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Implementing Uniforms

Implementing Uniforms The argument whether uniforms should be implemented in school has been debated over the last few decades. By implementing a uniform policy within schools would help reduce the rise of violent crimes. In today’s high schools, too many innocent youths become fatalities due to gang warfare that has spread into the school system. Many parents feel that if a uniform policy was implemented , the spread of gang warfare and the idea that children have to have name brand clothing would decrease drastically. However others are worried that this policy would infringe on students First Amendment Rights with expressing themselves. Many parents are worried that the uniforms will cost too much and they will only burden their economic status. Uniforms will either give the school strength or separate the students and parents from the Proponents of uniforms argue that the widespread violence in schools is due largely to gangs. They believe that the distinctive gang colors and symbols are used it intimidate non-gang members and reinforce gang allegiance. Gang members are often found wearing clothing with professional sports team logos on them. Children who wear this type of clothing do so only because they like it or because everyone else is wearing it. Jim Steinberg of the San Diego Examiner believes that, “They have become a fashion statement and sometimes a gang statement”(Sauewein 1). This is why so many parents want the schools to go to a mandatory uniform policy. Many parents believe that if children wear uniforms, the violence in schools would drop significantly. Long Beach Unified School District was the first large school district in the United States to implement a mandatory uniform policy. “In 1994, the Long Beach Unified School District in California became the nation’s first, large urban district to require all it’s elementary and middle school students to wear uniforms. School crime has plunged 76 percent since, says spokesman Dick Van Der Laan. Attendance is the highest it’s been since 1980. Can the uniform policy take this credit? “Very definitely,” Van Der Laan says. “Uniforms sets a message of ‘You are in the business of learning” (Merchant 3). “In the first year following implication, overall school crime decreased by 36%, sex offenses by 74%, physical flight to point students by 51%, weapon offenses by 50%, assault and battery by 34%, school suspensions by 32%, and vandalism by 18%” (Merchant 2). According to statistics, the majority of the population supports implementing school uniforms. Parents all over the United States fear that their children might be attacked inadvertently for wearing the wrong color scarf or hat that might provoke rivalry among local gangs. Many parents of children victims of gang warfare would like to see uniforms instituted in all schools. According to Dale Stover, “In gang-ravaged Los Angeles, as well as other communities with gang activity, a dress code also helps maintain peace among rival groups by prohibiting the wearing of clothing associated with local gangs” (Sauerwein 1). Opponents of the policy believe that other factors have to do with the lowering of crime within the school system. Dennis Evans believes that “Where gang members are concerned, the wearing of school uniforms will be cosmetic at best and will not change the gang mentality or reduce the potential of antisocial gang related behavior, either on campus or off. Ironically, mandating the wearing of school uniforms might even make it easier to be a gang member and school administrators could no longer readily recognize the trapping of the gangs” (Hirsch 54). Once a child becomes a gang member, they always will be no matter what they are wearing. Other children will know who the gang members are just by word of mouth. Whether a child is forced to conceal their identity, or not, the problem of gangs will always persist in schools. With When children become of age and have to go to school, they learn very quickly that in order to fit in, you have to wear what all the other students are wearing. These clothing accessories too often cost well over a person’s weekly salary. “All of the pressure could be eliminated if everybody dressed alike” (Goldberg 23). When kids are young, they enjoy dressing like their best friends. There are many times when children wish they could dress just like the other kids whose families were a little more wealthier. By implementing the policy in all 16,000 districts throughout the United States, the school uniforms will level the playing field in classrooms by removing the messages of social and economic status in clothes. Uniforms tailored to individual schools may enhance the schools sense of community as well as the students self-esteem. Uniforms chosen by the school can provide students with a school identity. It can straighten school spirit and pride. This is achieved much the same way as an athletic team uniform builds team unity. The joining together by all students will also raise the morale and self-esteem of students. Students that are together in one mind lead to a school that is united. There would no longer be the economic barrier that separates one child from another. Children will no longer pick on the misfits that are different from them. Many families fear the mandatory policy of uniforms and school infringes on the students First Amendment rights of freedom of speech. Parents are afraid that children will not be able to create their own identity and explore who they are. Two recent court cases that involved the First Amendment may help decide that it’s a very important issue. In the Landmark case, Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Supreme Court empathetically asserted that school students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” ( Lieberman 55 ). In 1988, the Supreme Court expanded on the special nature of First Amendment law surrounding the public elementary and secondary schools. In Hazelwood School District vs. Kuhlmeier, the high court found that public schools generally are not open public forums in the same sense as streets or parks and that school officials may therefore impose reasonable restrictions on free speech. This ruling was consistent with earlier Supreme Court decisions that the school’s unique role in promoting respect for authority and traditional values and in preparing individuals for participation assistance justifies greater latitude in regulating speech on school property (Leiberman 56). However many times when this issue goes to court, groups such as the ACLU will try to persuade us why this violates our First Amendment rights. Lauren Seigal, who is director of the ACLU Public Education Department, has stated “no one knows for certain whether the school uniforms are actually beneficial (Merchant 2). Developing a mandatory uniform policy does not infringe on the student’s First Amendment rights. The fact they have to take into consideration is that these children are still minors. School districts are only implementing these policies in order to protect them from the dangers that come with living in the modern world. Michael Kennedy points out that “Teachers emphasize how children respond much better in the classroom when they are all dressed the same” (Hirsch 19). “They give students an esprit and help improve morale. Children can concentrate more on their studies than on what fashionable, at least during school hours (Sauerwein 4). A dress code will enforce discipline towards learning because they will have fewer distractions and students will see the school as a workplace for teaching and learning. So how can these policies take away students rights when it is proven that they are able to concentrate on their work and not on who is wearing the latest Families from the lower income brackets fear that the uniforms are too expensive. They point out that not only do they have to buy the uniforms, but they also have to supply their children with clothes for when they are not in school. In 1995, the ACLU helped a group of parents file a lawsuit against the Long Beach and Oakland school districts. According to the lawsuits, the school districts did not follow the state law that require districts to give parents the option of allowing their children to wear uniforms. This lawsuit was settled out of court the following year. However, the school districts agreed that they would expand their financial aid for families that could not afford the uniforms. The factor that they did not take into consideration is that the uniforms generally cost much less than buying name brand department store clothing. The school districts argue that it is much cheaper for a family to buy their children a week’s worth of uniforms instead of name brand clothing. They point to the relatively low cost of uniforms. A typical uniform might cost between $25 and $35. In many school districts, there are nonprofit organizations that give out over $100,000 in financial aid to families that allow them to buy these uniforms. School districts also point out that the uniforms can be passed down from one child to another. By doing this, they would come out ahead in the long Many parents believe that uniforms will only stifle the students creativity. They will not be allowed to freely express themselves with the colors that they wear as well as the clothing itself. If a child is feeling particularly happy that day, he or she may want to wear their favorite outfit to express themselves and the way that they feel. If all students wear uniforms, the entire school will all look exactly the same, which takes away all creativity and suppresses The controversy whether to implement the uniform policy has gone on for quite a few years now. Both sides of the argument give compelling reasons why or why not the policy should be arrayed. But with the rise in the violent crimes in the school systems, children need to be protected, or else our children may be growing up knowing only violence. They will not know what it will be like to live a life without fear. Bibliography:

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