Is it true that school uniforms improve behavior, grades, and help keep students safe? In 1969 U.S. Supreme Court case Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District, the Court stated that the First Amendment applies to students, but school staff has the ability to stop students from disrupting children’s education or going against the dress code. They are an appropriate way to control unacceptable behavior. Uniforms in schools enhance student’s school
For quite some time now there has been an ongoing discussion about students wearing school uniforms in public schools. Is students in the public-school system play a major role on them academically? Is making the students wear uniforms unfair or does it show equality? What image does it set for the schools that do have a uniform policy? Over the last few decades, the schools, parents, and students have had a debatable issue over the uniform matter.
School uniforms are taking away students freedom of speech. First of all, school uniforms are restricting students right to express themselves. Experts believe, “American civil liberties union (ACLU), have argued that mandatory uniform policies violate student's right to free speech, which is protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” Students should have the right to free speech. According to the author, Tamar Lewin, he conveys that ”The Supreme Court's Tinker decision firmly established that students have a constitutional right to express when they are at school so long as the speech is not disruptive and does not interfere with the rights
With gang activity, strict dress codes, and bullying becoming more relevant, the idea of school uniforms crosses the mind of many school districts across the country. Even though it may stop students from expressing themselves it would make it easier for staff members to enforce these strict dress codes, reduce the amount of bullying, and overall make schools easier. Which is why schools should have uniforms.
District 230 should not mandate a school uniform policy because of the following: school uniforms go against our rights, raise questions of equality, and they rely on anti-democratic principles. (MP1)To start, school uniforms go against rights in the first amendment like: freedom of religion, and freedom of speech. (EV)Robson states in his Viewpoint, ¨Symbols or words on clothes are most likely to clear the speech hurdle; they will then be evaluated against the “disruption” standard articulated by the Supreme Court in the watershed case Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Tinker involved students wearing black armbands to protest the war in Vietnam. Borrowing from civil rights cases, the court decided for the protesters:
Reports from The Journal of Educational Research reflect the belief that school uniforms have no direct effect on substance use, behavioral problems or attendance issues after analyzing data from the National Educational Longitudinal study of 1988. (Brunsma & Rockquemore, 2001, p 92) The authors of the article go on to make a bold claim that contrary to current discourse there may be a negative effect of school uniforms on student academic achievement. This research revelation was considered breaking news in its day of discovery.
According to today.com, in the 2009 to 2010 school year, 19% of public school principals reported requiring uniforms. That was 5% more than a decade earlier. But are school uniforms really doing what they are intended for? Some people say that school uniforms are helping students, but a lot of people also say that uniforms either don’t help students or are harming their education. This essay will follow the latter opinion in trying to convince you that school uniforms should not be required by public schools.
Uniforms are argued to positively affect student safety by: lowering student victimization, decreasing gang activity and fights and differentiating strangers from students in school building. Dress codes in public schools would be good, in order to cut down the violence, which would eliminate the problems of
It is a belief that school uniforms teach students to respect their learning environment and behave themselves, and, therefore improving discipline. However, that assumption isn’t entirely correct. Researchers have actually found that school uniforms don’t make students better behaved. According to a study of more than 4,500 students, those who wore a school uniform did not have fewer behavior problems or better attendance. Forcing students to wear uniforms lead to more problems and misbehavior instead of encouraging discipline. Students could get into trouble if they did not wear their uniforms correctly. Many kids in today’s society cannot stand the thought of someone telling them what to do, especially what to wear. Instead of encouraging respect, uniforms may cause rebellions. For example, in 2009, a group of students at John A. Ferguson Senior High School rebelled against their school uniforms. Instead of following their school uniform requirements, the students wore what they thought would be a better school uniform to school. Not only uniforms don’t earn schools the respect from its students, but it may also lead to more problems.
The article states that “ Many students claim that requiring them to wear particular clothing deprives them of the ability to freely express themselves through their choice of dress”. (What are the constitutional objections to mandatory dress codes and uniform policies). This shows how much school uniforms should be exterminated, they harm not help. As shown above the uniform limit’s their individuality and may harm their personality. In the article by Lee Rowland she states that “school setting does not offer many opportunities for self-expression” she also states “that students cannot freely post or distribute literature without school officials’ permission”( Rowley). This proves that all school’s that have uniform’s they take their school freedom. This information is important because this info proves that most school’s that have uniform’s may affect their social and personal lives in the future. All uniform’s do violate their expression and harm them because of the uniform they express
The kid who have to wear uniforms for school does not effect the way ids learn in school. Uniforms are a distraction because the teachers spend time checking for a mistake a child made against the dress code. School uniforms are don’t help and should be taken away. National Studies on the effectivness of the school uniform policies say they don’t help(David L. Brunsma). Another national study went on sampling 10th graders and found that uniforms did not affect how kids learn, behavioral problems or substance use on campus. Brunsma also found that 8th graders,2nd graders
Should uniforms be allowed in schools? This is the heated debate that has no sign of stopping. There is a lot of evidence for each side with different points of views from the teachers to the kids to a developmental psychologist, but I’m going to talk about my side of this debate. This is my report on why uniforms should not be allowed in public schools. Uniforms should not be allowed in public schools because the cost of uniforms can cause serious financial problems, kids can’t express themselves, and it doesn’t affect their learning ability, growth, or their motivation toward school.
When students wear uniforms, students do not improve in any way. Student’s academic scores do not go higher when they wear a uniform. Researcher Virginia Draa found that “implementing a uniform policy in schools did not have any impact on academic performance”. If schools are hoping for their student’s academic scores to go higher by implementing uniforms, they would be better off without uniforms. Wearing uniforms don’t help a student’s attitude. A 2010 study in a large urban school district in the Southwest found that asking students to wear uniforms did not result in any change in the number of suspensions for elementary school students. Student’s behavior won’t change, if schools wanted to implement uniform. Uniforms don’t have any positive impact on students,
School uniforms should definitely be used in school systems. Uniforms are both good for schools as well as for the students. Wearing uniforms will help build a sense of unity within the school. Instead of everyone as a separate team, everyone will be in the same team. Wearing uniforms will help free students of the stress of what to wear in the morning. Wearing school uniforms will help improve student individuality and improve their self-esteem.
Jahn’s best source comes in the form of legal support of freedom of speech in past cases. However, the Supreme Court has not ruled on the issue of school uniforms. Instead, it lets the states decide if there is a need for uniforms or not. Jahn points
“One widely cited study, on schools in Long Beach, California, showed a decrease in school crime after the introduction of uniforms, but the city had taken many other measures to reduce violence at the same time, so it’s hard to tease out how much uniforms mattered. Many studies show no change in school culture, and some even show negative results: in one 2007 study, the introduction of uniforms accompanied an increase in the average number of assaults in one district’s violent schools” (“The Downsides of School Uniforms”).