SHOULD STUDENTS BE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY?
Should students be allowed to express their individuality?
Sarah D. Fields
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College
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SHOULD STUDENTS BE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY?
Should students be allowed to express their individuality?
Ever noticed how our school's students have been dressing quite mature for their age? If
our school were to get uniforms then it would eliminate inappropriate outfits. President Clinton
provided momentum to the school uniform movement when he said in his 1996 State of the
Union speech, “If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets then our
public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms.” School
uniforms should be required in all public schools. (M. Wilde)
Background Information
Some background information about school uniforms in the world, have generally been
associated with high cost exclusive schools for the well to do. Even in England where most of
the children wear uniforms to school, elaborate school uniforms were mostly associated with
what many British people considered to be hoity-toity elite preparatory and public schools for the
rich. The historical origin of uniforms, however, is quite different. Uniforms were first instituted
in the 16th century England at the charity schools for the poor children. It was not until the 19th
century that the great English public schools began instituting uniforms and even later for them
to be widely accepted at state schools, especially state elementary schools. In the 7th century, the
Arabs armed with Ilam burst out of the Arabian Desert and by the 8th century had founded a
powerful empire centered on Baghdad. The Arabs then spread Islam through North Africa and
into Spain. Centers of leaning called "medersas" or Islamic schools were established throughout
the Arab world. They were inspired by the Marinid sultans, during the 14th century.
After the fall of Rome, formal schooling in the west disappeared. The rare vestiges of
school were the song schools of the cathedrals and monasteries. The boys chosen at first were
taught to prepare them for holy orders. Formally schooling in Europe outside of church schools
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SHOULD STUDENTS BE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY?
was rare in Europe until about the 10th century. The number of children attending schools was
very limited for several more centuries. There were similarities in the development of schools
through out Europe, but the pattern varied significantly in many areas. School uniforms in
England were from many years associated with children attending charity schools that were the
first to wear uniforms, in part to tell them apart and to clothe them as cheaply as possible These
historic costumes are still worn by boys at some of England's famed hospital schools.
Many believe that school uniforms have a superficial aspect of a school. Superficial or
not, school uniforms are part of the history of the British education. The reason that Britain's
great public schools began instituting uniforms was much of the same reason that educators in
America's dreadful urban schools that have begun to require uniforms. the English public schools
in the 18th and early 19th century had became anarchic, dangerous places in which boys from
aristocrats and wealthily families as they wished and played voluntary games in whatever worn
and battered gear was to hand. Interestingly many of our most popular modern sports originated
in the informal, off rough and chaotic play of English school boys. Conditions were so bad that
many parents refused to send their boys and instead had them educated at home until they were
ready for the university. The uniformity in clothing was one of the measures designed to replace
ciaos with disciplined order. Along with compulsory games, stricter supervision of the pupils'
lives and morals, and a broadening of the classical curriculum, school uniform was an essential
characteristic of the reformed public schools that emerged by the late 19th century as some of the
most effective and prestigious schools in Europe.
Once the idea of school uniforms took hold, it was seized upon by the British as
obsession. The many new public schools founded in Victorian England to meet the needs of
administrators for an expanding empire followed the example of the established public schools.
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SHOULD STUDENTS BE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY?
The new preparatory schools founded to prepare younger boys to enter the public schools also
adopted uniforms. The new uniforms were visible symbol as a way of establishing their social
status. Nowhere else in Europe or in America did distinctive uniforms for school boys become
such a uniformity accepted principle. the British school uniform followed empire as new public
schools were founded in the colonies which adopted the styles set by the established schools, no
matter how unsuitable to tropical climates.(school uniforms)
Positional Support
To begin, students should be required to wear school uniforms because it would help
prevent gangs from forming or at least being seen on school campuses, would help identify
intruders in the school, help students resist peer pressure to buy trendy clothes, and improve
attendance. Preventing gangs from forming and helping the gang members being seen on school
campuses would be a lot easier due to the fact that they could be spotted easier if the students
were wearing uniform. The gang members that came on the campus would not be wearing
uniforms while the students would be. Also, school uniforms would help identify intruders in the
schools. If students were to wear uniforms and something was to happen on campus such as a
bank robber was to run onto campus and take hostages then the police would be able to identify
the suspect because he would not be wearing a uniform. Another good reason for schools to go to
uniforms would help students resist peer pressure to buy trendy clothes. Students competing with
each other on clothes would stop. Uniforms would be a lot cheaper for students instead of going
out and buying jeans that can cost $80.00 a pair. Peer pressure could also lead to bulling over the
clothes with the poor. There are some people out in the world that can not afford to go out and
buy expensive clothes just to wear to school; uniforms could also stop the bulling. Improving
attendance also could increase with the help of uniforms. Right now in schools some students do
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SHOULD STUDENTS BE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY?
not want to show up for school due to the fact that they have the fear of being bullied. Schools
that require their students to wear uniforms have a better attendance record. Not just students
should be forced to wear uniforms, the teachers should wear them also to help the students make
better choices and not fight over the idea. If teachers had to wear uniforms also then that would
also help identify the class grade teachers and also would help on intruders in the schools.
Refute
On the other hand, school uniforms could cause a financial burden for the poor and
violate students' right to freedom of expression. Depending on where the parents buy their child's
clothing for school at, buying uniforms could be a financial burden. If the parents can not afford
to buy their child uniforms then their child can not attend school until they find a way to get a
uniform. Some uniforms depending on where the parents buy their clothes at can cost up to
$50.00 a set. For the parents that pay taxes for a free public education, school uniforms can come
as an unfair additional expense. Also, school uniforms violate the students' right to freedom of
expression. If students has to where uniforms all the time in school, they are unable to express
how they feel. With out uniforms if a student starts out as a happy go lucky person at the
beginning of the school year who loves to wear bright colors ends up by the end of the school
year starts wearing black and is depressed and with drawn from everything then the teachers
would know that something was wrong with that student. Some schools would have to buy
uniforms and provide them for the students that do not have the financial aid to buy the uniforms.
It would cost more in the budget just for uniforms and there may not be much money left in the
budget for anything else that the school system needs.
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SHOULD STUDENTS BE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY?
Call to Action
In summary, uniforms should be required to be worn in every school across the nation
from elementary schools to high schools. The fight over the requirement of school uniforms will
never end. No matter what is done with the law or what our former president says people are
going to hate the idea of uniforms and some are going to love the idea. If people can stand up
and help make uniforms required in the school systems across the nation, schools would run
more smoothly. School Uniforms should be mandatory in all the schools.
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SHOULD STUDENTS BE ALLOWED TO EXPRESS THEIR INDIVIDUALITY?
References
School uniform history. (n.d.). Historic clothing: expanded site. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from
http://www.histclo.com/schun/hist/schun-hist.html
Wilde, M. (nod.). Do Uniforms Make Schools Better? - Defining your ideal school |
GreatSchools. GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent
Community. Retrieved April 24, 2013, from http://www.greatschools.org/find-aschool/defining-your-ideal/121-school-uniforms.gs
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