Many parents and students support the uniform issue because they feel it makes all the students equal in the eyes of their peers and teachers. However, many parents feel that just like installing metal detectors, uniforms are a simplistic solution to a far greater problem. Some experts believe uniforms promise to cut down crime and reduce violence, but only if we take away that students individuality and freedom of expression. What does this promise? Uniforms have been used in an effort to try and reduce crime, and at the same time, remove peer pre

With all the wonderful statistics about how uniforms are helping to improve violence, is there another side? Yes, the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts reported that due to the new release of uniforms in Laurence High school, attendance of students has dropped rapidly and 600 students have been given detention and 200 suspended. This did exactly the opposite of what uniforms are "suppose" to accomplish. If policy makers are serious about finding solutions to the problem of school violence, maybe they should ask the real experts: the students themselves. The ACLU recently conducted a series of focus groups with high school students asking them what would help reduce violence in school. Uniforms did not make the list. Their suggestion: 1. Since school violence mimics that of society at large, schools should seriously confront and discuss issues of racism and cultural conflict. 2. School entrances should be secured. 3. More extracurricular activities and clubs should be established. 4. Open-mike assemblies should be held to give students the opportunity to express themselves. 5. Conflict resolution programs should be taught. 6. Programs to help students find part-time jobs should be established. 7. "Safe corridor" programs should be supported to protect the safety of students as they go to and from school.

By mandating uniforms in public school, school officials hope to see a reduction in crime and violence. According to statistics, there are notable decreases in school violence and illegal offenses after the enactment of a school uniform or standardized dress code policy. (Lewis) Can uniforms really help in deterring violence and crime? Many parents and teachers say yes. Supporters of uniforms say social and economic classes would no longer be revealed by students' clothing and the school system will have more of a sense of community. (Nittel) Providing that a child's clothes do make a difference in school violence, then uniforms are exactly what our children need. Some parents feel uniforms will put the students' emphasis on schoolwork instead of dressing "cool", and they will help to lower school violence.

Required uniforms present a real dilemma. If the junior or senior high school is a place that the students genuinely like--a place where they are respected, where they are proud of their achievements and those of others, and where they are consulted about the value of uniforms, they may well accept them. (Howe II) In the earlier years, little children, who have not yet learned to question adults, will almost certainly accept them. But students in secondary schools without are likely to find ways to rebel against the enforcers of required uniforms. Could uniforms work in the high school? According to Kate Dunnagan of Broughtan High this is not true. According to Dunnagan "student bodies are developing and changing constantly. Students wear what is flattering and comfortable. It could be embarrassing to wear the same outfit as everyone else and look bad in it. The shape or design of a standard uniform may not be right for every individual." It appears the reasons for not implementing uniform policies in the high schools are simple. Teenagers will reject them. No longer young enough to be persuaded, teenagers express themselves on how they feel, and to them uniforms feel wrong. Adolescence is when they discover who they really are, and what styles they like. They cannot discover this by looking like each other day in and day out. So what does this then say to the elementary and jr. high students? That once they reach high school they won't have to wear uniforms, and they can go back to their old ways? How does this help? It doesn't. With this attitude crime and violence will only get worse. High school will become a place of freedom of uniforms, instead of the learning environment that uniforms are suppose to provide. Conformity helps students to behave better, learn, and achieve more in and out of the clas

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Approximate Word count = 2941
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)