Pro & Con Quotes: Should Students Have to Wear School Uniforms?

“Whether or not schoolchildren exhibit better behavior in the context of wearing uniforms has been a longstanding area of debate in education…. In general, students in schools that required school uniforms did not demonstrate better social skills, internalizing and externalizing behavior, or school attendance as compared with students in schools without school uniforms. These associations were true across both public and private schools.”

“We’ve all experienced standing in front of our wardrobes, struggling to find the right thing to wear for every occasion. As a student, I’m grateful for the convenience that my uniform bring me. Every weekday morning, all I have to do is throw it on after washing up and eating breakfast, and then I sprint out the door. Wearing a uniform saves me so much time, especially when I oversleep or spend too much time eating breakfast.

Dress codes don’t give students the same benefits that school uniforms give. For example, when everyone dresses differently, students will feel little to no school pride on their way in to class. What’s more, strict dress codes can cause headaches for students who need to buy specific clothes to fit the guidelines, while lax ones leave it to individual teachers to decide what they think is appropriate for students to wear, leaving much uncertainty.”

“I feel like the schools that have to wear uniform shouldn’t. I feel like wearing uniforms is unnecessary. Why should we go out and pay extra money for clothes we’re only going to wear on school days and only for one year, unless you don’t grow out of them. We could easily buy clothes that we could wear to school and in public. It’s a waste of money and I know I’m not the only one who thinks we shouldn’t wear uniforms. On top of not wanting to wear the uniforms, we have to buy them and they’re expensive. Wearing whatever you want is a good way to show off your own style. Again, my biggest issue about wearing uniforms is the fact that most people don’t enjoy them and they aren’t cheap. What happens if you grow out of them? What happens if you accidentally stain them? You have to go and buy a new pair. One pair of my uniform pants that i won’t be wearing anyway else is $20. To me that is a big waste of money. That is why I feel we shouldn’t have to wear uniforms.”

“Rather than promote an orderly and disciplined student environment, mandatory uniforms would cause massive student disobedience and take away valuable instruction time. If one or two students wear something inappropriate, administration will handle it. The student in question will change, be disciplined, and return to class without disrupting the school day. [South Carolina] Rep. McKnight’s [mandatory uniform] policy would trigger massive backlash from students, and would cost countless hours of classroom instruction. Public schools already have dress codes which ban provocative, revealing, gang-affiliated, and hateful clothing, which addresses Rep. McKnight’s concerns in introducing the bill.

Second, the bill would not mask income disparities, it would showcase them. The bill says that it would provide funding for at least five uniforms for a student who cannot afford one, depending on the availability of funding.

What happens when this funding is not available anymore? And why would this be the best use of money on the school system? Wouldn’t it be better to fix the crippling inequality of schools along the I-95 corridor? Or invest in vocational training for our students? Rather than attempting to disguise poverty, shouldn’t we attempt to solve it and help these students and their families rise out of poverty?”

“When we ask student councils about the issues of concern to them, this often comes up. It’s even more of a concern in mixed schools where, every day, girls see their male classmates come to school in trousers… Some girls really, really hate – absolutely hate – to wear skirts. It is a dated system. In any other walk of life, we wouldn’t dream of telling girls that they have to wear a skirt. So why is it acceptable to inflict it on them at school?

…We’ve seen situations in coeducational schools whereby the girls are allowed to dye their hair a natural colour, but the boys are not allowed at all. How a young person appears makes no difference whatsoever to their education… Schools should be encouraging free thought and self-expression, not suppressing it.”

“Some English schools (and politicians) see uniform as a quick fix for a range of problems. However, serious discipline and academic issues are unlikely to be solved by nostalgically resurrecting the blazer or draconian decrees issued from the headmaster’s study regarding skirt length.

Students flourish when they’re treated as free-range individuals, rather than battery-hen units that must conform. Examples from around the world show that high standards of discipline, team spirit and attainment are not synonymous with school uniform.

Importantly, the lack of uniform is widely debated among our students – they’re aware of the danger of defining individuality in terms of clothing, and of issues such as body image and self esteem. As media savvy individuals they are suspicious of attempts by some schools to use uniform as part of their corporate identity and brand.”

“Students should learn to make informed decisions about the clothes they wear…

Bullying occurs whether students wear uniforms or not. The root cause of bullying should be addressed. Teens should be able to develop self-expression and their personal identity. Instead, they might resort to unconventional piercings and tattoos… [S]chool uniforms encourage followers not leaders. The practice discourages independent thinkers. This follower mentality could extend into adulthood…

[T]he push for students to wear uniforms to improve behavior lacks validity and seems ill-advised for a democratic public school system. Today’s school uniforms seem more a punitive measure meant to deny students their right to freedom of expression and individuality. Public schools can still have dress codes without resorting to mandatory uniforms. There are much better goals to address safety and overall school climate.”

“[T]he most obvious point against uniforms is that they restrict self-expression. We live in a dynamic society, full of unique characters that make our world a spontaneous one. Cutting that off at a young age only stifles creativity and encourages conformity. We want to encourage our children to be expressive and to think outside the box. Forcing them to wear ugly gray sweater vests and starched white shirts is not the way to do that.

The gender-specific uniform guidelines often reinforce the gender binary in the school environment. The separation between females and males will only increase. If uniforms were all-encompassing and non-gender specific, this problem would not exist. However, uniforms are not all-encompassing. There are limited choices for males and limited choices for females. Though females can wear uniform pants, men are not allowed to wear uniform jumpers. Conflict would arise if a male attempted to wear the specified ‘female’ attire. This poses problems to LGBT progress in school environments…

[W]here did we get the idea that bullying and stereotypes would magically disappear if we implemented a strict uniform? People will not stop bullying each other based on appearance, which manifests itself in ways besides clothing. If we convince ourselves that placing limits on clothing choices will eliminate school bullying, we are kidding ourselves.”