School uniforms seem to be a growing trend among high schools. Why? They are said to bring peace to schools and decrease trends of bullying, popularity, and picking on other people. But do school uniforms really bring around that reform?
School uniforms are said to decrease bullying and picking on others. The uniforms, being the same, are used to make all the students look the same. Rich, popular kids are dressing in the latest fads and trends, while poorer kids or kids that don’t care as much about what other people think (which is very admirable) won’t be wearing Gap or Abercrombie. The uniforms will make everyone look the same, which is supposed to level social classes. Are they crazy? Jocks will still be jocks, cheerleaders still cheerleaders, nerds still nerds, and preps still preps. This is very sad. Kids should not be picking on each other because of what they look like. However, changing what they wear by making them wear identical uniforms will not break this trend. Even if the more popular kids did not find a way to make the uniforms look different, they would pick on less popular kids because of what they looked like before they got uniforms. They would also pick on them for what they do.
Will the uniforms bring popularity to an end? Absolutely not. The simple fact that everyone is dressed alike will not make nerds friends with jocks. They will still be less popular because Chess Club is “not cool.” However, football is the “coolest.” This is why uniforms will absolutely not help with popularity. People still have separate interests, and that is what they get bullied for. This needs to stop.
School uniforms bring an end to gang violence.” Wrong. Gang violence is not dictated by clothes. True, different gangs do wear different colors. If these gangs cannot see these colors, then they cannot identify who is in the rival gang. However, they don’t know these people by their colors. If they know someone is in a certain gang, they will still hate them. Their clothes will not matter.
In short, school uniforms really do not solve a thing. They don’t solve any kind of bullying. Uniforms do not solve any kind of popularity issue. Uniforms do not help gang violence. However, in favor of uniforms some things could be said. When implemented in younger schools, such as kindergarten or elementary school, some of these problems could be decreased (not solved) in middle and high school. When implemented in these younger programs, it can make kids feel prouder. Test scores can, indeed, improve. However, the purpose of this article is to show that uniforms that are suddenly implemented when social classes have already formed do nothing. What does work? A tougher disciplinary system. Today, it is almost impossible to suspend or expel a student for something wrong. However, if we can pass some state legislation to make it easier to suspend a student for bullying, gang violence, or picking on people, it would make things better. Suspension is not all, though. Many times, this just gives someone a vacation. However, school-administered corporal punishment has dated back for a long time. This was a time when disciplinary trouble was very low. Let’s bring that back. A student picks on another? They get the paddle. Uniforms won’t teach you what a paddle will teach you. If you don’t want that, let’s go with expulsions. I promise, make just a few examples, and a taunt on a less-popular girl will be the farthest thing from a cheerleader’s lips. Uniforms will not keep the sharp tongue of a popular girl from torturing another, less-popular girl.
