School Uniforms: Conformity Or Isolation?

SCHOOL UNIFORMS: CONFORMITY OR ISOLATION? AN ARGUMENTATIVE ESSAY ON WHETHER SCHOOL UNIFORMS WERE BENEFICIAL OR NOT Every academic institution in the world aims to provide a community that will foster student’s intellectual capacity and practical skill competencies that will make them ready for future life-challenges. Aside from the cognitive and psychomotor aspects of development, one factor that makes the academe influential will be the values that can be inculcated to the future generation such as a sense of responsibility, belongingness, and equality. School rules and regulations served as determinants that academic institutions intend to produce graduates that are not only intellectually competent but with a heart who knows how to discern what is ethically right or wrong. School uniforms are one of the policies that educational institution implements in response to this call. The concept of school uniforms started from England dated back on 1222. The idea of the standardized dress code was primarily adopted by the Cambridge University in the light of providing students with the sense of fineness, identity, and cohesion. In the US, school uniforms were introduced during the time of President Clinton for the purpose of stopping gang wars and violence brought by designer clothes. The uniform policy was successfully administered in parochial and private schools in 1900, then later on the public school systems in the year 1980 (Meleen, 2018). Since the beginning of implementation in the 1980s up until the present, various critics and education professionals have been conducting debates on the advantages and disadvantages of holding academic dress codes in schools. In this article, certain prerogatives on the pros and cons of school uniforms will be clearly discussed and analyzed in order to justify on which stand school uniform really belongs: conformity for equality or isolation for a hindrance in freedom of expression. The effectiveness of school uniforms to improve students' achievement and behavior has been one of the controversial points of debates. Do uniforms really aid in establishing a positive correlation to the students’ academic achievement in a school? Well, several studies conducted revealed that there was indeed no significant effect attributed to the implementation of school uniforms. According to David Brunsma, an American Academic, after his analysis of two databases it was shown that there was no positive correlation between uniforms and school safety or achievement (Wilde, 2017). In another study held by Gregory on perceptions of high school students on the impact of a school uniform policy, the results indicated that uniforms by themselves have little to do with students’ academic engagement. Most of the students believed that the bigger portion of their participation was mainly due to their teachers teaching pedagogy. Although various research indicated that uniforms have no direct effect on students’ academic performance, there were still reliable studies who illustrated how school uniform policy could somehow serve as stepping stone factors for academic success. Like for example, as Gregory’s research added, students also disclosed that in the presence of the mandatory uniform policy, the learning environment is enhanced allowing students to sharpen their focus on school works rather than on destructive fighting instances of teasing and jealousy. This, in turn, helps them to perform better academically (Gregory, 2013). This conclusion was even strengthened by the study directed by Virginia Draa’s showing the reason why an in-depth connection between school uniforms and academic achievement were not clearly established by the abovementioned researches. According to Draa, attendance, graduation, and proficiency pass rates do get affected by school uniform policy to a certain extent. However, the greatest impact on academic achievement will only be feasible if school uniforms are part of a larger comprehensive school reform program within an institution. Suppressing constitutional rights in freedom of expression has been another controversial issue associated with school uniform policy that was a hot topic of today’s debate. Does school uniform really suppress individuality and self-expression? In an article written in American Civil Liberties of Nevada, it was emphasized that individual should practice their right to express themselves freely in accordance with the first amendment of the US constitution. This statement clearly justified how important clothes are in self-expression. As the American civil added, clothes permit students to have an empowering message towards the school by displaying their maturity and basic self-determination. Moreover, from an interview given to selected students in an American high school, it was identified how school uniforms promote conformity over individuality and uniqueness. Seamus, a transgendered boy, mentioned in a talk that wearing clothes in conformity to her gender made her feel anxious and annoyed making her mental health at stake. She even added how mandatory uniform policy squelches individual thought and enclosed students in conventionality as if they were prisoners. On the other hand, the US Supreme Court elaborated the concept of freedom of expression in contrast to what was perceived by various academe who are against school un...