Should Students Have to Wear School Uniforms?
Traditionally favored by private and parochial
institutions, school uniforms are being adopted by
US public schools in increasing numbers. Almost
one in five US public schools required students to
wear uniforms during the 2011-2012 school year,
up from one in eight in 2003-2004. Mandatory
uniform policies in public schools are found more
commonly in high-poverty areas. Proponents say
that school uniforms make schools safer for
students, create a “level playing field” that reduces
socioeconomic disparities, and encourage children
to focus on their studies rather than their clothes.
Opponents say school uniforms infringe upon
students’ right to express their individuality, have
no positive effect on behavior and academic
achievement, and emphasize the socioeconomic
disparities they are intended to disguise.
The first recorded use of standardized dress in
education may have been in England in 1222, when
the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that
students wear a robe-like outfit called the “cappa
clausa.” The origin of the modern school uniform
can be traced to 16th Century England, when the
impoverished “charity children” attending the
Christ’s Hospital boarding school wore blue cloaks
reminiscent of the cassocks worn by clergy, along
with yellow stockings. As of Sep. 2014, students at
Christ’s Hospital were still wearing the same
uniform, and according to the school it is the oldest
school uniform still in use. When Christ’s Hospital
surveyed its students in 2011, 95% voted to keep
the traditional uniforms.
In later centuries, school uniforms became
associated with the upper class. At one of
England’s most prestigious schools, Eton, students
were required to wear black top hats and tails on
and off campus until 1972, when the dress codes
began to be relaxed. School uniforms in the United
States followed the traditional use of uniforms
established in England and were generally limited
to private and parochial schools. One exception
was found in government-run boarding schools for
Native American children, first established in the
late 1800s, where the children, who had been
removed from their families, were dressed in
military-style uniforms.
The first US public schools known to institute
uniform policies were in Maryland and
Washington, DC, in the fall of 1987, with Cherry
Hill Elementary School in Baltimore, MD, gaining
the most publicity. These early uniform programs
were voluntary, but according to a New York Times
report from Dec. 1987, most parents supported the
idea and “almost all” students wore the uniforms.
School officials and other advocates of the new
uniform policies noted improvements in students’
“frame of mind” and stated that uniforms had
“sharply reduced discipline problems.” They also
reported that uniforms had “already reduced the
preoccupation of students with expensive designer
clothing for school wear and eased the financial
burden that placed on the students’ families.” The
origin of the uniform policy in Baltimore has been
linked to a 1986 shooting, in which a local public
school student was wounded during a fight over a
pair of $95 sunglasses.
By the fall of 1988, 39 public elementary
schools and two public junior high schools in
Washington, DC, had instituted mandatory
uniform polices, and soon the movement spread to
other states, including Connecticut and New
Jersey, generally in urban schools with mainly low
income and minority students. In 1988, Ed Koch,
then-Mayor of New York City, expressed support
for school uniforms, saying that they encourage
“common respect and improve the learning
environment,” and praising them because of their
similarity to outfits worn in private and parochial
schools. A pilot uniform program was introduced in
New York City in 1989.
Fonte: adapted from http.school-uniforms.procon.org. Access on april 18th, 2016.
According to the text school uniform policies in the United States
