Why the Uniform?

Are school uniforms a necessity? Schools boards and parents around the United States are proposing that school uniforms should be required. Uniforms are not going to change the education or curriculum of a school, so in my opinion, there is no need to have them.

Look at other uniformed activities such as prison and the Army. Having uniforms hasn’t made our army smarter or our prisoners less violent. In fact, according to Robert Bellin a parent who worked in a penitentiary for more than twenty-one years, there is more violence in prisons than ever! Even if we give students school uniforms they will still attempt to make them their own. Students are still at early ages of life and some do not yet know what is right and what is wrong. They are not yet adults so how can we blame children for what they come to school wearing? If anybody, the parents should be held responsible for this. It is the parents’ job to guide the child, not the other way around.

Students cannot be blamed for bad clothing choices if they do not know that they are bad. Your clothes and the way that you present yourself gives other people an idea of who you are as an individual. Each person has a unique style. If the idea of school uniforms is forced on students, they cannot express themselves. Students should have the opportunity to be creative and original.

Uniforms will not allow kids to be either. School uniforms are all the same and more often than not, have bland colors. Usually, you are not allowed to wear anything extra such as jewelry or scarves and this stunts children’s originality and fizzles their creative growth. When you have a school uniform you cannot improvise. You cannot change the style to make it your own. Your clothes reflect who you are as a person and you cannot show that if you are wearing the same thing as everyone else.

Schools will also have a hard time paying for uniforms, especially if they are located in a specifically poor neighborhood. Along with the expenses of getting the uniforms themselves, schools will also have to pay for mending rips or tears, dry cleaning, and completely replacing the uniforms every few years. This costs a lot of money that schools could be spending on more important things like extracurricular activities and school sponsored events. Even when the students have to pay to wear these uniforms, some people cannot afford it! There are many things to consider when getting uniforms for school. Other reasons that I think school uniforms are not a good idea, would be that schools that do not have uniforms, will think that schools with uniform are bragging about money. This of course is a stereotype and should not even be an issue but it is.

Many people judge you on what you wear. In the future it will not matter what you wore anyway. All that will matter was that you learned something. Uniforms will not contribute to the future. It’s not like Einstein discovered E=mc squared because he wore a uniform! Uniforms will not contribute anything to society so why bother.

Kids should be able to be creative and original. They should be allowed to show who they are as a person. In my opinion having school uniforms is a bad idea. Why waste money on school uniforms when we have much worse things to worry about, such as Earthquakes in Haiti? “Clothes are not the most important things in life.” That’s what many parents tell their children. Maybe they should take their own advice!