History Of Uniforms : The United States

By the 1980’s,problems with gang violence led to dress codes that attempted to do away with gang colors.Dress codes have routinely been used to prohibit clothes with threatening language,insulting racial slurs,alcohol or drug related messages.Uniform policies began to spread in the late 1980’s and then steadily increased throughout the 1990’s. Though parochial and private schools have a long history of mandating school uniforms”.School uniforms are always discussed in Chicago 's public schools.Why? Due to the fact that school officials feel as if these set of rules will help improve their schools. Something about CPS makes people cringe when brought up to a suburban family or school official.The majority of Chicago 's public school require uniforms yet little to no learning is going on in these classrooms due to their surroundings. A 2013 study reported in the NCBI Social education by Burdick-will, concluded that “For many student attending public high schools,violent events either at school or in their neighborhoods are frequent and routine.This is clearly not the case in all parts of the country and means that the experience of students in chicago may not be representative of students nationwide.It is unclear whether the effects of school

School Uniforms are being pushed more and more in schools, but what is commonly thought of when the words “school uniform” is said? For most people the picture of children in the same colored uniforms gathered in front of a Catholic Church or a private school is displayed in their mind. This picture is one of the many problems with school uniforms. Instead of being seen as an individual, students are seen as just another kid in a uniform attending a fancy private school. The students cannot develop the self-expression that is crucial to their development at this age. Uniforms are thought to create a more protected campus and learning environment, however, if someone wants to bully someone else, clothes are not going to stop them. The cost, which is usually seen as a pro, can actually be more than people anticipate. As one can see, in the best interest of any student, school uniforms should not be made part of the dress code.

School uniforms are beneficial and have proven to be a strong deterrent against gang violence, dress code violation and have a significant impact on instructional time as a result of less focus on nonacademic issues such as student attire. We believe that a mandatory school uniform policy will provide a more secure school environment, promote an atmosphere for greater discipline, and increase-learning opportunities for students by removing many of the distractions associated with various types of clothing; however, a grant request for $25,000 to purchase additional uniforms for students who are economically disadvantaged was rejected. The exact reason why the grant proposal was rejected was not clear. Mann (2015) asserts that there are

“If it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear uniforms” This statement from Bill Clinton was what started a movement toward using uniforms in-state school in the United States in 1996. Since then school uniforms have become a common thing in the school system in the United States. There is no doubt that school uniforms can lead to loss of students’ rights to express themselves and that school uniforms will not generally stop bullying even though they might increase student’s safety.

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

Long Beach, a suburb of Los Angeles, intended to reduce crime through their uniform policy and at the conclusion of policies the first year they reported fighting incidents at the schools fell 51 percent, drug use declined by 69 percent, and crimes involving weapons dropped 52 percent (Time, 1995). Today, the Long Beach Unified School District has mandatory school uniform polices in place at seventy-seven schools serving roughly 70,000 students in grades K-12 (LB Schools, n.d.). The uniforms have also been attributed to better grades and higher achievement. Chris Eftychiou, spokesman for the Long Beach Unified School District, says that since uniforms were adopted 20 years ago, the district has also seen gains in other areas including student achievement, state test scores, and higher attendance (Nittle, 2014). Following Long Beach’s success with unifroms, other urban school districts have been making the transition to uniforms, which now make up approximately one fifth of all student dress attire nationwide (NCES, 2014). While the focus for school uniforms has been on reducing crime in urban areas, the data from urban districts highlight other unexpected but positive benefits that are equally applicable to suburban

The history of school uniforms in the United States public schools begins with small underprivileged school of Cherry Hill Elementary in Maryland and the domino effect that happened soon after in the years after. The popularity of school uniforms can greatly be credited to the Long Beach, California study and President Bill Clinton’s speech on the topic. At first, school uniforms were only for the private or Catholic private schools however the school uniform trend spread to other public schools to adopt the “preppy look” and success. This has now set new standard for the United States school system. A brief history of school uniforms will give a significant insight on the growing development that is transforming American schools.

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.

This is a pattern for the kind of apron that would have been worn by a

In a longitudinal study on discipline and school police data, researchers found that school referrals were down thirty-three percent from the previous year when students did not wear uniforms. (Sanchez, et al.,2012). This quantitative research study did a wonderful job of getting a sufficient amount of personal student opinions on the usage of uniforms through a self-report survey. The study illuminates the distaste that students have for school uniforms. Sanchez (2012) conveyed that eighty percent of students reported that they disliked or strongly disliked wearing uniforms. Moreover, students also shared that bullying, fighting, and gang activity was still

It is difficult to trace the origins of the uniform as there is no comprehensive written history but rather a variety of known influences. Although uniforms can often be considered conservative and old-fashioned, uniforms in recent years have changed as societal dress codes have changed.[3] Little is known prior to the nineteenth century about uniforms, but there certainly are influences dating back to the 13th century. In 1222, the Archbishop of Canterbury ordered monks to wear a stereotypical monastic form of dress. Despite this example, the roots of the modern day uniform come mostly from the collegiate uniforms in England. Universities, primary schools and secondary schools used uniforms as a marker of class and status, which in turn served

Unfortunately, public school has become less about education and more about being fashion forward. As a society, there is definitely a higher tendency for people to judge a person’s entire personality solely on what and how they are dressed. The desire to have the latest trending clothes is in far greater demand than to have the highest grades. As a result many issues such as vandalism, bullying, sexual harassment, and even death have emerged into the public school system. Large numbers of students meet fail to abide by the dress code requirements while others requirements blatantly ignore school dress code policy As a result of this, multiple issues such as vandalism, sexual harassment, gangs, and bullying have been engulfed in the public school system. For this reason, I think that all public school systems should mandate a uniform policy because it helps lesson violence, allow students to experience a healthier learning atmosphere, and meet school regulations.

The idea of uniforms being required for public school students has been a widely controversial topic in the recent past. In the 2003-2004 school year, only one in eight public schools required students to wear uniforms (ProConorg Headlines). In the 2013-2014 school year, one in five public schools required students to wear uniforms (ProConorg Headlines). This essay will discuss the reasons that uniforms restrict the individuality of students, burdens families that cannot afford two sets of clothes for each of their children (Farrell), and serve little to none purpose in benefitting the education of students. Uniforms are meant for the workforce, not school children.

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,

countries. Consequently, clothing reform, which was advocated by reformers in 1898, was gradually accepted by the public and took its trend in militarization. As described by Antonia Finnane, the militarization of public costumes as a notion of enhancing China’s military power infiltrated the nation: