School Uniforms: An "Unfashionable" Dissent

Abstract

Mr. Evans always fancied himself a conservative. Now, he's not so sure. Heady from President Clinton's bully pulpit endorsement of uniforms in public schools, advocates of the notion are pushing such policies in many school districts. Admittedly, the idea of uniforms for public school students does hold out some beguiling promises. Those favoring uniforms, including the President, see them as a way to get around the problems posed by students' wearing gang attire; they also see uniforms as a way to blur the economic distinctions among students. They even see uniforms as a way to promote a more serious and scholarly academic environment in the schools. What possibly could be the downside of such promises? To begin with, the programs that have gained parental support, media attention, and, as a result, political endorsements are mostly in elementary schools, where the age of the children means that the problems the uniforms will allegedly solve don't exist to any significant degree. At the same time, elementary school children are not as concerned with individuality and personal rights as high schoolers are, and so they do not view required uniforms as intrusive or objectionable. In those schools in which the style and color of clothing are legitimate issues that affect the safety of students, codes that prohibit the wearing of gang attire and regalia should already be in place. Thus the need to adopt a school uniform policy to solve that particular problem is overstated or irrelevant. It will be interesting to see how the courts will handle the inevitable challenges to mandated school uniforms, since there is a significant difference between a public school's prohibiting specific attire because of legitimate concerns for student safety and a public school's requiring uniform dress. To avoid these sticky legal issues, some schools may opt for a policy. But, besides being oxymoronic, voluntary policies simply don't work at the high school level. Where gangs are concerned, the wearing of school uniforms will be cosmetic at best and will not change the gang mentality or reduce the potential of antisocial, gang-related behavior, either on campus or off. Ironically, mandating the wearing of school uniforms might even make it easier to be a gang member since school administrators could no longer readily recognize the trappings of the gangs. That school uniforms will blur the economic distinctions among students is, at best, a specious argument. In the first place, most children and adolescents (unlike adults) don't really care much about such distinctions anyway, and those who do won't have their attitudes altered by wearing a uniform. …