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Christopher Heath
Dr. Stumme
English 101-045
21 October 2020
School Uniforms: Are They Good or Bad?
Most students that have been forced to wear uniforms have shown that they are very
much against the idea of wearing school unforms and yet many schools still choose to implement
these cruel policies. Schools argue the fact that school uniforms eliminate distractions such as
students talking about each other’s clothes in class and that it prevents bullying when the
negative effects far outweigh the positive and it is simply not true. Teachers the implement these
negative policies focus on the fact that uniforms can discipline students but what they do not
realize is that these uniforms give the students a negative perception about school. Disliking
school makes students disengaged and makes test scores drop. Students want to learn when they
can be creative and they like their teacher. Although some may think school uniforms are good
for young students, they are in fact not beneficial to young students grades K-8 because it does
not foster creativity, it changes the way students get bullied, and it causes children to lose their
excitement for school.
Environments where people wear typical clothing styles encourage being different and
expressing oneself, uniforms however create a place where it limits self-expression and
discourages diversity. Students that are in public schools without uniforms figure out their style
and personality through trying different styles of clothes. A student who would have gotten the
opportunity to figure out their own style otherwise now cannot. Zahra Baradarankashani, a
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student in social science research elaborates on the idea that young girls that are forced to wear
clothes they do not like, are forced into having a certain identity (“Social Semiotics of School
Uniforms in the Narratives of Mashhad Young Girls”, pg.1). Little kids are supposed to be able
to express themselves but instead of being able to find themselves they are forced into a false
identity because they are not encouraged to be different. Clothes play a big part in how kids
develop and express their own personalities and if they cannot do this they end up “in a disabling
process and become passive and careless people about their community” (Baradarankashani,
pg.1). Even when those same students come in contact with a culture that encourages diversity,
they end up thinking that this other culture that is different is wrong instead of realizing how
wrong it is to be all the same. It is bad for students to be forced to be sheltered from other styles
of personality and expression because if they are they will not be able to discern where their
personality starts and their classmate’s begins instead of having a personality of their own.
School uniforms do not stop bullying but rather change the way students bully each other.
Clothes are not the sole reason for bullying. Students instead of getting bullied about their
clothes now get bullied about how they look in the uniform. For instance, kids that look different
from the fit, ideal physical stature tend to be bullied because of how they look. Adam Siniki
agrees that a way that kids get bullied is especially through physical stature and he says that a kid
that is overweight could be called crude names just because of their appearance (Pros and Cons
of School Uniforms). This is common because kids pick at anything that they can due to their
very imaginative minds. Nicole Etolen went to a school that enforced uniforms but they did have
to buy some clothing for it. She was “teased for purchasing “cheap clothing”. Etolen reminds her
audience that although she was in uniform, that did not stop bullies from picking on her”
(Sabrina). This example proves that even with uniforms kids will take parts of what is seen as
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safe from bullying by adults and put other kids down because they can. School uniforms will not
even come close to stopping bullying because children are all different, and because of this there
is always something for a bully to pick on (Sabrina). Bullies do not care what it is that they bully
others about, but rather the fact that they feel bad and so others should feel bad by any means
necessary.
Children also find joy in picking out their own clothes. So, when they are forced into an
outfit that they do not like, they then feel sad and unenthusiastic to go to school. When kids can
make an impact on their surroundings through the clothes they wear they become much more
excited to be in that certain environment because it has a part of them in it. Uniforms gid rid of
this excitement for school. In a study done by Jafeth E. Sanchez it was found that in a survey that
they administrated, it was asked of students from seventh to eight grade whether or not they liked
wearing uniforms and the overwhelming majority of 87.3% said that they did not like wearing
uniforms” (Uniforms in the Middle School). Kids are much more engaged in activities when they
are happy and with the majority being unhappy with the rule to wear uniforms it starts their day
on a bad note which means that test scores will go down. For example, “black students, who
were bullied, saw their grades drop by 0.3 points” (“10 Reasons Why Your Kids Grades May Be
Slipping”). As bullying and sadness is a widespread issue studies have shown that in certain
communities’ test scores will drop. The longer amount of time that students spend in uniformed
schools the more they will try to stop the school from keeping the uniform policy because it is so
widely disliked as shown by Sanchez, “eighth-grade students' might have deliberately provided
more negative responses against uniforms with hopes of trying to affect the policy” (Uniforms in
the Middle School). Students seem to become more creative in being deceptive to try and get rid
of these uniform policies. Students may perform well in the classrooms because of their parents
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but these uniforms create big behavioral issues especially in finding ways to deceive the
teachers. Students lose their excitement for school and revert to other means of deception to
make the school day more fun and this is a big negative effect that school uniforms have on
children in schools that enforce this policy.
Those that argue that discipline is effective are not wrong but when students end up being
negatively affected by it, it is time to rethink the approach. If students respond negatively to
uniforms, there is no reason to implement them in schools. Seeing as the idea of school unforms
being beneficial to kids is being falsely spread to so many adults it is only a matter of time that
school uniforms are implemented in the majority of schools and that would be very bad. The
United States educational system would be even lower than it is now. Youngs students need to be
able to be happy in school because this is the only way to truly get young kids to be engaged in
learning. Whether or not uniforms are utilized by schools bullies will continue to try to make
other kids unhappy which will disengage those students but as long as students are allowed to
wear their own clothes and to express themselves they will be able to rebound back and thrive
school.
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School Uniforms: Outline
Thesis: Although some may think school uniforms are good for young students, they are in
fact not beneficial to young students grades K-8 because it does not foster creativity, it changes
the way students get bullied, and it causes children to lose their excitement for school.
1. They limit student’s self-expression/ personality and discourage diversity
a. Students cannot experiment to find who they are through changing their style
i. The educational experience of young girls involves several semiotic
resources (e.g. school uniforms, queues, homework, grade, schoolyard,
etc.). Although these resources provide diverse functions such as identity,
law and order, integrity and coherence for students, they can have a
different representation over time, according to which students are in a
disabling process, and become passive and careless people about their
community.
b. Students that grow up with people that dress and look the same become
overwhelmed when thrown into places where people are of different races,
cultures, and styles.
i. The culture that these students go through if they know nothing else is
immense.
2. School uniforms do not stop bullying but rather change the way students bully each other.
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a. Students instead of getting bullied about their clothes now get bullied about how
they look in the uniform
i. “For instance, a fat kid with big glasses on might be called by various
“creative” names which are particularly being tagged to him by the bullies.
There would be remarks like “ Hey! You look like an elephant””
b. Students also then poke fun at the different school supplies the children have.
i. Etolen goes on explaining that kids at her school teased her for
purchasing “cheap clothing.” Etolen reminds her audience that
although she was in uniform, that did not stop bullies from picking
on her. Even if it was something as small as wearing discounted
clothes, Etolen’s point remained that bullies will find any reason to
put down someone regardless of a school uniform.
ii. The educational experience of young girls involves several semiotic
resources (e.g. school uniforms, queues, homework, grade, schoolyard, etc.).
Although these resources provide diverse functions such as identity, law and
order, integrity and coherence for students, they can have a different
representation over time, according to which students are in a disabling
process, and become passive and careless people about their community.
iii. If a student has a cheaper pair of scissors than someone else it then creates
a power imbalance that bullies can exploit. Or, if a student has the wrong
type of haircut or hair color and others see it as weird they then bully them
3. Children find joy in picking out their own clothes so when they are forced into clothes,
they do not like they then feel sad and unenthusiastic to go to school
a. Children have been found to lose their excitement when it comes to going to
school due to being stuck in outfits they do not want to wear.
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i. This goes for adults too. Whatever age you are it is very annoying to be
forced to wear something that the organization gives to wear instead of
choosing what to wear within guidelines so that you like what you wear.
b. Most students feel that they dislike or strongly dislike school uniforms. When
they are forced into these uniforms it then causes discontent and unhappiness
towards school.
i. At the end of the day children would all love to wear their own
uniforms. It would make children want to come to that school
and it would make them a lot more likely to tow the line in other
ways.
ii.
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Bibliography
Baradarankashani, Zahra, et al. “Directory of Open Access Journals.”, University of Isfahan, 1
Mar. 2020, doaj.org/article/56a95e88d8d2412383cf3607baad3cb1.
Denise-Marie Ordway, Journalist's Resource April 20. “School Uniforms: Do They Really
Improve Student Achievement, Behavior?” Journalist's Resource, Harvard Kennedy
School, 2 May 2018, journalistsresource.org/studies/society/education/school-uniforms-
research-achievement/.
Rahman, Ayesha. “Top 10 Ways Kids Get Bullied in School.” List Dose, 5 Mar. 2014,
listdose.co/top-10-ways-kids-get-bullied-in-school-2/.
Sabrina. “RS4: Do School Uniforms Prevent Bullying?” Rhetoric Writing, 3 Aug. 2015,
sites.dwrl.utexas.edu/rhes306/2015/08/03/rs4-do-school-uniforms-prevent-bullying/.
Sanchez, Jafeth E. “Uniforms in the Middle School: Student Opinions, Discipline Data, and
School Police Data.” Taylor & Francis, 2012,
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/153 288220.2012.706873.
Sinicki, Adam, et al. “Pros and Cons of School Uniforms.” HealthGuidance, 3 Mar. 2011,
www.healthguidance.org/entry/15038/1/Pros-and-Cons-of-School-Uniforms.html.
“10 Reasons Why Your Kids Grades May Be Slipping.” Excite Education,
www.excite.com/education/blog/10-reasons-why-your-kids-grades-may-be-slipping
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