Click here for my first draft. The very idea seems a bit strange. Showing up to school wearing the insignia of the latest sports star or in the latest fashions is a virtual right of passage for many youth. Yet increasingly students attending public schools do have to wear uniforms. Uniforms were virtually unheard of in public schools 6 years ago but now are in place at 11 percent of schools according to a survey of principals conducted in May by the National Association of Elementary School Principals .
Uniforms exist in small towns, suburbs and cities such as Chicago and New York City.
The reasons for uniforms are almost always the same. Uniforms will decrease crime and violence in schools while improving the behavior of students. Students aren't concerned about who is wearing brand name clothing and who isn't when you have uniforms. They thus judge their fellow students as individuals and cliques and peer pressure go down, the logic goes. School pride will also increase as students see their classmates wearing similar clothes and more connected to them.