The Controversy Over The Use Of School Uniforms In Public Schools

Standard dress codes and uniforms have been recorded as being in use since the year 1222, possibly starting out in the Church of England with a uniform called a “cappa clausa” (Procon.org). Uniforms began mainly in private schools and in schools that are funded by churches, but they are slowly becoming more common in public school settings today. Uniforms are mainly implemented to decrease crime and bullying that may occur at schools. But are they doing more than that?

According to Procon.org, school uniforms make students focused on their education instead of what they or other students are wearing. Wearing uniforms creates less of a distraction in a school setting and allows the students to focus on what their teacher is saying,

A study was conducted by Virginia Draa in 64 public high schools that used school uniforms (Wilde). In these schools many things improved including graduation rates, suspension rates, and attendance. However, Draa could not tell whether the uniforms improved academics or not, as the curriculum and methods of teaching were different at each school.

School uniforms can also help prevent teasing among the students. When students are wearing the same thing, there is less for them to compare to other children. This could be with differences such as hand me downs, different styles, or clothes that are less expensive or aren’t a certain brand. With uniforms, bullying due to what the student is wearing is thought to occur less because all the students would be wearing the same clothing or same type of clothing. This, however has a counter argument to it.

When students are wearing the same thing, it won’t look the same on everybody. Yes, there are different sizes, but the uniform may not be ‘flattering’ to student’s body types which could lead to bullying. Bullying already occurs during weight, wearing the same clothes would make differences in body types more apparent. Not only may they not look the same on all students, but kids aren’t as able to express themselves when they must wear a strict uniform. Robyn Silverman states that, “As a body image expert, I hear from students all the time that they feel it allows for a lot of comparison,”