Do Uniforms Matter?
Do people actually believe school’s uniforms matter? Uniforms do not always help with learning environments. Sometimes they can even make it worse. School should not force their students to wear uniforms because they need to express themselves, it is expensive, and it can cause low self-esteem. We have a right of expression. For example, when they were talking about expression they said “...school uniforms infringe upon students’ right to express their individuality…” (Weis 3). Uniforms do not let the children choose what they want to wear. They have to wear what is already chosen for them, they don’t get a say in anything. Even though it’s them who has to wear the uniforms. Additionally, when they were talking about
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For example, when they were talking about parents' choices they said “Parents should be free to choose their children’s clothes without government interference” (Dashkovitz 11). Parents have the right to buy which clothes their children will wear. They don’t want to spend money on clothes that their child will only wear to school, let alone expensive clothes. Additionally, when they were talking about free education, they said “School uniforms...undermine the promise of a free education by imposing an extra expense on families” (Hush 11). An expensive set of clothes will not help a family with money issues. It is incredibly wrong for people to be allowed to charge someone money for something they didn’t even want to buy in the first place. Likewise, when they were talking about the cost of uniforms they said “...the cost of an average uniform [is]...275 for a child…” (Feely 2). Even just this amount of money can put a family in debt, or deeper in debt. Also, it is unfair to do this to kids in public schools. The whole purpose of them is so families do not have to pay money is not fair. Especially to public school
The dissent argues that there should be a limit on expression in school to allow students
Freedom of Expression is a right that all Americans can joy on a daily basis, now imagine if it were a controlled right? That doesn’t make it a right, more so something that we can use when the government says so. In November of 1968, 4 students organized a silent protest against the US policies in Vietnam, which ended with suspension from their local schools. The issue was brought up in court, which led to split consensus. The majority opinion of the Supreme Court was that the expression of speech couldn’t be prohibited unless it was a disruption and harmed the rights of others. The dissent opinion stated that if freedom of speech was without a limit to an extent, who says it could lead to school being a platform for the exercise of free speech instead of education. The argument came to the conclusion of defining the rights and freedom of speech for children in school. I agree with the majority opinion, seeing the freedom of expression shouldn’t be controlled and such.
There have been multiple court cases regarding freedom and rights for many different people. In the article “How much Freedom does the Constitutional Laws give us?” there were two court cases that dealt with freedom. One of the cases, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969), said that “as long as an act of expression does not disrupt classwork or school activities or invade the rights of others, it’s acceptable” (Freedom). This is saying that when your freedom and rights hurt someone else’s rights then that is where your rights are limited.
According to the Bill of Rights written by our founding fathers, all American citizens have the right to freedom of expression. In 1968, school officials forbid students from wearing armbands that supported a truce being made in the Vietnam War. They brought the case to the Supreme Court. The justices ruled in favor of the students, saying that if the school’s authorities punished the students for wearing the armbands, they were violating our right to freedom of expression. We have the right to our own opinion, and without this right, people would be punished left and right. And, if there are set rules on
“The mere fact that I exist, means that I deserve to be here and to express myself any damn way I please.” said Euphoria Godsent when talking about the First Amendment. On December 15, 1791, our founding fathers accepted the First Amendment as a part of the constitution. Today, people twist the meaning of the First Amendment to form loopholes in situations, with one of the most guilty being public schools. Most kids go to school from a young age until they transition into adulthood where they also become their own boss, unlike their childhood. Teachers enforce a dress code telling the students what the school allows and denies students the right to wear, which acts as a great example of this. For the most part, students despise the dress code, for a plethora good reasons.What students decide to wear to school acts as a form of symbolic speech, which the First Amendment covers. However, schools claim that the teachers formed the dress code for the benefit of the students. So in the battle between teacher and student, everyone asks whether or not dress codes violate the student's First Amendment. Schools should get rid of dress codes because the way student's dress is a way to express themselves, dress codes can psychologically hurt students, and they violate the student's’ First Amendment.
School uniforms don't affect school environment for a number of reasons. First, it makes it harder for parents to go shopping. The article states, "...makes shopping for him not only more expensive but that much harder." Second, students like to express themselves by their clothes, they like to be individual. The text says, "My daughter likes to be individual, to wear what she wants." Lastly, it can make teens be more of a troublemaker than what they were before school uniforms were enforced. The author wrote,"Rebellious teens forced to wear uniforms might be even less inclined to do well." To conclude, it's harder and expensive, people like to be individual, and it can make students be less academic is why it doesn't affect
“Some people’s idea of free speech is that they are free to say what they like , but if anyone says anything back , that is an outrage”, according to Sir Winston Churchill. America, the so called place of opportunity and land of freedom purports to be free, but is it really free? In the 1969 court case , Tinker v. Des moines school district , kids were wearing black armbands in protest of the vietnam war. In response ,the school district didn’t allow it and immediately went to court. The court ruled in favor of the children because they were exercising their right of freedom of speech in a nonviolent manner . Freedom of speech is something that is highly debated and refuted. Freedom of speech is something that gives the people a voice and a right to express their concerns and beliefs that help make America a better place. The right of Freedom of speech should not be limited because the people are entitled to their voice,criticisms and opinions should be expressed freely, and rebelling anyone's rights are
You have the freedom of expression, but what if someone took it away? School uniforms do that. School uniforms started way back in the 1200’s, when the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that students wear a robe-like outfit called the "cappa clausa." More recently, almost one in five US public schools required students to wear uniforms during the 2011-2012 school year. School uniforms take away the student's right of expression, promotes conformity over individuality and takes away the free, in free schools. Some people may say that school uniforms prevent bullying, but that isn’t always true. Students should not have to wear school uniforms.
Dress codes violate the first amendment. Students should have the ability to express themselves as it is their right to do so, but schools are prohibiting them from being able to express themselves. In the article Are Student Dress Codes a Violation of Civil Rights, Yates Kimberly claims, “If a school district can show that political
One example, of how a government in school district, many students are able to express themselves through what they wear to school, students and teachers are free to speak their minds on public school grounds. They can even wear T-shirts with messages, dye their hair funky colors, and wear jewelry or buttons that make a social statement. But, even with First Amendment protection guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, there are limits in the school setting. And figuring out where the line is drawn is fairly complicated, and more teenagers are facing restrictions as the school’s boards across the country adopt more stringent policies.
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
To begin with, students don’t get to express their self. The first amendment states that everyone has the right to express their self in any way. Without the first amendment kids all over the world would have to wear school uniforms. Which might lead to losing their identity. If they lose their true identity because of
For years, there have been hundreds of debates about whether students should wear uniforms or not. Many schools agreed with the idea and have already required school uniforms, while others are still considering it. Some say that school uniforms represent discipline and instill school pride, but others think that it is not creativity and comfortable. Despite that there are still arguments about it; school uniforms have increasingly demonstrated their importance and influence in many ways. Students should have to wear uniforms because it will help students to perform better at school, give students a sense of discipline, lower the cost for parents, and decrease the rate of crime.
Limit of expression: Schools are repeatedly trying to ban what students can or cannot do in schools. Imagine being in class and the teacher disallows students to write with a pencil. They ban them from doing their worksheet. That seems pretty silly, right? The United States is supposed to protect the people's rights and freedom of speech, but it is doing the total opposite. Also, schools are teaching their students about their freedom of speech and freedom of press, but they are not letting them show it. So why teach them? Students can express themselves without limits because the first Amendment protects their rights,they have a voice, and they can show respect.
There are many cases where courts side with students for expressing their freedom of speech. Two of these cases are the Tinker v. Des Moines case and the Castorina v. Madison County School Board case. Both cases involve students getting disciplined for wearing some article of clothing that the school did not approve of. A student’s clothing is a way of expression; therefore, it is protected under the first amendment. One case that has set many standards for Students rights in schools is the Tinker v. Des Moines case. In December 1965, students from Des Moines Iowa wanted to protest the war in Vietnam by wearing black armbands to school. The principal of the school heard about this plan, so a policy was adopted so any student caught wearing an armband would be asked to remove it. Failure to comply with the policy would result in suspension until the student wanted to come to school without the armband. The students then knowingly broke the rules and did not return to school until the policy restricting the armbands had expired. The suspension brought one of the students’ parents to take legal action and sue the school. The students claimed that their right to freedom of speech had been violated. After a hearing in the district court, the complaint was dismissed. The court supported the actions of the school stating that what the school did was reasonable in order to prevent a disturbance. The case eventually made its way to the supreme court with a ruling of 7-2 in favor of