School Uniform Policy (Lauren Carter)

The school uniform policy is one that has been debated over for quite a while. Although many students will tell you they prefer no uniforms, they are becoming more and more common in schools throughout the United States and across the world. The typical uniform consists of a pant or short, polo or button up, and possibly a dress and/ or skirt for the females. These may be dark or light in color depending in the specific school’s preference. Many schools implement these policies to prevent gang related occurrences and clothing at school. It also helps to reveal clearly and quickly who is not a student on the campus, and if there may or may not be an intruder and/ or a dangerous system at hand. Numerous researchers say that they believe that the potential benefits overwhelmingly outweigh the “loss of freedoms.” This issue became magnified and publicized following Bill Clinton’s 1996 State of the Union address. During the speech he stated, “If it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear uniforms.” Clinton’s desire was to implement mandatory uniforms across the United States, but this attempt was unsuccessful. He sent out a manual to help assist the schools in this doing. It included steps to implement the uniform policies and provides success stories. In his speech, he included thank you’s to those schools who participated in this act and stuck to the uniform policies. The whole idea of school uniforms is to promote the improvement of academic performance and the attitudes of the students. The efficiency of this is often debated. A study done by researchers from the University of Alabama and University of Notre Dame states, “The findings indicate that student uniforms have no direct effect on substance use, behavioral problems, or attendance. A negative effect of uniforms on student academic achievement was found.” As often as this debate has gone on throughout the years, many people still reveal that they believe in embracing the differences in the students rather than making everyone look the same. Personalities are expressed through clothes, and it helps display a side of that person you may not see otherwise. Whether or not school is that place to show that side is always the topic of debate. A study on Kenyan children has shown that when provided with school uniforms, the rate of absenteeism was reduced by forty-four percent for the average student and sixty-two percent for students who did not own uniforms already. The test scores were raised by twenty-five percent during the course of this study. The laws for these school uniforms vary from state to state as well as from country to country. For example, one of the states in Australia declared in 1998 that schools may not require uniforms for their students. In 2006 in this same state, a new Education Act was passed giving school staff within the public school system the power to punish any school not in agreement with the school uniform dress code. According to this Act, students may not be expelled or suspended for their non-compliance with the school uniform. Instead, there are three possible choices of punishments for these students instead of the before mentioned. The defying student may be put into detention, excluded from any activity that is not necessarily part of the school education program, or excluded from any or all activities where the student would be representing the school. In the United States, regulations have been declared in a few states that public schools must allow students to drop out of uniform policies. Section 83 of the Massachusetts Legislature prohibits dress codes in public schools by declaring that schools may not “abridge the rights of students as to personal dress and appearance.” Section 86 proceeds to say that “The provisions of sections eighty-three to eighty-five, inclusive, shall apply only to cities and towns which accept the same.” Other sections of this same law allow schools to enforce dress codes. Many public schools in the state of Massachusetts, mostly in the Boston area, have mandatory school uniforms. The United States Supreme Court ruled in 1969 in the Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District insisting that students have rights to free expression in public schools. California Education Code 48907 strongly promotes students’ rights to “the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia” along with freedom of speech in student publications.