Should Schools Have Uniforms | Teen Ink

Should Schools Have Uniforms

December 20, 2012
By dmed07 BRONZE, Hilmar, California
dmed07 BRONZE, Hilmar, California
2 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Would you ever want your freedom of expression to be unnecessarily taken away by a higher power? Millions of kids around the globe suffer this consequence when they are forced to wear uniforms at school. With uniforms come personality changes, financial crises, and family problems. No school should ever unrightfully make their students wear uniforms on a daily basis.

“If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms” said President Bill Clinton in 1996. This statement is completely unrealistic. It isn’t having a nice jacket that gets you killed or jumped, it’s how you act with it. If you’re flaunting a new car, don’t be surprised if it gets stolen or keyed. I think that President Clinton’s words could have inflicted mixed feelings but my point still stands.

Some students’ families are forced to put their kids in private school because they get into trouble at private schools. Some of these families can barely afford private school and let alone expensive uniforms. Poor families have had their funds destroyed and devastated by the appalling costs that comes with private school.I’ll admit that a lot of kids buy clothes so they can become one of the “popular kids”. These kids will always be like that. There is no way to change that and if there is, it probably has to do with their parents who allow them to wear the high in brands. School uniforms can include some of the high end brands like Lacoste and Polo which, if you don’t know, are very expensive. Uniforms are a financial burden for some families.

One major problem around the world today is the fact that there are gangs in schools. I know that people would think uniforms would help but that is not true at all. First of all, do you really think that not wearing red or blue to school is going to keep gangsters from shooting each other? Second of all, kids that are troubled are always going to find trouble wherever they’re at. There’s is always going to be a west side and an east side. There’s always going to be kids that don’t get along with each other. There’s always going to be that one kid that will do anything they can to dress differently. Uniforms are just a Band-Aid of the violence issue in schools meaning they don’t really solve the long term problem.

If you take a rebellious teenager right of expression away with making them wear uniforms, they will resort to alternative forms of expression such as piercings and tattoos therefore making the school look worse overall. I think that these kids will not wear their uniforms period. If they don’t care, then why should they listen to somebody telling them what to do. Uniforms are extremely hard to enforce on students.

Around the world, minors are forced to keep their fashion sense on the inside and wear a demeaning pair of khakis and a button up shirt that looks the same as the kids’ that is sitting next to you. Everybody deserves the right to express who they are and what they want to be. Everybody has the right to do what they want as long as it is law abiding. Everybody has the right to wear what they want. Therefore, no school should make their kids wear uniforms.



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This article has 1 comment.


SareBear1997 said...
on Jan. 9 2013 at 10:27 am
SareBear1997, Woy Woy, Other
0 articles 0 photos 1 comment
Good point but Australia has uniforms for all schools wheather it be public or private and no matter what there is free school uniforms for kids in financal stress but I like uniforms personally and so do alot of my friends. Like look I have almost no fashion style so a school uniform is a great way to look like everybody else and not worry if somebody is judging my outfit because they have the same one and also I cannot wake up early in the morning so I can just slip on the schools uniform ,brush my hair and then im done but with days like mufti day I have to plan in advance what to wear and what goes with what. But look wearing different clothing isn't going to change or bring up peoples personalities, like I would much rather talk to a person to get to know them instead of judging them by what they wear and lets be hounest I don't think that any of my friends act any differently on weekends when they have casual clothes on to on weekdays where the unifrom is enforced by everybody (Including students) But this is just my oppion from personal experiance but truth be told I have never seen a school without uniforms to make that comparisons. I think what is wrong with American schools is that the public school system kids can be pointed out by their casual clothing so the pupils want to try and look 'cool' as with private school kids have elite uniforms so they do not have to worry about that.I generally think that Americancs schools should be all in on uniforms with finacial support (Including public schools) OR all out on uniforms (Including private schools) Not creating this diveristiy that can be easily spotted by the genral public.
But I dunno thats just what i've noticed then again i've never even been to America and look how much I just typed.... Wow