Name that
Name/Date/Hour:
1. Factual
C = Confirmed facts
D/S = Data or Statistics
R = Research by an expert
Factual (F)
or
Anecdotal (A)
Which kind of “F”?
or
Which kind of “A”?
2. Anecdotal
P = Personal
F = Family or Friends
A/I = Acquaintance or Interviewee
Evidence
Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, lung
diseases (including emphysema, bronchitis, and chronic
airway obstruction), and diabetes (U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services).
Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million
deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco
use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by
2030 (World Health Organization).
According to Regina Benjamin, the U.S. Surgeon
General, “the chemicals in tobacco smoke reach your
lungs quickly every time you inhale. Your blood then
carries the toxicants to every organ in your body.”
Five years after the Long Beach School District
mandated uniforms, overall crime in the school district
has dropped by a startling 91%. Suspensions were
down 90%, and vandalism decreased by 69%
(Psychology Today).
My friend Robert said he thinks uniforms have limited
the bullying that goes on at school. Other boys used to
bully him for wearing nerdy clothes, but since everyone
wears the same thing now, there’s nothing to bother him
about.
There was a girl in my math class who used to wear
really short skirts and low cut shirts, and the boys would
say and do inappropriate things around her. But now
we all wear pants, so there’s not much they can say.
“Arnold Goldstein, Ph.D., head of the Center for
Research on Aggression at Syracuse University,
believes uniforms work by promoting a sense of
community, allowing troubled students to feel part of a
supportive whole. Says Goldstein: ‘There is a sense of
belonging’” (Psychology Today).
1. Factual
C = Confirmed facts
D/S = Data or Statistics
R = Research by an expert
Factual (F)
or
Anecdotal (A)
Which kind of “F”?
or
Which kind of “A”?
2. Anecdotal
P = Personal
F = Family or Friends
A/I = Acquaintance or Interviewee
Evidence
Mrs. Betty Johnson, a teacher at Athens Middle School
explained, “Kids are better behaved now. They take
school more seriously because of the uniforms. And
the ones who are interested in gangs—it’s not as much
of an issue in the classroom because the students all
wear navy blue pants and white shirts.”
“School uniforms can help reduce theft, violence, and
the negative effects of peer pressure caused when
some students come to school wearing designer
clothing and expensive sneakers. A uniform code also
prevents gang members from wearing colors and
insignia that could cause trouble and helps school
officials recognize intruders who do not belong on
campus” (U.S. Department of Education
Study/Constitutional Rights Foundation).
The result is that the first class of the morning is often a
waste, with as many as 28 percent of students falling
asleep, according to a National Sleep Foundation poll.
According to Paul Reville, a professor of education
policy at Harvard and chairman of the Massachusetts
Board of Education, “Trying to cram everything our
21st-century students need into a 19th-century six-anda-half-hour day just isn’t working.” He says that children
learn more at a less frantic pace, and that lengthening
the school day would help “close the achievement gap
between disadvantaged students and their better-off
peers.”
When high schools in Fayette County in Kentucky
delayed their start times to 8:30 a.m., the number of
teenagers involved in car crashes dropped, even as
they rose in the state (Kalish).
A shirt, tie and blazer may not be the ingredients for my
favourite outfit, but if I were given the choice, I wouldn't
throw away the idea of school uniform. Wearing a
uniform is a badge of pride, creates an identity for a
school and is an important part of being a school
student.