Essay Sample on School Uniforms: Mandate or Not?

Should school uniforms be mandatory in public schools? When students wear uniforms, everyone is equal, and no one is better than the other. This is because not everyone can afford new clothes or shoes each year. Putting a dress code in place will lessen students from getting bullied, along with helping students from being distracted from other students standing out. For example, students have name-brand clothes, ripped, stained, showing skin, or wearing the same clothes from the previous day. In other words, if everyone follows a dress code, you wouldn’t know who was less fortunate. Everyone would be equal.

Standard uniforms across the board for the whole student body eliminate the current bullying some students may face when required to buy new/trending clothes for the year. By following a dress code, it could “reduce violence and behavioral problems” and “reduce social pressure and levels status differentials” (Baumann 51). Think about it. Would you want to continue to attend school for getting bullied? Even though it is out of your control on what you can afford. According to Ansari Arya, low-income students that require uniforms have better attendance than the ones who don't. More likely, if students are getting bullied, they don’t want to attend school. Therefore, it shows how wearing uniforms to school can decrease bullying and improve attendance.

If students do not wear uniforms, their attire may distract others, such as unsuitable apparel, gang colors, or the current fashion. A student may, for example, arrive at school dressed inappropriately, such as in a cleavage-revealing top and short shorts. Students who are near the student may become distracted, whether in class or walking down the hall. It not only affects others, but it also takes away from others' ability to concentrate in class, as well as time away from yourself due to having to go to the office and change or being detained in detention. School uniforms are intended to improve school safety, improve the learning environment, and reduce clothing competitiveness (Boutelle 35). In other words, wearing uniforms keeps students focused on their education rather than what others are wearing.

Standard uniform policies allow for students to feel “equal” or “on the same level” as other students who may be boastful in their attire; this brings equality to the whole student body. The unfortunate students would no longer feel excluded because they did not dress like the fortunate students. Furthermore, because everyone would be wearing the same clothes, the social status would be less of an issue. In other words, this unity creates a bond that allows students to feel more connected and closer to one another. Also, wearing school uniforms can boost school spirit and pride. The teacher in the film "School Matter" inquiries about why uniforms are required, and the student responds that it is to make them look smarter, while the professors explain that it is to make the students as a whole. 

This is an interesting topic since you have students that wish they could buy the same high-quality clothes as the rest of the class. Instead, they are bullied while dressed in two-year-old clothes. Then you have students chatting about what their classmates are wearing rather than concentrating on what they are learning in class. As a result, rather than students competing over what they're wearing, I'd love to see everyone dressed the same as a unit. Because I understand how tough it may be to keep your children dressed in the latest fashion that is constantly changing.