Students Wearing Uniforms Hinders Academic Productivity

Purpose

The goal of this paper is to inform the local school board, students, and parents of the uniform policy and possible have it dismissed. School uniforms take away student's individuality and expressing forming one big mold of children. By taking this away from students if leave them valuable to other means of expression, for example, piercings and tattoos. Would you rather have kids getting those things or showing how they feel by the clothing they wear? Molding students into one group would be stifling their creativity and artistic abilities. While teachers are supposed to teach about different types of diversity schools are taking this away from students and giving them a lack of experience. For example, there was a time when I was in middle school, and this student transferred in and was a Muslim. She wore a headscarf around her head and at the time I thought it was weird because I didn’t know anything about it. After talking with her for quite some time, I found out a lot of things that I did not know before. Like the head, the scarf is called a Hijab and is used to cover the women’s heads and chest, when in the presence of adult males outside of the immediate family. Another example is a few gothics that I knew while in school. When I first saw them, they looked scary and kind of creepy with their all-black on. I had a few classes with a couple of them and was able to talk and get to know who they were. I found out that they found beauty in things that others found to be dark and mysterious. That they were not unkind, harmful, or lacked humor as i had thought but that they had a different perspective than everyone else. Experiencing those different diversities help me to realize that there are different groups and people in the world other than ourselves. By having uniforms, schools are reducing socialization among students who can teach them things that teachers are not going over during class time.

Problem

The problems with required uniforms are they take away class time. Teachers not only have to do their jobs but also is giving the role of fashion police as well with uniforms. Instead of getting the class started as soon as the bell rings now teachers have to make sure twenty to thirty-odd students are dressed incorrect uniforms, reminding them to tuck in shirts and have belts on which in turn takes up a lot of academic time. School uniforms not only takes up time learning time but also have no use outside of classes. Putting a burden on parents of low income and with multiple children. Parents have to buy the school and casual clothes for their children which could end up being very costly. Though there are no current statistics on costs for uniforms compared to regular clothes, having to purchase two separate attires can be expensive. In my experience, I have spent over $250 for the school year on uniforms. I have also had to spend about the same amount on casual clothes at the same time. Kids not only have to have regular clothes for, after school, but they also have to have them attend events, doctors, and extracurricular activities. With that in mind, it would be better students could wear casual clothing to school to save parents money. Although school uniforms help to identify if a student belongs to a school, they also show what kind of school as well which could still get kids teased. The low budget school typically have polo shirts with khakis while private schools have blazers, vests, and khakis with logos on them.

Solution

Instead of trying to mold the students into one big group, teachers can keep them more engaged by talking about relevant topics, which will help them want to learn about things. School can also help by giving kids better access to resources for learning. (web. Standford) We all know that times have changed and so has the technology. Students could be taught more excitingly and productively than it has been for years now. If the world is evolving so should the way children are being educated. Parents, as well as the community, can help by making sure the students are up on their studies and talking to their teachers to find out where the kids are struggling to assist them in progress.

Conclusion

In my opinion, I believe school uniforms should not be enforced and that they should get rid of the policy. Uniforms take away student's freedom individually and expressing while also causing a burden on parents. No evidence supports the claims that uniforms help students succeed in school. It is clear that school uniforms do not assist students academically (kimatv) but hinders them socially and educationally.