Arguments Against Mandatory Uniforms in Public Schools
Often ties are mandatory for boys and skirts are mandatory for girls. It is not right to force students to wear clothing that they do not want to wear, and it is also not right to deny a student an education simply because they prefer to dress in a way that lets them feel good about themselves. The following are important argumants against wearing a school uniform:
1) It violates the parents' and students' basic constitutional right to liberty and the First Amendment. Mandating a school uniform forces parents to spend their money on clothing that they may not wish to purchase, and it dictates to parents how they should dress their children.
2) Conformity is devalued in the United States. It is important for educators to realize that if they think that by making every student wear the same thing to school they are creating an environment of equality, they are only fooling themselves. Conformity also encourages mediocrity, which means that students grades will not improve, they will actually decline.
3) Supressing individuality can interfere with normal childhood development and can hurt a child's self-esteem. Many students feel horrible about having to get up in the morning and put on the same uniform day after day. When they sit in class next to the other students dressed identically to them, they feel that they are just one in the crowd and do not stand out in any way. Because adolencence can be an incredibly difficult time, wearing a uniform, the same exact outfit as everyone else around you, can exacerbate student?s negative feelings associated with their physical appearance.
4) Mandatory school uniforms do not address the real issues behind gang-related crimes. It is absolutely impossible to stop someone from entering a gang by controlling what they wear.
5) Mandatory school uniform policies do not address the underlying issues in cases where fashion competition takes place. In other words, if it's not what a person wears, it will always be something else (color of skin, how fat or skinny someone is, where they live, etc.). The problem can only be addressed by dealing with those children who engage in this manner. Trying to deal with this by implementing a mandatory school uniform only masks the real issue, and takes the focus off of finding realistic and proper solutions.
6) Mandatory school uniforms
create undesirable economic issues. For example, families
near or below the poverty line cannot afford to but both uniforms and clothes
for after school. This limits those parents to only buying uniforms
thereby eliminating their ability and right to purchase clothing for their
children as they see fit. Parents have the right not only to decide
what their children wear, but how their clothing dollars are spent.