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Should Students Be Required To Wear Uniform
Introduction
In the united school, public schools emphasize that students wear school uniforms, mainly due to gang violence, which has been associated with popular fashion trends among students. The main reason why schools use school uniforms is to improve student behavior. However, this paper argues that students should not be required to wear school uniforms as these violate human rights by dominant discourses that celebrate uniformity while restricting diversity and break the students’ constitutional status.
The advocates of School uniform policies claim that school uniforms deter crime and deter crime and increase student safety. Schools continue to experience crises due to violence and a decline in academic achievement. Gang-related violence and crime in public schools have continued to grow, challenging the school administration and students. Due to an increase in crime rates among students, the student’s school attendance has dropped considerably due to the presence of drugs, weapons, and violence that continues to occur in many schools. One way to curb the creation of violence in schools is by ensuring there are mandatory dress codes that require students to be in uniform. The school uniforms will prohibit a student from putting on clothes that identify with gang dress codes. Proponents of school uniforms suggest that uniforms can regulate student’s behavior and thereby ensure discipline. They also suggest that school uniforms promote effective teaching and learning environment and ensure school unity and pride (Mahlangu).
Advocates of school uniforms claim that Student dress restrictions play a considerable role in sexuality and gender relations. Adolescent females are usually sexualized. School uniforms provide a modest based dress restriction, thereby promoting effective teaching and learning climate, allowing self-expression, and increasing school safety and security. (Anderson). School uniforms create a level playing field among students. It reduces peer pressure and bullying, thereby increasing students’ self-esteem as students identify in a more common ground. When students wear the same outfit, they are less concerned about their looks and how to fit in with their peers. They also argue that when students dress similarly, competition about clothing choices and teasing among students dressed less expensively is eliminated, and students focus more on academic performance. They also argue that school uniforms play a role in decreasing involvement in violent activities.
Policies that forge for the use of school uniforms mean to interfere with the fundamental human right that enables one to define oneself and form one’s own identity to make autonomous choices about values, priority, and affiliations. Strict dress codes restrict young people from the development of self-identity. However, while clothing and appearance are a way to express autonomy, dressing facilitates communication about political affiliations, religious belief, sexual orientation, and other identity aspects. when students have no restrictions, they encode ideas and standards regarding beauty, their commercial culture, and other public and personal concerns, hence providing a personalized statement to the world. ( Ahrens et al., 103). The first amendment recognizes the freedom of expression, while school uniforms deter students from conveying their messages.
Administering dress restrictions is a distraction because it siphons parents’ teacher and administrative resources to this strategy instead of focusing on major educational issues. Dress restrictions also create unnecessary contentious relationships among the students and their educators as they spend time measuring hem lengths instead of teaching and monitoring openly problematic behaviors. The teachers may focus on dress code violations at the expense of other less visible but essential issues since dress code issues are more straightforward than other areas that require refinement, such as improvement in graduation rates. Besides, students who are disciplined for non-compliance with restrictive dress policies have to sacrifice educational instruction time in serving suspensions; in other instances, their rights are violated due to inconsistent enforcement of school uniform rules. Other students are also uncomfortable around educators who keep scrutinizing their dress code. School uniforms appear to violate the first amendment right to freedom of expression, thereby stifling individuality by imposing unnecessary dress restrictions. Creativity is restricted, as students feel trapped.
While proponents of uniform claim that uniforms maintain neutrality by providing a safe learning environment free from violence, other policies can address school violence issues. There is no connection between dressing style and academic performance. Yet, many seem to disrespect various beliefs when there is no crucial educational benefit from the school uniform policy. The choice of clothing has been protected in the first amendment unless it has the capacity supported by evidence that it can cause harm. Also, dress codes tend to regulate female students’ appearance with many rules that are lopsided cause the females students to lack autonomous choices and even cause the female students to keep policing their appearance and sexuality and these differential gender restraints oppose the constitutional commitment on gender equality. Besides, excessive enforcement of dress codes results in inequitable enforcement, and discipline is vindictive, and tension is created against the constitutional norms. The constitution places public schooling as a public responsibility that should not be conditioned by restrictions that interfere with student liberties. Students are autonomous with inherent human rights about their appearance, and they can thus use their appearance to communicate their identity, Beliefs, and affinities.
Conclusion
There are pros and cons to the use of school uniforms. There is a need to evaluate the use of uniform policies on school violence; despite school uniforms being primarily enforced, many students indicate that they do not like wearing school uniforms (Japheth et al. 10). It is crucial to involve the entire population affected by these policies, especially the students, parent’s teachers, to understand the perception of school uniforms and their opinion since they are the intended users. There is a need to observe trends as many education stakeholders though there may be a decline in schools’ violence; this is not directly linked to the use of school uniforms. Public schools need to respects the different beliefs and the constitution. The education stakeholders should make sure religious expressions are not restricted; students should be protected to have freedom of expression. Voluntary Policies and opt-out policies should also be considered.
Work cited
Ahrens, Deborah, and Andrew M. Siegel. “Of Dress and Redress: Student Dress Restrictions in Constitutional Law and Culture.” Harv. CR-CLL Rev. 54 (2019): 49.
Sanchez, Jafeth E., Andrew Yoxsimer, and George C. Hill. “Uniforms in the middle school: Student opinions, discipline data, and school police data.” Journal of School Violence 11.4 (2012): 345-356.
Mahlangu, Vimbi Petrus. “Implementation of School Uniform Policy and the Violation of Students’ Human Rights in Schools.” Bulgarian Comparative Education Society (2017).
Anderson, Wendell. “School Dress Codes and Uniform Policies.” Policy Report, (2002).