and not how they dress. Students are allowed to determine what is expected at school and the freedom they have outside of school. It also helps learners to be more disciplined in their education and keep them from distractions such as clothe design competition.
First, school uniforms eliminate opportunities for the ridicule of less popular or less fortunate students based on attire. Uniforms take the competition out of dressing. Students have been known to express themselves in flamboyant clothing. Price tags are in. Do you really want to be paying for a status symbol? A complaint by students is that uniforms reduce the freedom of expression. However, are we expressing ourselves through labeled clothing? Are we not just expressing a capitalist society in which everyone wears the same clothing that is priced higher due to its popularity and brand name? Is it righteous that the kid that cant afford these mainstream clothing is subject to ridicule? Uniforms just promote the peer pressure to perform and conform. Many students take after-school jobs to maintain their own style. Often these paychecks go to getting the “right” clothing instead of more important things such as saving for the future. The issue is not a part time job, but the reason behind the job is our concern. Is it not wrong that a student must waste his/her time working in order to get the right clothing and fit into society.
School uniforms reduce the stress children feel when trying to fit in with their peers. Without them, some children may be alienated because their economic background reflects the clothes they wear. Children tend to break off into “cliques” and uniforms could possibly help unite students. Finding creative ways to express their individuality through other outlets other than fashion can help children forge friendships based on their common interests.
By requiring school uniforms in public schools, education will be improved. A dress code will enforce discipline toward learning. Uniforms improve a person’s outlook toward success. Students generally act the way they are dressed. With fewer distractions, students see the school as a workplace for teaching and learning. Students also have less stress in their lives because they are not in a fashion competition. Dress codes also lead to a change in grades. Mainly this happens because the student’s attendance comes up. There is also a change in grades because it is easier to focus when everyone looks alike.
For instance, when students graduate High School, most of them will work in a job that has uniforms; therefore, they cannot complain that their uniforms are uncomfortable and useless. Meanwhile, proponents say that school uniforms make schools safer for students, diminish economic, social barriers, and encourage children to focus on their studies rather than their clothes.
It has been disputed that school uniforms would encourage protection in our education community. After all, if every student is trying the same style, it would be easier to pick out who on the school property is not a student or staff member. It is also disputed that school uniforms dampen thefts among pupils, since the contest would no longer be there. With identical outfits, no one is slaughtered over a pair of designer shoes or a designer jacket.
Bill Clinton once said, “People will learn to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside, instead of what they’re wearing on the outside, then our public schools should be able to require students to wear school uniforms.” Public schools across America are searching to improve safety, school belonging and also help parents save money & students save time getting ready. One way to improve these issues would be to implement a uniform policy. The adoption of school uniforms policies will reach what public schools across America are searching for.
A uniform is a standard set of clothes that is worn by a group of people. These people may be members of an organization or a group of people having the same ideas. There are thousands of kinds of uniforms in the world worn by people, such as police officers, firefighters, doctors, lawyers, security guards, and even fast-food restaurant workers. School uniforms are a controversial issue in schools today. Many schools have already adopted a policy mandating school uniforms, while many more are still considering the change. School uniforms create an atmosphere of equality in which the students are able to achieve to their best, while attaining the most out of their education. School uniforms should be mandatory to unite the school community as one, to instil discipline among the student body, and to eliminate distractions that will help students focus more, which in turn will help our society.
Should school uniforms be required? Some say that uniforms help students focus on academics instead of fashion. Others believe that students should have the freedom to choose what they wear to school in order to express their differences and their uniqueness. After considering both sides of the issue, I strongly believe that uniforms should be introduced in primary public and private schools. Wearing school uniforms does not promote unfair comparisons between student’s incomes in terms of clothing; they aid students in developing their inner qualities instead of focusing on the outer aspects of themselves in the crucial earlier years of their lives, and provides a platform for practicing discipline.
Although usually favored at private schools, school uniforms are now being preferred in Public Schools. The first implementation of school uniforms in the United States was in 1987, in Baltimore at Cherry Hill Elementary School. When the parents first found out about the uniforms they were against the idea, however, after the school uniforms were implemented at the school, many parents and students loved the idea, parents saying “the dress code had
Uniforms in public schools are becoming accepted throughout the world. The public school systems would benefit significantly if this policy were to be accepted. Wearing uniforms in public schools result in positive effects.