School Uniforms | Teen Ink

School Uniforms

March 12, 2010
By Marie Recinos BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
Marie Recinos BRONZE, Reno, Nevada
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

School Is Not A Fashion Show
Every day when you come to school do you think does this shirt look good on me? What are others going to think about it? For most of us, the way we look is crucial. We care about how other people are going to judge us and for some girls, well you want to impress your crush by showing maybe a little too much. This happens to most of us and I’m sure that most people are going to agree with me that the way we look at school has become too important. Once you mention school uniforms to teenagers, they go crazy. They think that it is not good because they don’t want to wear some ugly kaki pants or a skirt that is too long for our liking and a hideous white polo shirt. I have to disagree with most high school students. School uniforms don’t have to be boring; there are a lot of creative ways that you can look at uniforms if you think positive.


The majority of students that don’t agree with the use of uniforms for school are girls because we like to look pretty and school uniforms don’t let us show our “pretty.” We have to wake up really early to see what will look good on us and if we don’t like it, we have to change and that’s just a waste of time. Most of us don’t even get to eat breakfast because we spend too much time looking in the mirror and it’s already time to go to school. If we use uniforms, our routines would change for the better. Instead of waking up, taking a shower, do our hair, choose what you’re going to wear and if we don’t like it change until we find something that looks good, all we have to do would be taking a shower, blow dry your hair, putting some makeup on, put your uniform on, eat breakfast and off to school you go. It’s easy as that and it would also give us more time to sleep.



Also, the use of uniforms for school would save our parents and us a lot of money. We like the designer clothes and designer shoes. When you go to the mall and you see all those pretty clothes what the first thing that you want to do? What I would want to do and what I usually do is buy it and most of the time I don’t care about the price. I just pull out my debit or credit card and swipe, it’s been purchased. I’ve talked to some students about their clothes and the average teen spends about 60 to 70 dollars in just the clothes, and around 50 dollars for shoes. That’s around 110 dollars on each outfit. We are wasting too much money on something that we shouldn’t be wasting. If we use uniforms, we will only be spending around 40 dollars per outfit. That’ll be 200 dollars for the whole year. Imagine how much money that’ll save our parents.

School Uniforms will also lower the bullying and the violence in schools. I used to wear uniforms from kindergarten until fifth grade, and there wasn’t so much violence compared to how much I see now. Many parents don’t enough money to but their kids outfits every year. Many kids take advantage of that and make fun of kids because they wear the same clothes every year. The use of school uniforms will decrease the bullying in our schools. No one will be judged because of what they are wearing, because they dress too Goth or too nerdy.

Overall, the use of school uniforms will help us for the good not for the bad. It could be true that it doesn’t let us show out individuality but there is tons of ways that we can change that. School was not made to model. School was made to learn. School uniforms will show that we respect our school by following the rules and maybe we can respect ourselves by covering what needs to be covered. Think about it, if we use a uniform that’s less laundry we have to do every two weeks. So parents and students that are not against it, do something about it. If we try I’m sure we will succeed.

The author's comments:
What inspired me to write this was that our school county wants to have uniforms but many teens do not agree with it

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This article has 19 comments.


Elizabeth said...
on Apr. 1 2016 at 2:58 pm
I agree with this article because it like if we don't use scanners or metal detector in school, I known to that scanners are a waste of time but if the school used the scanners it would have all the students in the building save. Uniforms are good like the article said it would help our parents save a lot of money.

great BRONZE said...
on Apr. 9 2015 at 7:28 pm
great BRONZE, Marietta, Georgia
3 articles 0 photos 3 comments

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My favorite animal is steak.

How does it waste time? And I can understand if they cost a lot, but how is that money wasted?

on May. 6 2014 at 2:18 pm
They are NOT better!!! They are a waste of time and money.

RightAlways said...
on May. 11 2013 at 6:53 pm
It's always right for chlidren to wear uniform. Parent's can not afford for children to wear and tear there out of school clothes at school. Although buying uniform adds money in the long run it is much better. For teens uniform is exactly right to wear it. Teens wear all sorts of clothes nowadays much inapporiate. It's much better.

Tonigirl said...
on Oct. 11 2012 at 6:33 pm
Uniforms are actually better. Me and my friends created a club to girlyness so we are being ourselves and showing who we are without having to wear what ever we want. Also people won't be like "OMG she wore that last week she doesn't have anything else to wear.

Dice14 SILVER said...
on Nov. 12 2010 at 4:34 pm
Dice14 SILVER, Saint Louis, Missouri
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"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve."
Napoleon Hill, "Believe you are defeated, believe it long enough, and it is likely to become a fact"
Norman Vincent Peale,


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I totally agree with you! I wear a uniform. Actually it's quite comfortable and it does save money. Thanks

chillifritoz said...
on Sep. 29 2010 at 3:30 pm
chillifritoz, Fayetteville, North Carolina
0 articles 0 photos 20 comments
i see youre point and i think that your article is really good by the way thanks for getting straight to the poin!. i do agree with you half way because i dot think that my uniforms are all that bad i dont mind then all that much untill i get uncomfortable. my point is that most clothing companies that make uniforms suck! its like their not even ment to be worn by teen girls and half the time i feel so weird with them on and plus id much rather wear my own clothes. im not the type to spend an hour getting dressed, i just throw something on and occasionally ill change out my percings but i do like to look descent

on Sep. 28 2010 at 6:42 pm
Caramel_Apple SILVER, Yardley, Pennsylvania
6 articles 0 photos 31 comments
I do agree that we have to check if we look good or not, but this is a freedom thing. Too often we have our "rights" taken away, and dress code is a way that teachers can monitor dress, but yet still let the students have their freedom. Plus, the dedicated students will be the ones that pay attention to the teacher, not their clothing. In the end it seems that you can only blame yourself for your obsession with your features.

Marie said...
on Sep. 28 2010 at 5:31 pm
I understand what you are trying to say, and personally I am a huge fashionista myself but I really don't believe that we should dress all cute just for school I mean we are there to learn right? and uf uniforms are going to help us concentrate more then i'm up for it cause personally i have to be checking if i look fine all the time and I think that a uniform would help me concentrate more.

on Jul. 25 2010 at 8:31 am
Caramel_Apple SILVER, Yardley, Pennsylvania
6 articles 0 photos 31 comments
I understand about the uniforms, but I don't think they're necessary. I, personally, would  much rather choose my own outfit than have a uniform. Many Americans don't mind choosing their outfit; to them it is a fun thing to do.

on May. 21 2010 at 10:30 pm
grayswan SILVER, Bronx, New York
9 articles 0 photos 5 comments

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no uniform doest allow kids to express themslef. And i completly diagree with the paying maby u but me i spend more money on my uniform then regular clothes. And all people keep saying is that with out uniform the clothes matter more then school work. but number 1 if clothes isn't supposed to matter why do we need uniform.2 im not trying to be mean but if you look around in the real world people in the street don't walk around like that. its uncomfertable and your always freaking out about ruining or damaging your uniform. 3 most importantly in the u.s alot of kids break the rules and come to school like that why? becuase they don't like being unoriginal robots. and not all of them dress inproietly with there chest and butts showing. im pro-dress code becuase i should be able to show myself its a freedom a artform so no matter how you put it uniform is just away to keep control on the younger generation dening them of right believed not to be allowed till of adult age btw im not like a rebl ativist but you know it is a form of control

on May. 5 2010 at 9:43 pm
silverbookslayer GOLD, Upper Marlboro, Maryland
11 articles 0 photos 7 comments

Favorite Quote:
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hhhmmm.....I think that students should be allowed to dress down at some part of the year.  For example maybe every other Friday or once a month.  I am a high school student and yes uniforms are very easy because in the morning I can just throw it on but sometimes it feels nice to dress down in my regular clothes because how you dress is a part of you or who you are.  I'm not saying that you need to be superficial but that how you dress is based upon who you are, who you see yourself as, and how you feel.  So maybe you should see if students should be allowed to dress down once a month or something.

on Apr. 5 2010 at 6:39 am
RosemarieCraig GOLD, Gloucestershire, Other
19 articles 0 photos 35 comments

Favorite Quote:
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."
"The world is not inherited from our ancestors. It is borrowed from our children"

Realistically, no one will let the students have a say in the uniform. Your school probably won't give a stuff what the kids think, and won't listen to your opinions anyway.

runnergrl said...
on Apr. 5 2010 at 5:43 am
runnergrl, Dexter, Michigan
0 articles 0 photos 18 comments
It really depends on where you live and the attitude towards appearance there.  I think uniforms are a great idea as long as students get some say in them (no white pants or shoes).

on Apr. 3 2010 at 3:27 pm
RosemarieCraig GOLD, Gloucestershire, Other
19 articles 0 photos 35 comments

Favorite Quote:
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."
"The world is not inherited from our ancestors. It is borrowed from our children"

not exactly a uniform then is it? thats just home clothes with the school crest on. That wont solve any of the problems you described. Might even up stress and frustration levels. again, I respect your right to your own opinion. 

marie said...
on Apr. 2 2010 at 4:10 pm
You are talking about private school. I used to go to one and I remembered that they were very strict and made us spend a lot of money on our uniforms. My article is talking about the use of uniforms in PUBLIC SCHOOLS there is a very big difference. In public schools, you don't have to buy really expensive uniforms. They are just making us wear kaki pants and a white polo qith out school logo.

on Mar. 26 2010 at 12:27 pm
RosemarieCraig GOLD, Gloucestershire, Other
19 articles 0 photos 35 comments

Favorite Quote:
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."
"The world is not inherited from our ancestors. It is borrowed from our children"

By the way, I go to school in UK. And they are so strict it's unbelievable!

on Mar. 26 2010 at 12:25 pm
RosemarieCraig GOLD, Gloucestershire, Other
19 articles 0 photos 35 comments

Favorite Quote:
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."
"The world is not inherited from our ancestors. It is borrowed from our children"

Of course, you are perfectly entitled to your own opinion, but be thankful for what you have.

on Mar. 26 2010 at 12:24 pm
RosemarieCraig GOLD, Gloucestershire, Other
19 articles 0 photos 35 comments

Favorite Quote:
A man can no more diminish God's glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, 'darkness' on the walls of his cell."
"The world is not inherited from our ancestors. It is borrowed from our children"

Sorry, but I really disagree. Our school has a uniform, it costs $470 every year, and thats just the stuff we wear every day! Then there's coats, blazers, ties and everything else, down to the blue tights with the school crest on the knee caps! The bulling is very high, in fact a boy I know got beat up so bad he was put in hospital last year, because he didn't have his tie done up the same as the other boys. Putting on a uniform in the morning takes a long time. Usually, a good half hour. You have so many pointless layers, it takes that long! You talk about uniforms being customisable, but if your school had a uniform, you would be told all the time to do your top button up, tuck your shirt in, buy new tights because yours have a tiny hole in etc. I spend on average $100 on clothes a year. It would save my parents a lot of money if I only wore that. You have no experience with uniform at high school, so be greatfull you can have the freedom to wear whatever you like.