Do School Uniforms Make Schools Better

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.

In 1980 the Catholic schools were recognized for having their students in uniforms, and they believed it would improve the performance, along with it applying more applicable discipline for their students. Since the Catholic schools recognition for uniforms, some of the public schools since then has taken it upon themselves to apply the same policy with in their own schools. At looking at the schools today, it would be found that over half of them do have a uniform policy in place. Being able to look at the good and the bad with in the students wearing uniforms, it is seeming to most that it is a beneficial policy for them.

In the article “Do uniforms make schools better”, Marian Wilde states that in the past decade, school, parents and students had clashed over the issue of regulating student attire. In the 1980s, public schools were often compared to Catholic schools for no reason. So some of the public school decided to adopt the school uniform policy. In 1996, President Clinton provided momentum to the school uniform movement in his 1996 State of the Union Speech. President Clinton said “ If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms.” There is some pros and cons for having school uniforms. Some pros for school uniforms would be to help identify intruders easily, prevent gangs from forming on campus, and increase a sense of belonging and school pride. Some cons for school uniforms would be violating a student’s right to freedom of expression, making a student a target for bullies from other school, and it’s an unfair additional expense for parents. School uniforms shouldn’t be required at schools, especially at Kailua High School.

School uniforms also serve little to no purpose in benefiting the education of children around America. A uniform does not help a student learn things that they need to know. A uniform does not help a student study, take notes, or make flash cards. They bring no educational value to the table of learning. According to many educators and experts, “Uniforms do not improve academics, behavioral and social outcomes, or reduce discrimination or crime” (Farrell). So if a uniform cannot help a student increase their knowledge or grow as a person, why make students wear them?

In 1994, the school district of Long Beach California was one of the first to enforce school uniforms in the grades Kindergarten through 8th, and crime rates in the district dropped 22% soon after. School attendance also improved after the uniforms were introduced. Although this one statistic shows there are positive outcomes from school uniforms, there is one question that remains: Do school uniforms help or harm the students and environment at school? The controversy among this topic is that some people believe that uniforms improve the way kids act in class, however, others believe that school uniforms make their behavior worse. Another thing that certain people don’t like about uniforms is that they are very costly. A woman in Indianapolis was interviewed and said that she has five kids that all need uniforms, and with all the costs combined she had to pay almost $700. She found it was an outrage because she has a son who was a senior at the time and she had to pay for his uniforms as well. Even though she believed that uniforms are not an advantage, other people have the belief that uniforms have a positive outcome. In fact, some people think that the students’ behavior becomes subsequently better in the classroom setting; this is proven in the Long Beach study. There is also proof that school uniforms save people lots of money. This is because parents in one

There are many perks that come with having a uniform. One important reason is that schools with uniforms are shown to have better scores on test. This was discovered in a recent study. Many think this is due to the fact that when a school allows pupils to wear what they want, it can distract them from their lessons and tasks. This abstraction is eliminated with the introduction of uniforms.

Uniforms undermines a student’s academic performance and achievement. Others say that uniforms help in academic areas and uniforms should be required. “Additionally, educators report a decrease in violence, a reduction in fights in schools and improved student achievement when dress codes have been implemented”(Source D). This quote states that school uniforms are helping students improve in academics and reduce violence. However, in the article “School Uniforms: An Overview”, it states “ He also concluded that the use of school

In summary, schools should not have uniforms. They do not allow students to express themselves. Also, they teach conformity over individuality. In addition to being useless in schools, they do not improve attendance, academic preparedness, or test results. Really, they do not improve anything. If you were a principal, would you enforce a uniform

The idea of American high school students being compelled to wear uniforms while attending school is very contentious. The role of uniforms in the lives of a student is a very difficult topic to approach. The school authorities have been at an impasse when the decision whether students should wear uniforms is brought up. Uniforms for high school students are purposefully designed to identify a child as a student to a particular school. A single unique design of garments will play the part of the uniforms. The fact of the matter is uniforms are quite debatable when it comes to assessing its importance for high school students. The idea may be quite unpopular in some quarters especially on the part of the students. The subject needs to be addressed as soon as possible to ascertain the implications of implementing such an ambitious plan.School uniforms are exceedingly beneficial for American high school students.

Uniforms in schools are a big debate around the world. Should we have uniforms in schools? The answer is yes because uniform help the schools. They bring to table a great deal of help because students are getting bullied, killed, and some may not have as much as other when shopping for clothes. Having uniforms bring safety to schools and what goes on after school.

School uniforms can keep students focused on schools instead of their outfits. A lot of students get easily distracted by what they’re wearing and trying to make sure it looks good and they don’t focus on what they are learning. If schools required uniforms, students wouldn’t worry about their outfits.

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.

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,

A. Thesis Statement- Wearing school uniforms in public schools has numberless amounts of positive benefits both at school and at home.

A study has been done by two Notre Dame University professors, they looked at how uniforms affected “attendance, disciplinary behavior problems, substance abuse, and academic achievement.” From the study the teachers’ outlook of their students with uniforms on changed immensely, they saw them as acting more responsibly, intelligent, and more prosperous. This opinion is false, the students had the same intelligence level as before and based on the results of the study the uniforms did not show a decline in absence, drug use, attitudes toward school, or achievement in the classroom. The study found that tenth graders’ success levels were adversely affected by being compelled to wear uniforms. This shows that there are negative effects of wearing school uniforms.