Public Schools Mandatory Uniforms :: Education

The debate about public school uniforms in America has been around for a very long time. This issue was even mentioned by President Bill Clinton in a State of the Union address in 1996. In his 1996 State of the Union Address, President Clinton decreed,† I challenge all of our schools to teach character education, to teach good values and good citizenship and 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 school uniforms† (Clinton 1996). Public schools requiring mandatory uniforms for their students are a major topic as it deals with moral and economic concerns about how America’s public schools are operated. Lack of parents support is the most significant reason for schools failing to implement any sort of school uniform code. Parents, teachers, and students should support the need for school uniforms in public schools so that they may be able to achieve higher educational goals. This paper will discuss many of the pros to the debate on uniforms in public schools as well as touch on some of the cons on the subject. After weighing the two sides, it will demonstrate how the pros are a more sensible alternative and why schools should require mandatory uniforms for their students. Supporting a school uniform policy would help to raise the academic performance level. Students normally wear a variety of clothes that are a distraction in the classroom for a variety of reasons i.e. sports logos, political messages, personal interests, etc. School uniforms would remove this distraction along with the stress of a student having to choose what to wear to school each day. Students that are less worried about their fashion will tend to be more focused on their school work as Helen Woods states, â€Å"Research studies included in this research shows that parents have opinions favoring a uniform dress code with the two foremost reasons being competitiveness among the children and their peers to wear the latest designer fashions†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Woods 1992). School uniforms would remove the friction between students that do not wear the style clothes that fit in with their peers. Students that cannot wear competitive designer clothing will, in the name of competition, be c onsidered a loser and no student wants to be considered a loser just because they cannot afford expensive designer clothing. The cost of the uniform depends upon what type of uniform is required.