School Uniform: Argumentative Essay

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School uniforms are no new thing. They have been around since the 1500s and whether it consisted of a strict shirt and tie or a more casual polo shirt and black pants skirt, they have always caused issues, whether its students not wanting to wear them, the school being strict about how students can and cannot wear the uniforms or parents not being able to afford them. School uniforms are common all around the world with students aged 4-18 wearing them. They may vary from country to country in what the students wear and what is seen as more acceptable or whether the school is strict or take a more relaxed approach towards them. School uniforms are not only just for show and to make the school look better, but they also have other benefits. Statistically, school uniforms reduce bullying on a wide scale across many countries. School uniforms also have security and safety benefits as they easily identify whether a student is in a certain school or not. Furthermore, school uniforms help to create a value consensus. A value consensus is a view in which everyone in society shares the same norms and values. By doing this, it makes the school feel more like a community or family which therefore can make students feel safer and happier.

Pros and cons

School uniforms arguably have many positives and negatives. For example, school uniforms help to prepare students for the world of work. This relates to the sociological viewpoint of Marxists, Bowles, and Gintis. A key idea from these sociologists is the correspondence principle. This is the belief that there are parallels between school and work, and things in school correspond to things in work. For example, by enforcing school uniforms in primary schools, students in later life are more likely to conform to having to wear a dress code or a uniform as they have been doing it for most of their life.

Another positive is that school uniforms are shown to reduce bullying within schools. This has been statistically proven as 23 parents and 46% of children agree. Making every child the same within schools reduces jealousy towards a student or mockery of a student for wearing something either more expensive than that child`s family cannot afford or for wearing something cheaper if that is all that they can afford. However, school uniforms could also increase bullying as poorer children may have hand-me-down uniforms, which students may then pick on them for not looking as pristine and new as they have.

A negative of the use of school uniforms is that they cost a lot. School uniforms are one of the main things parents need to spend money on in order for their children to access free education. This is also known as the cost of free schooling. For a full school uniform, parents could be looking at spending upwards of £40 per child, per year as school uniforms despite their price are not durable. So, all throughout primary school, parents could be spending anywhere around £320, which for some parents families especially of a lower income is unbearable.

A further positive of school uniforms is that they positively affect pupils’ behavior within school. This again has been statistically proven in a recent report into attitudes to the uniform which found 9 in 10 teachers believe that school uniform positively affects a pupil`s behavior, whether that be higher levels of concentration or more focus within lessons.

On the contrary, school uniforms can be seen as doing more harm than good. By wearing a school uniform, you are limiting a child’s individuality at a key time during their life of finding themselves and being able to express their differences. This is a negative point as in future life, the children may feel that they have to look alike to everyone else and it is wrong to stand out which in the long term could lead to having mental health problems such as depression and anxiety.

Due to the obvious school uniforms, it is easy to determine which school a child attends. This can encourage students to behave, for instance, when going to and from school, because it makes it easier for others to report a child’s behavior to a school.

School dress codes and uniform policies

Some people believe that requiring students in school settings to conform to a dress code improves student behavior, reduces differences among socioeconomic levels, and enhances students’ self-confidence. However other people say that policies stop students from expressing their individuality and are controlling students.

Stats and statistics –

Studies have been conducted by academics Chris Bauman and Hana Krskova found that students who attend a school with school uniforms are better listeners. In order to come to this conclusion, they conducted an analysis of variance test also known as ANOVA. An ANOVA is a statistical test that is used to study the difference between the means of more than two groups. This test was conducted across a cohort of schools across 5 different geographic regions. According to their findings, students who go to school with a uniform are better listeners and the teacher’s wait time is decreased. In other words, uniforms improve discipline, discipline leads to better grades, and sp uniforms may be a factor in a school having better grades.

What do others think (primary research)

During the process of presenting my current findings and arguments to other students, I asked them for their thoughts on the matter. Their responses were somewhat varied swaying both for and against the practice of using school uniforms in a primary school setting. One such argument for the use of uniforms is as follows:

I think school uniform is a good way to keep all children in line it limits bullying among school children and makes everyone feel the same and doesn’t exclude anyone because they can’t afford what others can.

This highlights one of the most common and prolific arguments in favor of using school uniforms for primary school children, as discussed earlier, that one of the major benefits is the equality it supplies even if this is arbitrary compared to the actual equality of the students themselves. The argument primarily states that, as stated above, uniform equalizes the children with one another preventing bullying due to them not being able to afford what others can, but there is perhaps an argument against this, as the state of a uniform can still indicate socio-economic status which can lead to the exact form of bullying that uniform professes to prevent.

A further argument in favor of uniforms, as provided by students in my cohort, is as follows:

School uniform is a cheaper alternative for working-class families, as it is one outfit instead of several.

This is perhaps a more easily debatable point in terms of the benefits of a school uniform. This is because, whilst the point of it being an individual outfit does have some standing, often parents will buy multiple copies of the same outfit in order to provide their child with a clean uniform for the days in which they attend school. As well as this, it could be argued that whilst this is one outfit compared to many, parents buy the many outfits anyway for their child`s leisure wear outside of school and so, it actually adds an extra outfit rather than deducting from the number, where there would ordinarily be a few outfits shared between school and home there is now a separate outfit required for parents to purchase.

As well as all of these points a point against uniforms, as provided by a fellow student, directly contradicts the point put forward here. It states as follows:

School uniform is expensive and not all families can afford them.

Whilst this may seem a shorter argument it still carries an excellent point as the earlier student has argued that it is cheaper whereas this one argues it is expensive. The earlier points made against the student claiming it is cheaper all help towards proving it more expensive as, having to buy an extra outfit will, of course, cost more money than simply not having to. However, perhaps a more solid argument for it being more expensive is simply the prices of uniforms themselves. For example, one set of uniforms for a secondary school student can cost upwards of £80-£90 which is not cheap at all, and whilst this is not as bad for those in primary school, they can still spend upwards of £40 on school uniforms (including shoes, coat, and bag). This may not seem too bad, but when it is put in the perspective of it being an unnecessary cost if the use of uniforms were abolished, then it starts to seem perhaps somewhat ridiculous. This is especially true when you add to this the fact that this unnecessary cost of a uniform actually serves to institutionalize the children upon whom it is forced.

A final, and slightly more detached argument from those that have come before it in my research, is also against the use of uniforms and is as follows:

Children cannot express their individuality in school uniforms.

This is an intriguing point to have raised, as it is not something most people would necessarily think of either for or against uniforms. Obviously, it has validity in its point as forcing all students to essentially look the same promotes mindless and robotic conformity to the point of the monotonous repetition of personality across an entire student body. Whilst this can have benefits in terms of behavior management and the ability to learn and perform well, this also removes the innate individuality and frank humanity which has driven the advancement of humans as a race. No meaningfully progressive concept was thought up by someone who conformed to the times, someone who was considered sane. Suffragettes were all told they were criminals and mentally ill at the time of their protest and now they are heralded as heroines. This individuality that led to that rebellion and others like it have allowed our society to reach the point of it; is at today and yet still we try, from such an early age, to force them into a mold of what we deem acceptable, potentially repressing a personality that could have allowed us a further advancement past the limits to which we are currently bound. Whilst it may seem a minuscule detail in the repression of the individual to have to wear a uniform it is the unimportant things that can amount to the biggest change, as shown by the butterfly effect in nature.

Solutions?

To solve the issues and debates with school uniforms, I personally believe that there are two main solutions that can help improve the situation. One solution is to get rid abolish school uniforms altogether. This will help to reduce the costs and strains on lower-income families. However, rather than a school uniform, in the best interests of the schools and its students, it would be beneficial to impose a dress code. The dress code would impose rules and regulations such as no designer clothing, no ridiculous outfits (what is considered as ridiculous would be set out by the school), and only sensible outfits.

Another solution is to make school uniforms less individualized to the school. By making a uniform less individualized, schools, rather than having a blue jumper for example with the school logo embroidered onto it, just have a plain blue jumper which is widely available for a fraction of the price of an embroidered one. This would, in turn, make it much easier for parents to get uniforms for example from a local supermarket, rather than having to go to a specialized uniform shop and spend ridiculous amounts of money.

A further solution to reduce the debates around this topic would be to create a universal uniform for all students either within the local area, county, or country. This will make school uniforms more widely available as if all students need them, and they are the same, more shops will stock them. And they can be made at a reduced price.

My research

To find out more about school uniforms, I conducted primary and secondary research. For my secondary research, I used google scholar to find helpful prior research that academics have conducted into the pros and cons of school uniforms. This research was critical in forming an equal, balanced view within my essay. My topic also allowed for primary research to be collected. To do this I used an online tool called pallet. This tool allowed me to share a QR code on the day of my presentation and collect other people’s ideas outside of the academic field. Unsurprisingly, the views of fellow college students coincided with the academic’s opinions and findings. When collecting primary research, I had to consider the ethics of the researcher. This included things such as informed consent, which I made sure to gain from each participant and ensured they were happy for their opinions to be included in my essay, they all agreed, however, if they were unhappy with this, I would have discarded their response and only included the opinions of those who agreed. Another ethic I had to consider is confidentiality. I had to make sure that all names and personal details were left out to ensure that I was following the code of ethics for conducting my research. Other ethics to consider within conducting your own primary research include things such as deception, debriefing (normally conducted after participants have been deceived), and the protection of participants if any research could have caused them either physical, emotional, or psychological harm, however, none of these ethical considerations would have to be controlled in my research.

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