Are school uniforms a false remedy for serious underlying issues in public schools? Are we making an attempt to return to the 1950’s, when boys’ hair was not permitted to touch their collars and girls wore knee-length skirts? This paper will explore the various aspects of the incorporation of a school uniform policy in public schools. This study will also examine the positive and negative assumptions that are involved in the school uniform controversy (Claybaugh, Rozycki).
The movement to require students to wear school uniforms is taking hold throughout USA. In Glendale, five elementary schools have adopted school uniforms and one middle school is giving uniforms serious consideration (Curriculum Review, 8-10).
Parents who oppose mandating uniforms believe that society is running scared of gangs and violence. To require students to wear uniforms is to surrender our individual rights and freedoms at the altar of gangs and thugs. They believe that uniforms are an outgrowth of our society's failure to control gangs. Law enforcement, schools, churches, the justice system, and the family have lost control over gangs. And in order to protect our children, we are making them all look alike in a uniform (Hemphill, 15-28).
They question if uniforms prevent a gang member from going home after school, wearing his gang clothing, and going down the street to meet his buddies and look for action.
In a recent follow-up survey, Keppel Elementary school parents were asked if they would support making uniforms mandatory for all students. While 74% approved of making them mandatory, the parent response was not sufficiently overwhelming to cause a change in the school's voluntary policy at this time (Claybaugh, Rozycki).
In recent years, school districts have been permitted to institute dress codes. President Clinton, in his 1996 State of the Union address, endorsed school uniforms in....
