December 2015
Are School Uniforms a Good Idea?
Books and supplies strain your backpack’s straps as you walk into the
unfamiliar, bright room. The smell of dry-erase markers hit your nose, but what
stands out to you the most is the rainbow of colors that flash your eyes. It’s the
diversity of the student body’s clothes in one, single classroom. Your fellow
classmates are sitting in an array of pigment and the colors of the rainbow seem to
cover up the drab, cream-colored desks. As your eyes scan the room, you can see
that even the walls are covered in vivid color, filled with tips and tricks to assist
you during the school year. The air is filled with the sounds of students talking and
laughing, seeing each other after 2 months of separation. However, stepping into a
classroom with school uniforms is different; all you will see is the sea of boring,
monotonous attire of every single student. School uniforms are a financial
problem in areas where poverty is very evident. Also, they destroy the freedom
that allows students to wear and support whatever they want. Thirdly, many
psychologists feel that school uniforms delay a child’s transition to adulthood. Are
school uniforms a good idea? Contrary to many school’s opinions, I don’t think
that school uniforms are a smart idea.
Every year, one billion dollars are spent on school uniforms. Why should
parents have to spend an additional expense on only one set of uniforms? To sum
up, school uniforms are typically very expensive. In fact, families must spend
hundreds of dollars on a pair of school uniforms annually. School uniforms have
broken the guarantee of a free, public learning experience in many states. Parents
Laura and Scott Bell, have sued over a school’s uniform policy that required them
to pay $641 on uniforms in August 2007. A local NBC associate reported that
some children had to miss class because the required uniform price was too high
for their families in September 2014. Although, school uniforms are supposed to
bridge the gap between class divisions, it has only increased it. According to
David L. Brunsma, PhD, “More affluent families buy more uniforms per child.
The less affluent… they have one… It’s more likely to be tattered, torn, and
faded.” This is because families in poverty do not have the money to keep up with
the expense of school uniforms, especially since they are something that their
child(ren) have to wear every day. Even though school uniforms can be pricey,
buying them may actually save parents money by ridding them of the pressure to
buy more fashionable clothes for their children than other families. Laws have
stated that clothing choices are a freedom that pupils should be allowed to express
to whatever extent they wish.
As a teen, your clothing choices are how you express yourself, they define
your personality. In fact, according to the First Amendment in the Constitution, all
individuals have the right to express themselves freely. The U.S. Supreme Court
stated that “it can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their
constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.
Clothing is also a popular way of showing support for different causes and
uniforms eliminate that choice. For this reason, 75 students at Friendly High
School in Prince George’s County, Maryland received in-school suspensions for
wearing pink shirts to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month in 2013, hence,
breaking the school’s restrictions. In addition, the American Civil Liberties Union
of Nevada states that clothing choices are “a crucial form of self-expression,”
without that abstract choice of selection it limits someone’s freedom. However,
there are numerous suggestions on Seventeen and TeenVogue websites about how
someone can spruce up and add their own personal style to their uniform. By
denying students a choice of clothes, psychologists believe that adolescents may
not have a smooth transition into adulthood.
Every parent wants to see their child mature and transition into adulthood.
Adults make their own clothing choices and have the liberty to express their
opinion, denying students those choices may make them poorly prepared for the
adult-hood. Additionally, late developmental psychologist Erik Erikson stated,
“adolescents see clothing choices as a means of identification, and seeking an
identity is one of the critical stages of adolescence.” As humans, we need the
sense of control in our lives, the ability to be driven by our own thoughts, an
individual identity and without that we become lost. In fact, psychologist Andrew
Maslow created a hierarchy of needs; self-actualization, esteem, belonging, safety,
and physiological. As you can see, the first three on that list are about self-identity
and when you become an independent adult, you would need that identity to make
decisions. In conclusion, their clothing choices are their freedom to express
opinions and taking those choices away may make children not quite as ready for
adulthood as others. Although, some people have stated that school uniforms may
actually improve some qualities found in adults as well, such as, attendance,
discipline, and punctuality.
I don’t believe that school uniforms are a wise investment for both the
school and the students. They are costly; uniforms typically have a price of $100$200. Therefore, uniforms have become a defining characteristic between the
privileged and the underprivileged. The second reason, uniforms are freedomrestricting. The Constitution states that all individuals have the right to express
themselves freely, but confining students to one, specific uniform directly goes
against that right. Thirdly, wearing a uniform may delay the transition into
adulthood. Psychologists believe that because adults make decisions, even simple
ones like picking out their clothes, restricting children from making those decisions
may “make them ill-prepared for the adult world.” Do you agree that school
uniforms are a horrendous idea?