Do School Uniforms Help Students Learn?

Parents, students, and school officials have been fighting for-and against- school uniforms for years now. So as the 2013 school year begins, Anthony seeks an answer once and for all: do school uniforms really help students learn?

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School Uniform Statistics

National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988
"A nationally representative sample of eighth-graders were first surveyed in the spring of 1988."

A COMPARISON RESEARCH STUDY ON THE USE OF SCHOOL UNIFORMS AND GRADUATION, ATTENDANCE, AND SUSPENSION RATES IN EAST TENNESSEE
"Graduation rates in Tennessee are 8 points below the state goal of 90%. Implementation
of a school uniform policy may be a way to improve these rates by giving students
increased school structure."

Dressed for Success? The Effect of School Uniforms on Student Achievement and Behavior
Concerns about safety in urban schools have led many school districts to require
uniforms for their students.

College of Education researchers conduct study on impacts of school uniforms
"Student opinions, discipline referrals and school police data studied."

UH STUDY SUGGESTS SCHOOL UNIFORMS REDUCE STUDENT ABSENCES, DISCIPLINARY PROBLEMS
"Fewer schools are including "Best Dressed" as a category in their end-of-the- year student polls. As public schools continue to adopt dress code policies, more students are unable to make individual fashion statements."

No Uniform Solution
"Uniforms make students look sharper, and they create a safer environment, but they can't they raise a school's achievement level."

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Why So Self Conscious?:
Dry Ice Danger:
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[realityslie]

I had a Uniform until the last day of summer when I set it on fire.

[Liberater]

at my middle school we had a strict dress code and had to be silent almost everywhere, and yet they had the gaul to have a poster saying INDIVIDUALITY!

[SilverDemon]

I think it's unfair that some schools force girls to wear only skirts. First off, many girls can find skirts uncomfortable and annoying to wear. Secondly, skirts are freezing in the winter. There was a Catholic school near where I lived as a kid, and in the winter you would see the girls wearing pants _underneath_ their skirts while they walked to school, which they would then have to take off once the entered the building. That is simply absurd. And in my experience, classrooms are pretty cold in the winter. Wearing a skirt would actually distract girls. It's like forcing boys to wear shorts in the winter, you wouldn't do that.

[matthewkost]

if a school has a mandatory uniform the school should provide it and the parents shouldn't pay for it

[DJHarris]

I'm not a fashion guy, so i really don't mind having uniform. I get up really late in the morning so choosing cloths would be impossible. But i gota say, the 20 minute speeches our teachers give us about uniforms is quite annoying.

[AlexBaldwinFTW]

I wore uniform until I was 18 and being forced to wear uncomfortable trousers, blazers, shirts and ties didn't improve my education. People were still bullied and beat up, stupid kids wore their ties short, slutty girls pulled their skirts up, everyone still found ways to look like their group (I didn't tuck my shirt in for about 2 years, haha) and everyone hated it. Going to Uni and wearing whatever I wanted for 3 years was paradise. Now I work and have to wear smart shoes, shirts that I hate, etc. We're never free.

[Shan-dhnv]

I have worn uniforms all my life and they suck because all the teachers comment to you about them when you could be learning

[jewelsofgold]

As someone who is overweight and is still going through puberty, I hate uniforms.
When I was younger, I'd see all of the skinny girls in their uniforms who somehow actually looked nice in their uniforms and I'd always feel left out because I was nowhere near skinny and my uniform made me feel worse about myself. School uniforms are uncomfortable and rigid. When I was wearing my uniform, I always felt horrible, I just wanted to go home. The few days when we'd have "school spirit week" I felt so much better about myself and wanted to stay and was still self conscious, but had a lot more confidence and happiness even. Even when they'd let us wear our team t-shirts and jeans, I'd feel more confident. That's just my personal experience and my take on it, though. I believe they should at least have uniforms be optional, or have no uniforms but less stress on the dress code.

[freemanmike]

What the media tells you on school uniforms is bullshit. I went to a uniform school from 7-8 I got bullied. I never cried but I just became frustrated everyday I came to school. Then I went to high school where there was no uniform and I didn't get bullied. In fact I was respected and clicked with everyone. 
Uniforms don't stop people from making fun of you all together. There are other things people get made fun of their size, weight, hair, skin color, hygiene, shoes.
So I like non uniform schools.

[WolfArcticIce]

They say uniforms are equalisers. Bull. I was tortured just as much in uniform as I was in casual clothes. Uniforms are cages that limit a person's individuality and inhibitits a intoverted person to become more so.

[Cybabyk]

most people are saying oh uniform is better, please! I wear uniform and it sucks I wanna wear what i want to wear I hate it :(

[bethanysmallwood]

I hate uniforms. I feel so self cautious in it because of my weight. If I were able to wear tops and trousers that I looked better in maybe I wouldn't have so much social anxiety

[LynneHand]

I still hate blue and yellow together. Especially on a tie. Scarred for life.

[Markus]

I would never handle that. I am a free human and I wear whatever I want. Period.

[kaitlynmoses]

If i go to Walmart after school i get freaking stared down! The people look at me like i am an alien with three eyes that just came down from jupiter in my spaceship. Thats a minus to them. you get bullied OUTSIDE of school too.

[TheWaynester]

the only thing i dont like about my school uniform is that the teachers spend too much time giving us pink slips, or sending us to the discipline office because we had black socks, or we forgot a belt...
but i wear multicolored underwear because they have no power over my underwear!!!!

[VioStarclad]

I wore school uniforms for most of my time in school.  I always hated them.  Saw them as nothing but ways to control.  The American pubic school system has proven it's not about teaching useful information, it's about getting kids to pass standardized tests and become part of the middle class work force.  What better way to indoctrinate that sort of thinking than uniforms?  Uniforms waste teachers' time in writing up infractions in every class every day.  They go against individual thinking and creativity.  They cost more money than normal clothes.  And they're also incredibly boring.  I'm really glad I'm not in school anymore. 

[unicornglitzer]

My thoughts on school uniform:
I hate it. Never had it, but would be a nightmare if I did. Here's why:
1. It is pressuring students into wearing something that is most of the time not even what they like to wear. It is robbing students of their individuality and creativity, which is a part of choosing your own clothing. They will feel uncomfortable, maybe because of the fabric material, the fact that it's not their preferred chlothing style, because they have a different body type and the uniform doesn't really match with the clothing they would feel more confident/comfortable in, or just the fact that some girls don't like to wear skirts.
2. The ridiculously strict rules on school uniform are just unnecessary. If a student just slightly breaks the dress code, they are punished. Your shirt is not tucked in? change it! The color of your socks is against the rules? take them off or go home! It is keeping student away from their education more than it is helping them to get to it. it is also not right from schools to determite by temperature when students are allowed to wear their jacket, or when girls are allowed to wear pants under their skirts or not. When I'm freezing I'm wearing my jacket no matter the temperature.
3.It is not helping students to not get bullied and to concentrate. Bullies are (most of the time) not targeting students just based on their clothing, so uniforms won't change that. And if you're forced to wear something that you do not concider comfortable, it is most likely that you can't concentrate.
4. If it is concidered necessary to have a uniform, the school should pay for it/provide it. Or at least make it optional for students who don't have the money for it.
Here are my thoughts on the school system in general (and why it's bad):
1. If you have a different type of learning, that suits you more, school is still forcing you to learn with their preferred methods.
2. School is forcing you into a routine and you have to wake up at 6am, which is way too early for the brain to function (school starts at 8am, but the human brain starts functioning at 10am).
3. They are scheduling your daily routine with subjects, although you should be able to organize your subjects (and when you have them) yourself. If they are talking about languages in the first 50 minutes, and math the next 50 minutes, how am I supposed to concentrate on the information and how am I able to let it sink in so I can remember it?
4. School is also keeping unnecessary subjects like sports. Sports is important, but it has nothing to do with my education and I should be able to choose if I want to do sports or not.
5. On the other hand, they are not teaching us imortant things that we will need in life. Like how to do my taxes. Instead they are wasting our time with stuff we don't need.
6. School is not about learning, it's all about how good you are at remembering stuff and your score written on a pice of paper. It should be about learning, but it's not. If you like to learn new things, but are bad at remembering stuff that's not important and doesn't interest you, according to school, that means you're stupid. Even if you're good in a subject, if you're bad at the test, according to school, that automaticly means your bad at the subject.
7. After a long day of school (up to 9 hours! which is btw too long, so I can't really concentrate on the things I'm learning later in the day, because there are barely any breaks) they still give you 1-2 hours of homework daily. As a perfectionist it is hard to keep up because it's simply too much. My longest school day (tuesday) ends at 5pm, the bus drives off at 6pm, I come home at 7pm, and finishing my meal and setting everything up for homework takes me up to 8pm. I need 10 hours of sleep to fell well rested, so I would have to go to sleep right after I finished dinner. No free time. No time for homework. But apperently teachers think a students day is 30 hours long, since they expect us to do homework after such a long day, and still think we have free time and enough sleep. No wonder students are so tired in the morning. If you fail to teach me everything I need to know about this topic in class, don't leave the stuff you weren't able to teach in time up to me as homework. In my opinoin, school and private life should not interfere, therefore, homework should not exist.
8. they are pressuring students and are prioritizing their grades over their mental health.
TLDR: School is unhealthy because it's pressuring students, forcing them into a daily routine that starts too early and are not caring about the student, only about their grade.
Edit: spelling is bad sry

[kaitlynmoses]

Reasons for Uniforms and why they don't make sense to me.



Jealousy:


So wearing a uniform is because other kids don't want other to look good. They want everyone to look bad because they look bad. Is it because maybe the less rich kid is suffering jealousy. well let me tell you, wearing a uniform doesn't not make me jealous of other girls. They are just as beautiful with or without it.


Modesty:

Wearing a uniform is to be modest? If you are forced to wear a skirt everyday (being a girl) it seems to me that THAT would be a lot more immodest. wearing a skirt lets people see up your legs if you sit down. chair or no chair. Also some schools make the girls wear very immodest skirts that are very short. what is the point of that?


Bullying:


Bullying is going to happen whether people where uniforms or not. you can't stop all of it. But maybe just maybe you could try to stop bullying another way..? It would be hard to catch bullying but i wear uniforms and people get bullied left and right. It doesn't make a difference.

Right now I can't think of any other reasons but I think uniforms are dumb. and i hate them. this wuz a rant, sorry for typos or spelling error.

[Abdielpau]

School doesn't have to be formal and boring. Children and teenagers most have the freedom to express themselves with their clothes. You can't force to children to be in a certain way to learn. Uniforms ad unnecessary pressure to children, if you were in high school and had to use an uniform you should know...