Uniforms: Uncovered


Many adults seem to think that by enforcing uniforms kids will have all-around improved behavior, as well as make everything easier. However, they can cause just as many problems as they magically solve. Maybe they help some schools, but overall, school uniforms are unnecessary and unwanted.

Research says that schools that enforce uniforms have a decrease in things such as gang activity. Well, I have solid proof that that is not always the case! My cousin, Chris, lives in southern Louisiana and attends Woodlawn high school. This school, as well as many others, has school uniforms. However, the kids there are worse behaved than the kids not only here, but also than the kids at my old school, which didn’t have uniforms either. In Chris’s school, there are daily fights. Here, I’ve heard of maybe 3 fights.

“Oh, well having uniforms would save time in the morning!” Yeah, but so does picking out your outfits for the week on Sunday evenings. (and yes, I do choose my outfits for the week every Sunday night)!! I’m sure I would abuse the extra time I had each morning with uniforms, like now.


Going back to the behavior aspect, I can see where people may think that uniforms would keep us more conservative in our dress and appearance but, just because a rule is in place, doesn’t mean it will be followed. Kids who sag their pants now, will continue to sag their pants, Students will try their hardest to bend the rules as best as they can. After all, rules were meant to be broken, right? (well not really, but you see my point).

All these may seem like minor issues with uniforms but on the legal side of things, taking away our choice of what we want to wear “infringe upon students’ first amendment rights…” (Issacson, 157).

Uniforms can be ridiculously expensive, as well. I was reading about an article and a PARENT said “…so much for a free education.” (Meredith). So yeah, you don’t have to buy a lot of extra clothes but you still have to get multiple uniforms, clothes for breaks and vacations, shoes and possibly costly winter coats.

Some may think that with uniforms, we all look the same but I find that to be false. It’d be so much easier to compare based on looks. Kids could be judged based on how they individually look in the uniform, what they do to try and draw attention, and what store/brand their polo and khakis are from. Those types of problems would magnify, not disappear.

All in all, uniforms are not that great for neither the students not those surrounding. The way we dress has nothing to do with neither our education not our future. Every individual is in charge of themselves.