Private Schools Should Have Students Wear Uniforms

Thank you for your response. 1) Of course school uniforms won't completely stop discrimination. That's not the goal, and if it was it would be an unreachable one. No matter what, kids are going to be discriminated against because of race, religion, clothing, grades, heck basically anything! The point is, the goal is to put that discrimination at a near minimum without restricting the child's freedom too much. School uniforms do this well. By implementing uniforms you take out the biggest form of changeable (Race, religion, ect. cannot be changed) discrimination in schools. This puts children on nearly the same playing field unlike schools that do not have this which have kids lose the game before it even starts due to them being poor. By keeping jewelry, watches, ect. you still give the child the ability to express themselves in at least small ways. Also, from experience I can tell you that I have only started to figure out which families have higher incomes and lower incomes from students in the last couple of years. I am in 8th grade right now and I have been the the same class of only about 50 people so It's not as easy as one may think to spot them out. 2) Then perhaps it is different for everyone because from my own experience I have payed less attention in class on a free dress day than I have on a regular day with uniforms. However, again, the point of this is to take one more distraction out of the classroom. I can admit that children will still have their minds wander in the classroom, but the less distraction the better. “it seems that we would be doing the children a disservice by sending them out into the world without teaching them how to focus when something as common as a t-shirt can steal their attention.” According to you, children will find a way to distract themselves regardless. Does that not mean we would be doing them a disservice by allowing them to have their minds wander during class? Or allow them to play with their pencil? Fact is, we are both working towards getting the kid to pay more attention in class and the less distraction the better. Free dress can be a big distraction and there are many other reasons school uniforms should be implemented, therefore we should take out free dress. I’m just saying that in addition to the all nice reasons school uniforms should be implemented, it also serves as one less distraction to the student. 3) “Your presence at the school identifies you as part of the student body”. I doubt that promoting school spirit is worth taking away the right of the child to project their personality through their attire. To respond to this, please explain to me the merits of school spirit and how they improve the education of a student.” Indeed. However, I am not just talking about being part of the school. I’m talking about teaching the students that they are basically a family in the school and they should be treated as such. School uniforms help to put them on the same level of respect with each other without them judging each other too early. I explained why school spirit is good above, why students should be restricted with clothing, and how they can still express themselves in small ways, especially the most important way: Personality. School spirit does not improve the education of the student, but is sure as heck makes their social loves within school that much easier and may improve grades at least a little in the sense that it takes that much more stress of the student. 4) I’m sorry; I should have clarified conformity a bit better. Let me explain. “People often conform from a desire for security within a group—typically a group of a similar age, culture, religion, or educational status. This is often referred to as groupthink: a pattern of thought characterized by self-deception, forced manufacture of consent, and conformity to group values and ethics, which ignores realistic appraisal of other courses of action. Unwillingness to conform carries the risk of social rejection.”(1) Basically school uniforms will automatically bring you all in a group of conformity together. Even if you all don’t necessarily like each other you all share the same trait and will treat each other as a group of people you belong to. This gives the child a feeling of security and helps them to feel as if they belong to something. Conformity does not necessarily mean everyone will think the same and do the same things. “With the right environmental influence, conforming, in early childhood years, allows one learn and thus, adopt the appropriate behaviours necessary to interact and develop correctly within one's society” 5) Yes, I will most definitely agree that this won’t stop malevolent things such as school shootings. What I was really talking about was homeless people, gang members, and strangers in general. These can all have potential danger and because they don’t have any “planned” action to terrorize the school they will most likely not be wearing a school uniform trying to pass themselves off as a student. This makes them very easy to spot and the school can make decisions from there on how to take care of the situation. Additional Notes Depends on the article of clothing. I am for school uniforms so I would be against shirts, pants ect. That support a certain religion but would be for bracelets, earrings, necklaces ect. That supports a religion. However, in a public school or any school that has no dress restrictions (with the exception of gruesome images ect.) I am completely for them being able to express their religion. I await my opponents response. (1) McLeod, S (November 2011). "Conformity". Simply psychology. (2) L, G (March 1931). "Conformity". Peabody Journal of Education