School Uniforms: Good Choice Essay, Research Paper

One of the major problems facing us today is violence in middle and high schools across the country. With school shootings becoming an almost expected thing each year, the focus of many people should be on how to stop this violence. Many of the instigators of the violence in schools have been stereotyped by the clothes that they wear, such as the trench-coat mafia . This is why I think that schools nation-wide should institute a school uniform policy. Doing this helps reduce gang violence, blurs socioeconomic lines, provides financial help to parents, and increases security on campus.

The main benefit of school uniforms would be the reduced risk of violence on campus. Most gangs have colors and symbols that they associate themselves with. Instituting a school uniform policy would help to eliminate the increased tensions between gangs in the schools. Another benefit uniforms have is they immediately set apart visitors to the campus from the students. This helps the administrators know who belongs and who does not.

School uniforms also help to blur socioeconomic lines and provide financial help to parents and students. This day and age high school is all about who is wearing what and how they are wearing it. The big thing is designer clothes, which sometimes separate who is cool from who is not. These designer clothes sometimes cause jealousy, envy, and hate among students in the school, which leads to violence. The students will still be able to wear their own clothes after school and on the weekends, just not during school. The parents of the students will save money because they won t have to buy as much of the expensive clothes. They will have to buy the certain uniform clothes while the student is in school.

Sometimes it is hard for parents to pay for their children s clothing. This is when the school and school district may be able to step in and provide some sort of financial support for the families in lower economic levels. This program would be similar to the free/reduced lunch program that many schools use today. Another idea would be to involve corporate sponsors to help fund the uniforms. This not only helps the schools out financially, but also gets surrounding companies and businesses involved in the school activities. Doing this also brings focus onto the schools and tells the students that they are an important part of the world today.

Adopting a school uniform policy is something that will have to start slowly and take place over a period of time. The schools should first adopt a plan to instill a general, but strict, dress code. This will help the students get used to wearing certain colors and styles of clothes. Next the schools should make the school uniforms mandatory on every other day. Doing this introduces the school uniforms to the students but still allows them to wear their own clothes during the week. Finally the schools should make school uniforms mandatory every day. Parental support is also essential in encouraging students to wear uniforms. There are many ways to get the parents involved in the process, such as putting out a survey to guage parental support and seeking parental input on the subject. Making the uniforms mandatory in stages and getting the parents involved will help reduce the shock of the students having to wear uniforms.

There are some things that can be done to protect the students freedom of religion and expression. The uniform policy should allow the students to display other forms of attire along with their uniform when the religion calls for it. Students should also be allowed to display political or other beliefs, such as buttons, as long as it does not independently contribute to disruption in the school. The schools should not allow students to display gang insignia or other articles that undermine the purpose of the uniform.

In conclusion, that is why I think school uniforms should be mandatory and how the schools should go about adopting a plan to do so. School violence today should be the premier focus of people around the country and adopting a school uniform policy is one way to help reduce this violence.