The Benefits of School Uniforms

The Benefits of School Uniforms

A small boy plays on the playground alone. The other kids run all around him, climbing, swinging, and giggling with each other. No one wants to play with him, none of the other kids even want to make friends with him. This boy's family does not have money for more then one pair of jeans, and the other kids refuse to play with someone who wears the same pair of dirty clothes two days in a row. Years later, in high school, the problem becomes even worse. Students do not just ignore this boy like in grade school, now he has become the butt of all their jokes, sometimes they even disrupt class just to poke fun. He never had a chance to make friends with the ‘cool kids," simply because of the clothes he wears. Now the pressure to have money, and wear the right clothes just to fit in, has become too much. Before school is out his junior year, the small little boy who played alone on the playground writes a note and says goodbye. The next morning, headlines in the local paper read "Male high school student commits suicide, blaming it on peers." There are many ways that this loss could have prevented, starting with school uniforms. Making uniforms a required part of the learning institution would benefit both students and teachers.

Uniforms level the playing field for children. The media continues to influence kids to think that in order to be "cool," or "popular," they must wear a certain brand of clothing or even wear their clothes a specific way. These clothes can cost an large quantity of cash, singling out those who do not have money and cannot afford to buy "cool," clothes. In an interview with former Bishop Carol High School student Kelcie Johenek, she discussed the pros to wearing a school uniform like she did all through high school. "It (wearing uniforms) really took the pressure off to wear an expensive brand of clothing. My favorite way to spice up my uniform was to wear crazy socks, and I almost always got them at Walmart," Johenek said. With uniforms, no one knows who has or does not have money. Everyone is required to wear the same clothes, eliminating the chance of any particular student feeling financially inferior to another. Especially if uniforms serve as a mandatory part of school from a young age, starting in middle school or even as young as grade school, judging students on their past appearances is also eliminated. Bullying in schools will probably never be completely resolved, but with the help of uniforms and a sense of equality among students, bullying can be drastically reduced.

In 2008 just over 32% of high school students in America involved themselves in either a gang or a similar violent clique (Egley, Howell, and Moore). One strategy that these gangs use in order to intimidate their enemies, and other innocent people around them, is the clothing they wear. Red for "Bloods," blue for "Crips," yellow or gold for "Kings," all of these colors symbolize specific gangs. Gang members who wear them not only promote their own group, but also the violence that their group may cause. Most gang related fighting ends much more tragically then a typical playground brawl. In one high school in Toronto, Canada, a ninth grader named Jordan Manners, who was later found to be framed by two boys from his neighborhood, was brutally shot by a gang member just outside of the school's cafeteria (O'Grady, Parnaby, and Schikschneit 23-55). School uniforms can reduce gangs and violence in school facilities. Schools requiring students to wear specific clothing can prevent gang members from showing their "colors," letting themselves and others focus more on school work. School uniforms may not stop an individual from joining in gang activity, but it will allow other students and teachers to judge them on their academic integrity, rather than worry about whether or not they are carrying a gun. Also, not knowing the difference between who is and is not in a gang, can obviously prevent violence between the gangs at school. Making the environment not just more peaceful, but safer too.

When bullying, gangs, violence, and the distraction of who has the best clothes on today has been reduced or even disappeared, what is there left to do in school? Pay attention? Past case studies have proven that school uniforms cannot be directly correlated with academic achievement, but can be directly correlated to attendance and graduation rates (Cole 1-2). When a high school girl does not have to take 3.5 hours each morning picking out the perfect outfit, that little bit of extra sleep might just help her be more attentive in class. Wearing school uniforms can also reduce the amount of distractions caused by members of the opposite sex. When a young, well developed, lady walks into class with a low cut V-neck shirt on,