School Uniforms Should Reduce Their Financial Burden

As the years pass, many students have been bullied, a bully, or they just hate school and this was affecting their lives academically. School boards tried to find a way to improve the way students feel about themselves and about school, and they came up with the idea of school uniforms. School uniforms have been associated with just the Catholic school, but are now showing up in public schools across the country. According to the National Center for Education Statistics: Indicators of School Crime and Safety, 2011, twenty-one states require students to wear uniforms in the public school system (Pros and Cons of School Uniforms Statistics). This has seemed to work tremendously in the school system. In education, school uniforms assist with student success, academically, socially, and personally.

School uniforms are beneficial to students at all grade levels and can be a contributing factor in improving test scores, attendance and the graduation rate, while decreasing school violence and behavior issues. Research has proven significant connections between school uniforms and the success of public schools. In 1996 approximately three percent of all schools in the United States had a school uniform policy (Gentile & Imberman, 2009) . In 2015 23% of schools reported a uniform policy (Statistic Brain Research Institute , 2015). Inner city schools are more likely than suburban, town, and rural areas to have a school uniform policy, because urban schools often struggle with violence, failing school districts, and attendance policies (U.S Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences) and uniform policies have been proven to benefit such schools.

Peer pressure is human nature that has limited control. Both the advertising and the fashion industries, along with the other instruments of the media in our way of life, impacts to the peer pressure we go through (Roman & Taylor, 2013). The students do feel not only the pressure to conform but also the parents and the teachers in general. Students are under the pressure to wear the so-called fresh outfits so that they can ultimately fit in with their peers. Making a fashion statement is the medium to be accepted and liked amongst an individual’s peers (Sanchez et al., 2012). As a result, students impact the pressure to their parents in their efforts to have cool clothes that will enable them to fit in with their peers. Parents thus find themselves in a situation of purchasing attires that meet the peer’s requirement despite the fact that they are also subject to go out of style.

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.

Since the late 1990's many public schools across the nation have opted to implement a stronger dress code policy which have involved the addition to a specific mandated uniform policy. While some critics of mandatory uniform policies believe that there is no justification for change, school uniforms offer educational benefits, improve student behavior, social interaction, and are more cost effective and durable than traditional street clothes.

In high school and middle school, however, most of the learning comes from inside the classroom. Adolescents often find out a lot about who they are in their school environments. “Ten states currently allow states to mandate school uniforms” (Boutelle, Marsha. "UNIFORMS: Are They a Good Fit?." Education Digest, vol. 73, no. 6, Feb. 2008, pp. 34-37. EBSCOhost). The advocates of school uniforms believe that they will reduce violence in schools and promote a better learning environment for students.

“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.

Imagine a high school that is filled with reckless, hormone-crazed teenagers that have no restrictions on how they should dress. Their “Outfits of the Day” are more of a concern than what they learn in school. Their clothing choices becomes an interruption to their education. This is the mindset of teenagers of schools that do not have any dress code implementation.

For example, some girls can take up to one-three hours to get ready for school when picking out clothes, doing hair, and makeup. Instead of spending tons of money on name brand clothes such as shoes, they could use that money on school supplies. Without the name brands at school, students would not be so worried about what other students are wearing and it will also help students focus on academics. Overall, students can use their time and money for better reasons than just name brand, competitions with others, and worrying about their appearance at school. School should be more important than a single outfit for one day. The students begin to focus more on their outfit and less on their homework and schoolwork. They see the importance of their outfit before the importance of their school work. If they learn how to do school first instead of clothes, in the long run, they will do better at their jobs when the time

The first point of why all public schools should adopt a school uniform policy is uniforms save the family money. In 1999 the NPD group conducted a survey and found that families whose children went to a school with a uniform policy spent $85 less than families whose children did not. (Pike, 1999). This is sixteen years later after that survey was conducted so the figure today will be in the hundreds as status symbol clothes prices are on the rise every year. There

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.

What comes to mind when uniforms come up? Most would say that they are stifling and bland, yet while school uniforms may seem like a thing of the past; they are slowly becoming more popular. Recently there have been many reports of “sexist” dress codes. One teen from Collier High who started a petition has received over 1,000 signatures for changes to the dress code. This has gained much interest from the media on whether school dress codes are really worth all the trouble. As stated by Hammerschlag, an education and investigations reporter for the Naples Daily News, “If a parent is unavailable, the student must miss classes for the rest of the day” (Hammerschlag). Students who are reprimanded, even for a small infraction such as a hole in their jeans, must sit out of class and lose precious learning time. This problem could be eliminated if schools implemented uniforms. Uniforms improve the lives of students, parents, and teachers. Surprisingly, the people most against uniforms are parents; they worry about their children’s individuality and rights. Although some parents uniforms can create a safer, more productive workplace. Uniforms do this by helping students socially, mentally, and educationally.

Much controversy has surrounded the issue of school uniforms. Many feel as though uniformity in dress increases discipline and order within the school, while others feel that this uniformity is restrictive of creativity. However, some students’ version of creativity in clothing is just simply inappropriate for school attire. The growing trend toward provocative clothing is a big concern of many school administrators and teachers today. They feel that revealing clothing can be distractive and interfere with learning, especially in a setting where the population is driven largely by hormones. There are two logical solutions for this problem. The first is the adoption of a dress code. Unfortunately, a dress code can be very arbitrary and difficult to enforce. Enforcing a dress code can be subject to opinion and personal discretion. Dress codes are far from an undisputed, non-negotiable, concrete rule. The second logical solution is the implementation of school uniforms. In many cases, school uniforms have totally resolved this concern. Without a discretionary dress code policy, all students show up to class dressed appropriately and ready to learn. The implementation of school uniforms can go far beyond this particular concern, however. It can have a positive effect from an economic aspect, it can improve the social relations and confidence of students, it can have a

Public school administrators have been fighting for some years to adopt a school uniform policy requiring students to wear uniform to school. Teachers, administrators, and students want a safer learning environment that will help all students to get the education they deserve. Adopting the school uniform policy will provide the security and safety that schools are looking to ensure at their facility. Therefore, all public school should adopt a school uniform policy to help reduce bullying, to prove a safer learning environment, and to help recognize gang affiliated members.

The wearing of school uniforms is increasingly popular across the nation. It becomes a controversial argument of communities rejecting these mandated school uniforms in their schools. However, school uniforms are not a negative thing; in fact, they could be positive in many ways by eliminating cliques, saving money for parents, and taking away the bullying off students less fortunate; whereas, school uniforms will also violate students’ freedom of expression, create a financial burden on families, and uniforms will not alleviate the problems such as higher academic rates, attendance, etc. However, with a solution that would benefit both parties, the public school systems in the Oklahoma City district would benefit greatly if this policy were adopted in all the schools since the district only has seventy-four public schools with uniforms, while seventeen schools are not.