Idea of School uniforms

I can’t help but be totally disgusted with the way students dress. Where has the sense of self worth gone?

From an academia perspective, there is no conclusive evidence that school uniforms increase positive behavior and achievements. There are many reasons why schools may choose to adopt school uniforms. For example, some districts feel that school uniforms help integrate students. Instead of seeing a certain type of clothing, that may categorize a particular student, school uniforms “allow students to see the importance of character” (Johnson USA Today). I think that too much energy is being put into what should our students wear, instead of what should our students learn. Nevertheless, I do see some validity that school uniforms might “level the playing field” (Johnson USA Today). Realistically, no matter what type of clothing students are thrust into, social and emotion prejudice will still exist. Poet Gwendolyn Brooks writes: “If prejudice is native and it is you/ Will find it ineradicable”; a simple change of attire will not all of the sudden level the playing field and make the jock sit down with the nerd. On the other hand, in defense of school uniforms, it maybe a simple action that schools can take to diminish social tension and prejudicial judgment.

I am totally for school uniforms

From a rational stand point, I would have loved having school uniforms. There have been days where I would run around my house yelling, “I HAVE NOTHING TO WEAR!” Maybe it is just a “girl thing”—but I always felt like I had to look just right. If I decided to wear, heaven forbid, sweat pants to school it was because “I felt sick,” not because I felt like being comfortable. Instead of squeezing myself into the jeans—
that I had to lay down on the floor to zipper up and do a little dance just to get them on all in the name of fashion because they were the cool things to wear— I would have much rather opened up my closet door and taken out a uniform. Instead, my mom would hear the all amazing statement of, “Do you think this makes me look fat?” I would say that 85% of my energy was wasted in the morning trying to find what I needed to wear. When I had a wrestling match, I always experienced less stress. I think that directly connected to the fact that I knew what I had to wear: Dress shirt and a tie (even though I was a girl, since I was on a guy’s team, I had to wear the same uniform as everyone else). The idea behind wearing the same attire was designed to create team unity. Being the sentimentalist that I am, I really do believe that it created unity and sparked a sense of pride. This idea of unity could be applicable to school uniforms as a whole. Nevertheless, there are always going to be the rebels that say, in the words of the band

Green Day:
I want to be the minority

I don't need your authority

Down with the moral majority

'Cause I want to be the minority!
I can see through my observations that being an individual is an extremely important aspect of being an adolescent.