School uniforms: Good idea or fashion flop?
School uniforms: Good idea or fashion flop?
Since kindergarten, the Walle kids of Tacoma — 10-year-old Annabelle, 12-year-old Frank and 13-year-old Jacob — have worn uniforms to school.
So pulling on their Mason Middle School red or gray sweat shirts over uniform polo shirts and blue jeans for another fall season is no big deal for the Walle boys.
And Annabelle, a fifth-grader at Washington-Hoyt Elementary School, doesn't mind dressing in her red sweater, denim skirt and white leggings — one of several options available to her.
"We have no arguments about what to wear, our school clothes budget is lowered and there is no peer pressure about wearing the most popular brands to school," she said.
Those same benefits now apply to all sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders attending public schools in Tacoma, Washington. This fall, Jason Lee Middle School became the last of Tacoma's nine middle schools to require uniforms.
Likewise, the drawbacks of mandatory uniforms — cost, hassle, limits on personal freedom — now apply across the board.
Some in the community have questioned how the decision was made at Jason Lee, and whether uniforms are affordable for families in a school where most students qualify for free or reduced-price lunches.
While many elementary schools and all middle schools in Tacoma have uniform policies, the city's high schools do not. Instead they have dress codes prohibiting gang attire or provocative dress, for example.
Policies in Tacoma vary widely from school to school. Of the city's 24 elementary schools, most have a full-fledged uniform policy that prescribes what color and style of clothes kids can wear.
Polo shirts and school-logo sweatshirts are commonly approved, along with khaki, navy blue or black pants or shorts. Some schools ban jeans, while others allow them if they fit in with the school's color scheme.
Many schools mandate that kids wear shirts that are plain colors, without any kind of writing, logos or artwork. Educators say this prevents kids from showing off expensive brand name shirts at school, while it keeps them from wearing shirts bearing potentially offensive writing or artwork.
Most parents interviewed for this story are big fans of uniforms, including one Puyallup mom who wishes her children's school required them.
"All three of my children are in elementary school, and it is getting harder and harder to purchase clothing that doesn't look too grown up on them," said Courtney Nicodemus, citing the miniskirts she sees in stores and on elementary schoolkids.
She believes that having children dress in a prescribed manner for school puts them in a better mood to learn.
"If you're going to school in a uniform, that means they will be in school mode," she said.
But not every parent is a believer. Some say that allowing middle schoolers to develop an independent sense of dress is important to their development.
"It's healthier for kids to have to find their own way," said Lisa Wooten, whose son attended Mason and now is a ninth-grader at Tacoma's Science and Math Institute, where uniforms are not required.
While parochial and private schools have required uniforms for many years, the trend also has been catching on in public schools in the past decade. In 2000, about 12 percent of public schools required uniforms, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By 2008, the figure had grown to 18 percent.
Dress codes are even more popular, with more than half of public school principals nationally reporting in 2008 that their school enforced such standards.
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- Posted on September 20, 2010
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I don't think people should have to wear uniforms. Because people that do don't get to wear new styles of clothes to school. It's not fair to have to wear a uniform.
I don't like the idea of having to wear a school Shirts and jeans. Why should we have to wear the same clothes ever day . Not a lot of kids at my school get in trouble for wearing bad clothes.
I think that School Uniforms are a good thing and more schools should have them. They help keep the price of clothing down and you don't have to worry about what to wear. No one will judge you and think they are better then you because you will all be the same. If the uniform is cute cool like the ones you see in anime that would be so cool. We would seem more professional. There might be better students not so many trouble makes. I'm a newish student here at WMS and I think this school needs to be better under control, mabye uniforms would help.
To be honest, I truly hate the idea of uniforms. To me, uniforms are a way to kill a child's creativity. My school doesn't have uniforms and yes, sometimes there is mean words said to one another about what the kid wears. But it still is the child's choice to wear what they want. If a kid doesn't get the chance to show who they are by what they do with their hair, clothing, and anything else, it's practically telling the kid to grow up and forget about who they really are. I think that a kid with no chance to show what they like and who they are, its making them like your own little robot, and that is not fair to the child. This is a time where kids get to find out who they are and if you take away the chance for them to do it, the kid wont live a happy life cause they wont know who they are.
Honestly i think that nobody should have to wear a school uniform. I think that because, we have our own image, some peoples clothing is who they are. I know that i would never wear a uniform because i don't want to be wearing the same thing as everybody else. I like to wear what i want i don't care what people think of me. Also, some people may not want to wear a uniform because this is a free country, and nobody should have the right to tell us what to wear besides our parents and our selves. A uniform is just not right, i don't see how people could wear a uniform, i would never be able to do that.
Kids shouldn't be forced to wear something they don't want. I know, some kids grow up wearing uniforms to school, but they should at least be able to try wearing some thing different. I know I would hate wearing the exact same thing EVERY single day. I love my graphic tees, jean short, tank-tops etc. Adults are wrong they shouldn't be able to decide things like this. We should. If I went to these schools next year would be the first time I ever wore what I wanted to school. Picking out our own clothes is a form of self expression. Some kids like to wear black to fade into the background, some like to wear neon colors so they stand out and are the middle of attention. Whatever they pick it should be there own and nobody should want to change that.
How would like it if every morning you had to wake up and wear the same thing? This is a question that has been brought up by many parents Tacoma, Washington. All nine of there middle schools require uniforms and some parents aren't happy about it. Students should get to express themselves and be able to develop on their own. They should get to war whatever they want, but as the school may ague, is that the safest way? Some school officials state that with uniforms students don't have a competition over who has the newest, nicest, and name brand cloths. In my opinion students should be able to dress however they want, it's freedom of expression and it will help the students want to come to school knowing that if they got a new shirt they can show it off. What would you do if u had the wear the same thing everyday?
i think uniforms are a bad ides dressing is for you to express your self. Not to wear ugly uniforms. Cause there are not many other ways to express yourself.
i think school uniforms are a total fashion flop i freaking hate them ! i dont see why they wont let us wear free dress as long as we wear appropriate clothing! because in school uniforms most of the students feal all plaane and when they get to wear there own kind of clothes they get to express themselves and there style
I personally hate the idea of school uniforms. Sure it will make the kids where something appropriate but it won't give each person a way to express themselves through there own fashion.