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Ms. Cindy Itza
Ms. Anselma Rosado
English A
March 24th 2021
Uniforms: A Student Perspective
Have you ever seen cartoons like “Charlie Brown” or “Doug Funny” and wondered if
they have any other clothes besides the ones that they are always wearing on the episodes? I
remember watching one episode of “Doug Funny” and when he opened his closet, the audience
was able to see that he does, in fact, have other clothes.
However, the clothes are all replicas
of his green vest, white tee shirt, khaki pants, and blue sneakers. I remember thinking to myself,
“Sheesh! He must get bored of that same old outfit!” Little did I know I would feel this very way
upon entering Middle School. Our principal may have the intention of making all of us students
looking “clean” and “unified. However, we should not have dress code at this school because
it is a violation the students’ freedom of speech, it limits students’ artistic expression, and it costs
too much money.
One of the reasons school should not force students to wear uniforms is because of
freedom of expression. The First Amendment includes Freedom of Expression. It states that
“congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free
exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press...” (Surname of author).This
means that in public institutions, we can wear clothes that we pick out ourselves, not clothes that
the school selects. Imagine student who are of Arabic descent being unable to wear their
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traditional and religious hijab. It would go against their rights to express their religion.
Therefore, this school is violating the first amendment by enforcing school dress code.
In all of our classes, we learn about the importance of embracing our unique
personalities. Our teachers tell us that School is all about finding out who we really are. Some of
them even shared with us that they went through several phases in terms of their style; goth,
hipster, punk, hippie, etc. They told us that without exploring different styles and personalities,
they would never have developed their own unique personalities that they are today. How will
we ever develop our unique personalities without having the freedom to dress the way we
choose?
Finally, our dress code is costing my family too much money. Blue, red, and grey are my
two sisters and my least favorite colors, so naturally we did not have a wardrobe that included
these colors prior to attending this school. My mom had to buy each of us five new outfits, which
totals to fifteen. Each outfit costs about fifty dollars, so my family had to spend $750.
Unfortunately, that money was not in our budget and as a result, we had to pull from our college
savings account. This dress code is consequently making it more difficult to “have a college state
of mind” because it costs too much money.
The dress code at this school is a complete violation and needs to stop. There is no excuse
for a public school to strip us of our constitutional rights, disable our ability to express ourselves
artistically, and finally hinder our ability to save money for college. I want to find my unique
“self” and learn how to be a savvy student, but unfortunately this dress code will not allow for it.
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Works Cited