School Uniforms - not clear that school uniforms will reduce violence

Humanist, March, 1999 by Julia Wilkins

Children who wear cheap-looking or unfashionable clothes, who don't regularly change their clothes, and whose clothes are dirty, torn, ill-fitting, or look like hand-me-downs will not escape the bully's eye. These are things that even uniforms cannot disguise. Also, seeing uniformity as the norm could make children less tolerant of diversity, resulting in even more bullying in the long run.

Improving self-esteem.

It is difficult to understand how students can develop positive self-esteem when they cannot express themselves as individuals and are forced to dress like everyone else around them. The teenage years are marked by the need to express uniqueness and individuality, and uniforms serve only to restrict the urge to experiment at a time when personal identity is very important.

Adolescents place a great emphasis on looks and popularity and are particularly susceptible to fluctuations in self-image and self-consciousness. Denied the opportunity for the most basic form of self-expression--being able to choose how to dress--they are likely to seek other ways of asserting personal identity through appearance, such as through unconventional hairstyles, body piercings, and tattoos.

Increasing sense of belonging.

It is believed that school uniforms enhance students' school spirit and sense of belonging. Unfortunately, this sense of "belonging" may result in an "us and them" mentality that regards students of all other schools as rivals. The same is the case with team mentality that regards everyone who supports a different sports team as an opponent. Loyalty to one's school therefore can expand into hostility toward students of other schools.

In uniforms, children become easily identified as members of a particular school. Seen as rivals by others by virtue of not going to the "best" school (as this is what the "sense of belonging" naturally translates into), this could increase the amount of fighting between students from different schools.

"Beating up" students from other schools when walking home is common practice in certain areas of the United States, making walking home alone a rather dangerous event. Songs and jokes about other schools are also commonplace, particularly in elementary school. These jokes are used as personal insults at individuals attending other schools and often prevent friendships from forming between children from different schools living in the same neighborhood.

In addition to these concerns, there are some other issues that need to be considered. First, if public schools follow the lead of parochial schools, girls will be required to wear skirts instead of pants. This would mean a regression to traditions of six decades ago and will result in the forced diminutizing of female students. This is likely to be an ulterior aim--the belief being that girls are less likely to get involved in gang activity if conforming to stereotypical gender expectations. However, nothing could be more of an infringement on the rights of female students than forcing them to wear restrictive, impractical, "feminine-looking" clothing in an attempt to force them into their traditional gender roles.