ic that adolescence is a time when young people strive to express their uniqueness and individuality in many different ways, and especially through fashion. Of course as several political cartoonists have pungently observed, teens are already in uniform -- baggy pants, T-shirts and baseball caps worn backward. But these are "uniforms" of teens' own choosing, and not fashions dictated from above. School administrators and teachers know that teenagers are sure to rebel against uniforms policies; that's why so far they've been reluctant to impose them at the high school level. Second, for a public school uniform policy to be legal, it has to have an opt out provision. Every child in this country has the right to a public school education, and that right cannot be conditioned upon compliance with a uniform policy. Some parents and children will have religious objections to uniforms. Others won't want to participate for aesthetic reasons. If given a choice, it is hard to imagine that most or even many teenagers will opt to wear the uniforms. Beyond these practical considerations, the call for school uniforms is not constructive because it is a Band Aid solution to a set of serious problems that defy easy answers. There is something profoundly cynical about our political leaders promoting uniforms in the face of crumbling school buildings, overcrowded classrooms, and dwindling education funds. The debate over uniforms is a diversion. Attractive, modern and safe school buildings, small class sizes, schools with well stocked libraries, new computers and an array of elective courses like music, drama and art -- those are the kinds of changes that would produce long lasting and dramatic improvements in student deportment and achievement. But of course that would require us to invest, rather than disinvest, in our public school system. ...
