Mandatory School Uniforms are beneficial to schooling

While I grieve for his personal struggles on this topic as much as the next person, I would ask him to keep things empyrically and analytically relevant so as to keep personal biases out of a place they hold no quarter in: an academic debate. With that being said, I will now state my case. My case is fairly short and simple, yet effective and persuasive. School uniforms make the school environment a safer, more cohesive, and effective environment for education. I would like to start off by noting that statistically, crime is rampant in schools. 3 million kids every year are victims to crime in schools, 2 million of which are violent. [1]The solution, at least in part, is simple: school uniforms are statistically lowering crime in schools. The year following the institution of school uniforms in Long Beach, California, "overall school crime decreased 36 percent. Fights decreased 51 percent, sex offenses decreased 74 percent, weapons offenses decreased 50 percent, assault and battery offenses decreased 34 percent, and vandalism decreased 18 percent. "[1]Pretty clear cut. While some may question the affordability of such measures in a monetary sense, even that isn't an issue. School assistance is always possible[1], and graduating students can always sell back or donate their used uniforms to not only re-coup what they spent on the uniforms, but also to ensure that everyone has access to a uniform[1]. Also, expert analysis of the effects of school uniforms agrees that not only are the statistics valid, but it goes much deeper than that in terms of benefits. Gavin de Becker[2], one of the leading experts on predicting and managing violence, notes that "Dress codes and uniforms can make school more about the learning and less about the symbolic individual expression of fashion. Students are left to communicate through language as opposed to clothing, style, designer names, bandanas, or gang colors. Dress codes help make everyone a student, as opposed to some kids being rich, some being tough, or anti-this, or pro-that. It is unifying-as the word uniform implies. Other places young people visit will still allow personal expression through fashion, but just as some professions wear business attire, and police, nurses, and firefighters wear uniforms, the school uniform is emblematic of what one does. At school, kids are there to be students. "This allows students to leave school and be better prepared to have success in the workforce on multiple levels: Firstly, in a job scenario, there is no real choice in clothing styles; you wear the clothes that fit in the dress code your employers get you, or you get sent home for the day, or worse fired. Acceptance, perhaps even willingness, to follow this would be a good starting point from which to earn favor with employers and have more success in the work place. Breeding this acceptance and willingness to follow dress codes would allow for this to occur. And secondly, this allows students to focus on developing the two most important pieces of being successful in work and life: verbal communication and action, rather than fashion sense. With distinction via clothing removed, they will be focused to learn to stand out in voice and in action, which are desirable traits to many. The case for mandatory school uniforms is clear-cut and persuasive: it cuts down on school violence and allows students to develop the skills they will need to be successful in life later on. The choice of voting is clear: the resolution is affirmed and I must urge you to vote pro. Sources:[1] . http://www.crf-usa.org...[2] . http://life.familyeducation.com...;