More and more schools are making uniforms mandatory for students. Uniforms can help students in different ways. The children who cannot afford name brand clothes would not have to worry about getting picked on. Other students would be able to concentrate on their studies and not what everyone else is wearing. Uniforms can help decrease the discipline problems such as fights and theft. Last but not least, parents can save money by not buying high-priced clothing and put that money back into education.
High-priced or name brand clothing are clothes that are popular now. For example brands like Tommy Gear, Timberland, Addis, and Nike are the popular names that most kids are wearing. These brands are outrageously high priced because of the name and the popularity that the students give them. The more the students buy these clothing the higher the prices and the more kids are going to want them. This clothing is no different from the clothing sold at Wal-Mart, but the students feel they must have them because of the brand name and peer pressure. All clothes cover your body the same. Students feel that they have to have expensive clothes instead of cheap ones.
One of the first public school districts to introduce a mandatory uniform policy was. Long Beach, California. The policy came into effect in the 1994 dress code policy. Just a year after the schools adopted the uniform policy, fights and theft went down 80 percent and sexual offenses dropped 74 percent. Since then 176 schools, in the western United States, have adopted the uniform policy (PBS1).
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Katie Lane wrote an article entitled “School Uniforms: Too Expensive.” She agrees that uniforms are good, but she states that they can be expensive. In her research she has found that some schools have a second-hand stock of uniforms to help those who are having trouble purchasing uniforms. She also has a concern about the way schools handle the children who are not in full uniform. She feels that the schools are too strict on children who are not in full uniform. She feels that the schools should take a look into the students’ situation before punishing them. She also found out there is financial help for those who need help purchasing the uniforms. However, this help is not advertised. A study was conducted to show that school officials helped parents more financially a decade ago than they do today (BBC News 1). I feel that this study is very accurate. Today’s school districts are more concerned about where the money is coming from than where it is going. Parents and the school districts do not have a common bond like they did a decade ago.
A manual on school uniforms written by the Washington School Board states that in order to have a good school, you must first have a stable and disciplined environment. The manual on school uniforms includes several reasons why uniforms are helpful. The manual does not say that uniforms will change a school immediately, but it says that in due time the school would have a better environment. The manual says that uniforms can help increase school safety. The benefits from the uniforms are as follows: first, there should be a decrease in fights and theft. Second, the uniforms would prevent gang riots. Third, the uniforms would give students more discipline and help lower peer pressure. Uniforms could also help students focus on their studies instead of the clothing worn by others. Finally, uniforms will help teachers recognize those students who does not go to school there. The manual says that there are at least ten states that have the policy as does several metropolitan schools. There are many private schools and academies that require uniforms. The schools with uniforms have less violence within the school (Manual 1). This manual is based on data gathered from schools in Washington that do have uniforms.
President Bill Clinton became a part of the mandatory uniform policy when Long Beach released their data on the violence decrease. President Clinton made it a point to talk about school uniforms at his 1996 State of the Union address. He asked that school leaders make the uniform policy a high part of their list of ways to improve the school system(Starr 1). President Clinton, along with educators and parents believes that uniforms can improve school safety (Starr 1).
