Uniforms in school: good idea or robbing individuality?
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M$10 Answers
A: It's a good idea, and it does *not* rob individuality.
It's easier on the family income, and it levels out social distinctions that might be unnecessarily stressed by a family's (in)ability to pay for expensive, trendy teen fashion.
It helps keep kids' eyes more on the books and less on each other. The time and place for teens to dress up and dance the teen social scene is outside school.
School is for learning. Dressing up and partying is for after-school.
Best of all, school uniforms *promote* individuality - the right kind of individuality - because with school uniforms, one must stand out on the basis of character, and not by the brand of their jean.
Q2: Suddenly here in North Tx, the debate over uniforms has sparked heated debate amongst parents of public schools. What do you think? Does it promote equality or rob individualism?
A: Sounds like the problem is gangs, so if I was Principal, I'd put it to them this way:
"The fact that you wear gang colors at school proves you have no problem with uniforms. For that matter, being in a gang proves you have no problem with surrendering individuality to a group.
"When you're at school, you're not in a gang, you're in a school, so drop the gang colors at school, or the school's going to give you a uniform to remind you where you are when you're at school."
Or something like that.
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M$
Uniforms eliminate any type of "gang colors". It also emphasizes the idea of homogeneity.
I somewhat disagree with the idea that it "robs kids of individuality". Kids can express their individuality in many other ways..
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M$
You have to remember though just because they cant wear the same color, doesnt mean they cant wear the same shoe. Cant put the same finger nail polish on, cant cut their hair a certain way.
There is always one way or another to mark themselves.
There had been a big thing with kids cutting lines in there eye brows.
Principal said you all had to shave your eyebrows or dont come to school anymore....The lines were started as a trend, sort of a "Double take" (when you have to stop and look at someone twice).
http://www.kptv.com/news/16042421/detail.html
Yes, I do agree with you on the gang color idea. That is a big problem in schools these days, something I never had to deal with, so I forget about that. However, also keep in mind that if a gang wants to "represent" they will find other ways of doing so, but getting rid of their ability to wear colors is a step in the right direction.
In addition to that, if boys are wearing uniforms they cannot wear sleeveless t-shirts to school or pants that are all the way down to their hips. I do not like to see part of their underwear showing in the area between their waistline and hips.
My point is, if we parents want that our kids feel that school is an important place and to respect school, we need to pay attention to the way our kids are dressing when they go to school. If we cannot pay attention to the clothes our kids are wearing when they go to school, because we leave the house before they do, then maybe uniforms is the solution to the problem.
It is my opinion that uniforms promote equality. One of the reasons is, nobody is allowed to show their body. No exceptions to the rule. Everybody is equal. Another reason I believe uniforms promote equality is, that kids cannot wear brand clothes and show off. School is a place where you need to go and get an education. School is not a place where you suppose to go and show off your brand clothes, because you think that clothes make you better than everybody else.
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M$
Pros.
- Students from different schools can be easily identified by the particular uniform they wear.
- Students looks more professional or more appealing to the eye cause they doesn't have to wear strange looking clothes (applies to those who have weird fashion sense).
- Students with less clothes don't have to be conscious on repeating the same outfit they only have.
Cons.
- If the uniform looks bad, only few students can actually look good on it.
- If this is the first time that students will be required to wear a uniform in a certain school, they have to spend money for it.
Those are the reasons why uniform vs. normal clothes in school wins for me.
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M$
The idea that uniforms "promote equality" is inaccurate, as the same socioeconomic divisions persist regardless of the convenient blank-slate masking. "Evening the playing field" to prevent socioeconomic friction negatively impacts acceptance of and cooperation between classes, further instilling those very divisions (1).
INDIVIDUALISM
Uniforms as a theft of individualism is also an inaccurate concept--they are a theft of unique resources perhaps, but not of youthful pursuit. I have been in both public and private schooling, and in both cases the student population rebelled against, circumvented, or simply ignored restrictive policies.
I do find school uniforms valid in one field: as preparation for adult life, where there will always be a professional or stigmatized dress code. Education is supposed to prepare students to be a productive members of society...but at the same time, youth is the age during which it is socially acceptable to be crazy or wild in your loves, likes, music and appearance. While uniforms do not rob individualism, they do make youth just a little more serious than it has to be.
OTHER ARGUMENTS
There are also arguments that uniforms increase student achievement, make general discipline more easily enforced, reduce cliques/gangs, etc. However, there have been studies contrary to this perception. For example, David L. Brunsma, an associate professor of Sociology at the University of Missouri, released a study in which he found that "there was no empirical relationship between a uniform code and student achievement, substance abuse or violence" (2).
1. Solutions to Social Problems: Lessons From Other Societies by D. Stanley Eitzen (http://www.amazon.com/Solutions-Social-Problems-Lessons-Societies/dp/020548...
2. http://rcp.missouri.edu/articles/brunsma.html / http://sociology.missouri.edu/New%20Website%20WWW/Faculty%20and%20Staff/Dav... / The School Uniform Movement and What It Tells Us about American Education: A Symbolic Crusade
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M$it would stop gang violence from color claims. and kids will focus more on education instead of how they look!!
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M$On the one hand you have the fact that some kids like to wear clothes to express himself or herself or something they like. A Band or a T.V show, all good right....
Nope, you always have some dim wit want to be gangster thug kids that destroy it for all of them.
You have them wearing clothes that have naked women on them.
You have girls that show so much cleavage that they might as well be wearing just their bras (I am sure some would do it too). Also wearing skirts that they might as well be naked!
You have kids who where their pants down to their knees, Really...why? In prison it means open for business and that’s what they want to say with themselves?
They go to school to learn yet they usually go and mess around. They say we want to be treated like adults, but they can’t even dress themselves properly!
I agree they should not be allowed to do some of the aforementioned things, but to get them a dress code really kills their individualities.
I say they create a dress code that says what you cant wear rather then what you have to (which if I'm not mistaken is how it should be now). If that is true then why create a uniform and punish the kids that wont wear it anyways? Just punish those who cant seem to dress to some degree of dignity and allow those who like to where their Linkin Park and Jay-z Shirts to school the right to do so.
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On the other hand, I remember being in high school (it wasn't that long ago), and how I loved shopping for new clothes (I guess cuz I'm a girl), and assembling my outfit for the next day. I would definitely say it was a form of expression, and as a teenager, I would not have wanted to wear a uniform.
So, as a parent I say it's a great idea - but from a teen's point of view, I say it would rob kids of their self-expression.
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M$However, I have also heard that it hurts the self esteem of some kids because, let's face it, what looks good on one person can make another look dumpy and lumpy. So, you may have one girl who looks like every guy's dream in her little school girl uniform (causing her to get a lot of unnecessary and probably very distracting attention), while this other chick looks like a washing machine wrapped in plaid. So, by this argument, a child being able to wear what he or she wants can really help their self esteem.
I believe it's all a matter of perspective. Although, I know Catholic school girl uniforms are a favorite of men in their 40's (the quagmeyers of the world), so whatever good the school feels they are doing, they may be doing more harm than good. LOL
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M$
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M$
im 17 years old, i go to a charter school. I am actually working on a paper for English on conformity v individuality. Looking at an interview I found an older women that went to a school where uniforms were required said that it did not matter if the students wore the same clothes. Richer students could still where expensive jewelry, perfume, bags, and supply's. No matter if all students were wearing the same clothes, you could still identify a difference among the students. my thesis statement is "Schools should encourage and educate students about individuality at younger age when they are more impressionable, this allows for a great basis to evolve students to society conformity. Student should understand that they can be unique from everyone else, nut still meet the expectations, and requirements of society" one of the points conformist have is bullying. I agree that bullying is a huge problem in schools. But had that student learned to respect everyone's uniqueness they would not feel the need to bully a student they perceived as different. Thats all I will say for now because I will bore anyone that reads this. but that is my opinion, students should be taught both individuality and conformity
