Edward Tarrance
Ms Evans
College English 111
October 1, 2010
U n i f o r m s …?
Should uniforms be mandatory in high school? Is wearing uniforms against you freedom of expression? Will wearing uniform decrease the bullying and the negativity actions in schools such as gang related or teasing? There are many reasons why uniforms should be implemented in high schools and there are also many reasons why uniforms shouldn’t be mandatory in high schools. I believe uniforms should not be mandatory.
Uniforms shouldn’t be mandatory in high school simply because they are young adult and are maturing into adult. When you are an adult you have the choice to wear whatever and however you want to. There should be a limit to a tolerance in what students should be able to wear far as revealing body parts. Teens coming into high school typically start to feel they should be able to express themselves through clothing and music. When taking away one of their only ways of expression comes rebellion. Teens start to look for another alternate way to express themselves and usually it cause trouble. Trouble meaning vandalizing, or rebelling by coming in their regular clothing they would wear on the streets or in school if they could.
Another reason I feel uniforms shouldn’t be mandatory in high school because it wont stop the teasing. When students have to change their clothing to look alike, they’ll find another reason to tease. Student will find the simplest things to tease another student about. For instance, if all high school students had to wear khakis and white collar shirts and black shoes, students will start to talk about the way the other student hair is, how raggedy their shoes are, and how dirty their shirt or pants may be. Speaking as a freshman in college meaning I have experienced high school and high school problem, I know what most average student go through. While I was in high school I had the best job working at a shoe/clothing store where everyone wanted to work and I was popular throughout the school due to being a public school where majority the students were from my local neighborhood, so I didn’t have to experience much of teasing but I teased others. I knew if they dressed like me and wore the same shoes I would have to find something else to talk about. What made me stop teasing was when I realized that he didn’t have the same funds like how I did. So uniforms won’t stop teasing. The only thing I believe will stop the teasing is to walk in the other person shoes or know their story.
Last but not least, I feel uniforms should not be mandatory is because no one wants to be alike. Being alike means no one is unique. Sure you can add accessories to compliment you uniform but who wants to spend extra money on school uniforms that they can only wear to school. In high school you have things such as class choice awards and categories such as best dress will be thrown out because everyone is the same. Coming to school to show off the latest fashion is some of the reasons why students even still attend school, so why not let them express themselves and hopefully the teacher can change the perception of the student views on the values of education. Including looking alike and dressing alike makes you feel like an army or robots. You don’t come to high school to look alike. You come to learn and with that learning a feeling and exposure of expression.
Although there are many reasons people may feel uniforms should be mandatory there are many reason they shouldn’t be. Some may argue that its cheaper than regular clothing and keeping up with the trends but the child is only able to wear that clothing in school. Also adding uniforms means adding to the cost of laundry. Others argue making uniforms mandatory will shut down bullying but there will always be another flaw amongst someone else. There are many arguments to argue about but having the choice to express yourself is basic freedom. If you don’t have freedom then why live in America. Being able to express is a example of freedom and to take that away would be to live like robots under control.
