One school of thought is when kids wear uniforms, everyone is equal. You can’t tell the rich kids from the poor kids. If everyone wore their regular clothes, some kids would be dressed in designer, brand name clothes and some kids would wear hand-me-downs or Salvation Army-type clothes.

There are a variety of reasons a school would have it’s students wear uniforms. One reason is that it makes everyone in the school equal. Not all parents can afford to shop at American Eagle or Hollister. Their kids come to school dressed in clothing from Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart, etc. In order to make these children not feel inferior to those students who can afford expensive clothes, schools will enact uniform policies.

Another reason is that the school is located close to another school, usually a high school. In my state, high schools are the only schools that cannot have uniforms enacted. My school is located right next to the high school. In order to make sure that the students on our campus belong there, parents decided to have students wear uniforms. It is a safety issue more than anything else.

Another reason many schools have uniforms is because the students do not know how to follow the dress code. Last year, before we had uniforms, girls would come in spaghetti strap tank tops (6th graders) and very short skirts or low rise jeans. The boys would come with their pants hanging below their butts so that everyone, even those who didn’t want to, could see their underwear. Uniforms solve this problem because most of them require a polo shirt and pants belted around the waist.

I think the main thing that people have to remember about school is that it is not a fashion show. You are there to learn, not to look good. No one is going to remember what you wore to school in 7th grade, but they will all remember if you stayed back.

I live in Scotland, where school uniform is mandatory at practically every school in the country.

The main reason behind this is security. Several years ago, a primary school in Dunblane was broken into by a madman with a gun; several pupils (all under the age of 10) and a teacher were seriously injured or killed. If everyone is wearing the same school colours it’s possible to instantly identify who should or should not be on the school premises just by looking around, and this is helping to ensure that the Dunblane Massacre isn’t repeated.

The uniform at my high school wasn’t too expensive either. Polo shirts and jerseys with the school crest were good value for money, or there was the option of a plain white shirt with the school tie if your family was hard up for cash. It only started to get expensive if you were given the Colours Award or were elected to be a Prefect, in which case you would have to buy a blazer with the school crest (which could be pretty expensive, although there was also an exchange system where school leavers could sell their blazers to the school, which would then be given to students who needed a blazer).

As a parent I prefer for my children to wear school uniforms. When I was in 6th grade they began asking parent to supply their children with school uniforms because at the time you had children that was being murdered over colors or tennis shoes. By the time I reached high school it was a school wide issue thing. No matter where you lived, you wore a uniform. It takes the focus off of what is popular and what they can afford to education. Not all parents can afford to send their kids in the finest of everything, but school uniforms make them all equal. Besides you spend more money on “normal” clothing than uniforms. When it comes down to it, the school systems are trying to ensure that all the kids are safe and they can make a distinction of who belongs and who do not. It is not about the clothing rather than their safety.

sorry Sonia but i doubt you are even old enough to be a parent. by what your saying you sound like a kid who doesn’t like the idea of wearing a uniform. you claim it costs a lot of money to buy a school uniform,,,, how much? have you had to price a uniform? did you know that over the course of the school year, if you are a parent, you will actually spend more money on normal clothes for your children to wear to school than a uniform worn for a few hours a day ?

Personally, I’ve been through uniforms and schools without uniforms. I prefer the ones without. You are right, uniforms are overpirced (expensive) and you will have to get multiple sets (for washing and drying) and gym sets.

There really is no point to wearing uniforms. I remember once my summer gym set didnt dry in time and I had to wear the winter gym set for gym and I got all sorts of looks (for the people who think uniforms are great).

Also, I personally prefer pants over skirts. (which is an insult to me that they are forcing all girls to wear skirts so we can slut around or go OMG when the wind blows – I guess it depends on how you look at it) If I dont wear a skirt to school like all the other girls, I am going to get outcasted as some tomboy or lesibian (yeah so much good uniforms do).

There IS NO CHOICE for girls who dont want to wear skirts. Cause then you’re just labelling yourself as DIFFERENT.

You can define yourself with choice of clothing. Just cause you are all wearing the same thing will NOT make cool/nerd/outcast groups go away. If you kid doesnt fit into the cool group, no matter what they wear, they will not fit in.

Besides, if people want to waste a lot of money on clothing let them. Why dictate?

And if kids are that judgeful of what you wear and make friends that way… maybe its time to move to a better school.

I’m in school right now, and my school switched to uniforms this year. I hate it. Besides being uncomfortable all the time and looking like everyone else, price is one of the worst parts of uniforms. We’re required to buy some parts of our uniform from one store that overprices everything. My guess is part of the reason we switched to uniforms is because my school is getting some money out of it. They’re not going to say that though. They say we’re going to uniforms because it’s cheaper (yeah right…), it takes our minds off what we’re wearing and more on learning (bull crap…), takes the focus off of families who can’t afford the “nicer clothes” (i never got made fun of for wearing non-name brand clothes), keeps families from arguing over clothing choices, help school security “recognize non-Academy students who come in the school”, and “instilling students with discipline and a sense of school pride and community”. None of those really are true except maybe the one about school security, but wouldn’t it be cheaper to just get name tags or something like that? After doing research “student uniforms have no direct effect on substance use, behavioral problems, or attendance”, and I found it quite interesting that academic achievement went down when students switched to uniforms (http://www.gate.net/~rwms/UniformBrunRock.html). The only reason I can find that schools would switch to uniforms is if they’re in a deal with a uniform provider and get some of the money.

Some schools think that kids judge each other by what they wear. They may think that if, say, Sally is wearing Hollister and A&E, she’s richer than everyone and is “better”. Or, the school may have had a problem with the dress code in the past, like with boys wearing their pants too low with their undies hanging out, or the girls were wearing revealing clothes. Some schools also get angry about “suggestive material”. That’s a big one we have at my school. I agree that uniforms are too expensive, and not everyone can afford them. I think if they are going that way, the least they could do is have a code like “plain colored polo shirts and khaki pants” or something like that. That is much less costly.

I feel the exact opposite..my daughters school has a good uniform exchange store where you can get clothes really cheap so price isnt a problem.When i was growing up -I was always made fun of because my clothes didnt have snotty labels so that is one thing I like-the other big factor is that is cuts down on kids trying to dress older -which often leads to “hoochie wear”.I actually live in a poor area of jersey and A few days ago when I went to the high school here-kids would actually jump you and beat you up to steal your shoes-that wont happen if they are all wearing the same thing

If you consider that school is like a job for students, then shouldn’t they have to dress appropriately to go to work? I agree that students should be able to just wear nice neat clothes, but most students refuse to comply. Uniforms are also much cheaper than buying regular clothes. If you buy three pairs of pants and five shirts you have only spent $200. This is much cheaper than the going rate of $60-100 for only one pair of jeans or a trendy top.

My school is pushing for uniforms and I think it will be both good for the school environment and a positive influence on student learning.