School+Uniforms2

By: Mike

School uniforms are on the rise in schools all over the place! Major United States cities like San Antonio, Texas, New York, New York, and Long Beach California have adopted a school uniform policy. What is my stand on this ever-growing issue? Read on to find out.

I personally think we should not have school uniforms.

Over twenty-five percent of school districts say we should have school uniforms because of so-called “positive effects.”

However, on the other hand, they do not seem to fix anything. Most superintendents of school districts with uniforms stated fights, school crime, and sex offenses have gone down drastically. But all these incidents occurred about the same amount at non-uniform school districts as well. Other factors at uniform schools might have contributed to these changes. These may include new teachers, new rules, or stricter punishment. Hey, how do we know that some superintendent didn’t go around to every school in their district and say to everybody to crack down on behavior so the media will notice it and more school districts will have uniforms? The president of the New York School District actually admitted that they wouldn’t fix much. And, to end this paragraph, in my personal experience I know that there is still bullying and assault at uniform schools.

In addition, people can sometimes be too strict on school uniforms. This is especially true at Polk County School District in Miami. Some girl at that school district got sexually assaulted just so the principal could see if she was wearing spandex. She was, and got sent to ISS; this made the local papers. A whole heap of kids at that school district have had to remove protected speech stickers from backpacks and their shirts. In one case, a parent bought a solid color shirt (uniform regulations). The problem with it was that it had no collar, so he had to change into a loaner. A kindergartener violated the dress code and had to swap clothes in front of the entire school. These are just a few examples of what has happened at that school district.

To add to the previous thought, they can be out of reach for some families. Uniforms may be too expensive for some families. If you go to private school, many of which have uniforms, your family should have enough money to buy uniforms, but at public schools? Public schools are supposed to be free. If you have enough money to buy them, you might not be able to find a place that sells them. Those stores might go out of stock of just one item of clothing that you need and you could violate the dress code. If the school is too unclear on the dress code, you might buy the wrong item of clothing and get in trouble.

And last, but //definitely// not least, school uniforms can easily turn your social life into a big struggle. If you have to go to the doctor or to the store wearing a uniform, you could fall victim to stares and comments from people. Your school sometimes might be badmouthed of for having uniforms, like if there is a sports team they might tell the team, “I saw a kid who goes there and he looked stupid, let’s not play against them.”

So, in conclusion, there should be no more schools with uniforms. Here is what I think we should do about this issue that is growing like mold. Right now: nothing because there are no school districts in York county that are considering such a guideline in the rules. But if they for some reason the state starts to try to convince us to get uniforms, we will need to take action. To do that, we could get all people from the school that are opposed to having uniforms together and go to a school board meeting and make a presentation on why we should not have school uniforms. I could also read this report to them there. I hope I can trust all of you on this…

__Bibliography available upon request__