By GINA NEUNZIG
Staff Worker
There will be no spaghetti straps, no bare midriff to be shown, no hats, no vulgar language written on a shirt – this is a school’s attempt to implement a respectable dress code and control what a student is allowed to wear, this dress code is also being broken on a daily basis. Majority of public schools have no school uniform requirement but yet have a long list of what is not to be worn and what is allowed. Public schools should consider enforcing uniforms because there would be fewer dress code violations and limited bullying if everyone wears the same thing.
Public schools have a long dress code that most students don’t abide by anyways and choose to ignore, this causes many students to disobey and wear revealing clothing which is what many schools are trying to avoid. If there were to be a school uniform in place then this would make it so that there would be little room to break the dress code if schools made it mandatory to wear a uniform. There are many private schools that have already made it a requirement for school attire where their students wear a modest uniform. The dress code that is normally enforced feels as though it tends to lean towards restricting females on what they wear but if there were to be a uniform there would be less of an issue. The uniform would satisfy schools if their students were wearing modest clothing and female students wouldn’t feel so discriminated against if the dress code rules were less aimed at them and were instead towards everyone wearing a uniform. Although a uniform could create problems for nonbinary students if they felt that the uniform was not inclusive and they would prefer choosing their own clothes to fit them. If schools considered this in advance they can include a gender-neutral uniform that satisfies all parties.
In this day and age there is a consistent expectation that kids should dress a certain way and be in certain clothing. For some kids, there could be many possible reasons why they are unable to get the popular name brands but this could create problems between them and their classmates. There are many cases where kids will purposely tear each other down for their style and their off-brand clothes. This creates a toxic environment for students when they are constantly being tormented for something like the clothes they wear. This should be concerning to schools if their students are getting bullied as this could affect their work ethic and even make them feel unmotivated to attend school. If schools were to consider getting a school uniform in place for their students it could benefit them and reduce the amount of bullying that goes on during school. School uniforms would create a safer atmosphere for students, it would make everyone feel more welcomed, and for the students that were unable to purchase name brands prior they could now feel comfortable knowing they don’t stand out in a bad way and don’t have to appear as if they didn’t fit in. This would make everyone equal if they were all able to look the same way and none of the students would feel less than. Granted it would be more of an expensive purchase having schools and school districts get the uniforms themselves. However, there could be a more cost-effective uniform to fit into their budget or having parents help purchase these uniforms for their students and therefore would be getting the money put back into the school.
Adding uniform attire to the next school year would be beneficial for the students. This would allow students to stay in dress code and not disobey school rules, this would also build a healthy environment for the kids in return. This would create fewer problems between the school staff and their students if there were to be fewer problems with rule-breaking and behavior.