Schoolchildren should have a uniform dress code

Hm... maybe I was jumping ahead a little bit in my arguments, guess I"ll have to fix that in round 4. In response to round 2's argument: Paragraph 1 The fear of being judged based on how one is dressed is a form of social weakness and the fear is a result of that trait. By implementing a dress code policy to take away that fear it result in students turning their attention to attacking the social weakness of the victim from another prospective. This can be observed in Japanese schools, where the tradition of a dress code policy in schools is well known but the bullying and suicide rates are extremely high. In a blog addressed to bullying in Japan, it obtained statistics from the Ministry of Education in Japan on bullying to emphasize the scale of the problem. In the statistics it showed every 5 out of 1000 students are bullied, ranging from elementary to high schools [1][2]. The blurring of social or cultural barriers is what the schools should be trying to prevent. This is also a short clarification on my First Amendment argument. Religious clothing is a huge part of life for many cultures. Just recently, Qatar women"s basketball team forfeited their match due to a hijab ban, their religious clothing. The team was willing to give up their match for something they believed in [3]. The freedom of speech and religion may seem like a simple phrase but there is a reason why it is perhaps the most important amendment in the Constitution. By implemented a dress code policy, this right is then in violation. Because a religion is to some people a way of life. The intention blurring of these cultural barriers will infringe the child's religious rights heavily. The displaying of social status or economic class cannot be easily blurred by a dress code. The amount of money spent at an event, the types of accessories worn, and the cars the child's parents drive are all simple indications of financial well being. The barriers separating people is indeed psychological, for it is not the money that separates the people, it is the people that choose to separate people based on their differences. The removal of the physical materials will not make a difference. Paragraph 2 A unifying element between students would not be necessary as the students did not all attend school to try and achieve the same goal. School is only a stepping stone to a career and the students will not all be having the same career in the future. The reason why the military has a uniform that is to induce unity and ranks for the sake of accomplishing the mission [4]. But students do not need that. If anything, a unifying element is unnecessary. Paragraph 3 Teachers picking favorites, now this is an interesting one. In a study done by Princeton University by Willis & Todorv has shown that the majority of the impressions that you give to people are from your face and not from the way you dress [5]. Teachers will not subconsciously be drawn to picking a favorite because of the way they dress. It is simply not true. Paragraph 4 High skilled professional wear uniforms out of the demands of their job. On the contrary it is mostly the low skill jobs that require the wearing of a uniform. Why a dress code for any job? It may be safety issues or just for the sake of appearance for the customers. Surgeons are definitely high skill jobs but their dress code for surgery serves to prevent the after effects of seeing certain powerful contrasting colors. Why do lawyers, bank employees, and government officials wear suits? It is to appeal to their target audiences. Their jobs depend on their clients. Their job depends on their interaction with people. As for technical professions as you mentioned less of this is seen because they do not need to interact with people as much as these previously mentioned professions are required to. This is why in the high tech field many "work from home" options are available. Police and firefighter have uniforms I don"t feel like I need to explain this in an argument for it should be self explanatory but since it"s brought up... Police wear uniforms to identify themselves for who they are, which is quite necessary. A person cannot just walk to you and claim to be the police and arrest you. They have to have some sort of identification to claim to be working for the police. You can find more on why police wear uniforms here: http://www.policeone.com... There are psychological aspects to their uniforms as well, much like the uniforms of the soldiers. For the firefighters it is the same as the surgeons. Necessity. Their suits are fireproof. Enough said. Uniforms do not prepare the students for the harsh realities of the world. A dress code does not educate the students as to why these professions require a uniform. Everything is done for a reason. If the reason is to prepare the students for the possible upcoming career in which they might have to wear a uniform in that"s not sufficient enough of a reason to have a school uniform. References 1.Ministry of Education. (n.d.). Instruction of Problematic Students Survey. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.mext.go.jp... 2.Japan Looks to Address Bullying, Suicides at Schools. (n.d.). Japan Real Time RSS. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://blogs.wsj.com... 3.Qatari women basketballers forfeit over hijab ban. (n.d.). ABC News. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.abc.net.au... 4.Pfanner, T. (n.d.). Military uniforms and the law of war. www.icrc.org. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from https://www.icrc.org... 5.Willis, J., & Todorov, A. (2006). First Impressions: Making Up Your Mind After A 100-Ms Exposure To A Face. Psychological Science, 17(7), 592-598.