School 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

For quite some time now there has been an ongoing discussion about students wearing school uniforms in public schools. Is students in the public-school system play a major role on them academically? Is making the students wear uniforms unfair or does it show equality? What image does it set for the schools that do have a uniform policy? Over the last few decades, the schools, parents, and students have had a debatable issue over the uniform matter.

President Bill Clinton caught word of the new trend of school uniforms on January 23, 1996 prepared the State of the Union Address at the United States Capitol where he addressed the subject. In this speech he, “challenge all our schools to teach character education, to teach good values and good citizenship. And 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 school uniforms”. President Clinton called for the children of the nation to evaluate themselves on who they are and not what they look like on the exterior. He acknowledged Long Beach public schools for wearing uniforms and even visited the students. The New York Times reported on the President’s speech saying he is “putting discipline and learning back into our schools”. Interestingly enough, President Clinton was first introduced to the idea of mandatory school uniforms from the First Lady. The New York Times reported that this was in no way mandatory for all states to adopt and this

Catholic schools which make up which make up sixty-five percent of all uniformed school in America, were eager to put themselves on the line as guinea pigs.(Brunsma & Rockquemore, 1998) In relation to dress codes, students who wore uniforms showed no significant advantage against those who wore regular clothes.(Brunsma & Rockquemore, 1998) In fact according to David Brunsma's study student who wore uniforms were often absent more than those who did not and on average scored three points lower on standardized test than those who did not wear uniforms.(Brunsma & Rockquemore, 1998) This finding completely changed the viewpoint that uniforms were directly related to the detering of absenteeism and the improving of standardized test scores.(Brunsma & Rockquemore, 1998) A second study was implemented to see if uniforms had affected schools were academic preparedness, proschool attitudes, and peer structures were the normal thing that occurred.(Brunsma & Rockquemore, 1998)

“If it means that the schoolrooms will be more orderly, more disciplined,” President Clinton said, “and that our young people will learn to evaluate themselves by what they are on the inside instead of what they’re wearing on the outside, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms.” President Clinton is referring to the outfits or sets of standardized clothes that are worn primarily for an educational institution, usually in primary and secondary schools in various countries. When used, they form the basis of a school’s dress code, which is a set of rules, usually written and posted specifying the required manner of dress at a school. It began when schools had issues with grades and behavioral problems, but they didn’t want uniforms because it infringed upon individuality. The commotion began when the uniform movement began nearly four years ago when Long Beach, California became the nation’s first public school district to require elementary and middle school students to wear uniforms. Since then, public schools from east to west have debated whether they’re beneficial or not, which has caused the controversy to heat up significantly. Even though requiring uniforms in public schools have been controversial throughout history, it continues to be an area of debate for school communities because research shows that uniform policies do provide benefits to schools, but there are also disadvantages that create unfavorable conditions

Critics of school uniforms insist they do not improve academic performance, behavioral outcomes, or attendance. Yet, there are several empirical studies that will state quite the opposite. A study conducted in an elementary school in Florida, indicated the average number of juvenile referrals and violent occurrences were significantly reduced between pre-uniform policy and post-uniform policy (Han 3). A second study that took place in Texas, involving two middle schools; revealed a decrease in disciplinary reports and problem behaviors of both severe and minor nature (Hughes 51). A mandatory dress code helps to prevent the presentation of gang insignias or colors, therefore,

In 1987, Cherry Hill Elementary School in Baltimore, Maryland, became the first public school with a school uniform protocol (Public, 2017). Since then, the number of public schools that necessitate school uniforms has increased. With this increase comes the need to weigh the different consequences of uniforms. Many studies show both sides of this argument which is still being debated today. The implications from research show that there are positive and negative aspects of school uniforms in schools.

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.

However, most of these beliefs originate from an experiment done 20 years ago in Long Beach California. The school was struggling with high student criminal rates and then started to require their students to wear uniforms, which, in that particular situation, succeeded in lowering the rates. Yet a lot of studies have been done since then with extremely contradicting results (Do School Uniforms…). A much more accurate study by The National Center for Education Statistics contains results from different students from various schools and locations from eighth grade to college. This study showed that there was no change in issues such as substance abuse, behavioral problems, and bullying. In fact, many schools in England are neglecting uniforms because teachers claim that they are spending too much time arguing with their students over small things like un-tucked shirts, and that it is distracting them from actually educating their students (Do School Uniforms…). This shows that the leaders of a school should not assume that the common beliefs of uniforms are facts, and instead pay more attention to what the students feel; considering they are the ones actually having to wear them. A survey was conducted of 100 students at the East Wake Academy High School in Zebulon North Carolina, freshman through senior classes,

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.

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,

The debate about public school uniforms in America is an issue that has been around for a very long time. This issue was even mentioned by President Bill Clinton in a previous State of the Union address in 1996. In his 1996 State of the Union Address, President Clinton decreed,” I challenge all of our schools to teach character education, to teach good values and good citizenship and 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 school uniforms” (Clinton 1996). Public schools requiring mandatory uniforms for their students are a major topic as it deals with moral and economic concerns about how America’s public schools are operated.

Today in the US, only 19% of schools are reported to have school uniforms. A decade before that, it was 12%. The amount is increasing, but the problem is the popularity of the move is decreasing. School uniforms hinder students and parent more than they actually help.

The issue of whether or not school uniforms are a necessity in today’s society has been a long standing debate. However, it did not come onto the national scene until 1996 when then President Bill Clinton spoke of the matter in his annual State of the Union Address. Citing the Long Beach city school district in California, Clinton spoke of the positive effects of uniform implementation, including: decreased drug cases, sex offenses, violent crimes and fights.

The first article, by David Brunsma and Kerry A. Rockquemore (1998), studied the effects of the school uniforms on attendance, behavior and academic achievement. They took the data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988. They wanted to see the relationship between the school uniforms and attendance, behavior and academic achievement. They selected students who were in the 8th grade. However, they did some changes in order to adjust the number of the data that used in the analysis. They did that because many sampling were from specific minority groups in the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988. They selected they students who participated in their study from the private and public schools. In order to collect their data for their study, they used surveys. They used race and gender as independent variables and behavior and academic achievements as dependent variable. They used behavior scale as their dependent variable in order to see if the student got suspension or the whether the student fought. Moreover, they made a control variable from different type of schools such as catholic schools and private schools. Also, in order to get their result, they used the statistic. They found that the positive correlation between students who wear uniforms and academic achievement was 0.05. So, they suggest there is a relationship between