School Uniforms
Bomb threats, shootings, fist fights and even name calling: all of these are taking place in our schools today. School boards around the country are searching for the cause in a desperate attempt to end the school violence. Some say forcing the students to wear uniforms will do the trick. I feel that the use of uniforms will strip identity, stifle creativity, and unnecessarily burden the families that cannot afford them.
The use of uniforms has already been put into practice in several long-standing social environments. Uniforms are used as a form of discipline by the penal system to brand people who are incarcerated. Likewise, the military also uses them to separate and remove the individualism inside of the soldier. In both cases, individual identity is stripped away and the person is forced to conform to the same outward appearance as every other person.
Another problem that will surface due to the implementation of school uniforms is the suppression of the individual's creativity and expression. Many students express who they are through the way they dress. If a teenager wants to show the rest of the world that he loves Jesus, then he or she might wear a T-shirt that states a positive view. Similarly, a student might want to wear green colored clothing to show his or her support for St. Patrick's Day. School uniforms would end both of those examples and many, many more.
The last issue that needs to be addressed is the unnecessary burden that will be placed upon those families with limited resources. Many low-income families do not have the money available to furnish uniforms to their children. They can barely make ends meet with the help of charities and social programs. In Polk County, Florida, the school board is trying to pass legislation that a child cannot attend school unless they have on the proper uniform. An education is supposed to be available to all children, not just the ones whose parents can afford to buy the government...