All Public Schools Should Implement a School Uniform Policy

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School uniforms will help improve the professional look of students. Students seem to believe that schools represent their fashion platform. They dress in ill-fitting, baring, baggy and sometimes vulgar clothes. With all the exposed skin, tattered jeans, swaging pants, how is that not a distraction at school? Casual clothes leave school administrators and teachers with the intricate burden of monitoring students’ apparel. Wearing uniforms encourage an environment of discipline and structure. When you look your best, you act your best. Uniforms help with the professional visual look of a school. Students look neat, and shirts tucked in, belts, no oversized or undersized garments, and appropriate length skirts. Opponents will argue that school uniform may hinder individuality or creativity. School is an institution for learning and teaching the tomorrow's leaders, not a fashion playground for students. In his speech at Jackie Robinson Academy in California President Bill Clinton (1996) stated: “I think these uniforms do not stamp out individuality among our young people. Instead, they slowly teach our young people one of life's more important lessons that what really counts is what you are and what you can become on the inside, not what you are wearing on the outside." (para 26) Wearing uniforms will help students redirect their creative outlets toward academic achievements. Rules, policies and dress codes applied at school, will benefits students in their preparation for the order and structure of the professional arena.

School is a formal place of learning. Students who wear uniforms attract positive attention and opinions. Wearing school uniforms is a symbol of unity under the banner of education, regardless of ethnicity, religions, nationality and most of all economic status. School uniforms provide a better learning environment. Gail Connelly, the executive director of the National Association of Elementary School Principals expressed that the school uniform approach, whether it is practiced in private or public schools is conducive to students’ significant success.(National Association of Elementary School Principals & Lands' End School Uniform, 2013, para 6). All public schools would benefit from the advantages of the uniform policy, such as the decrease of the socioeconomic disparities, the cost-effectiveness for families and the professional look of students.

References

Clinton, B. (1996). Remarks to the community in Long Beach. Weekly Compilation Of Presidential Documents, 32(9), 369.

Manual on School Uniforms. (1996). In http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED387947.pdf. Retrieved September 29, 2014, from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED387947.pdf

National Association of Elementary School Principals., & Lands' End School Uniform. (2013, July 30). NAESP | National Association of Elementary School Principals. Retrieved from http://www.naesp.org/national-survey-school-leaders-reveals-2013-school-uniform-trends

Statistic Brain. (2014, July 11). School Uniforms Statistics. In http://www.statisticbrain.com/school-uniform-statistics/. Retrieved September 28, 2014, from Statistic Brain website: http://www.statisticbrain.com/school-uniform-statistics/

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