The increasing number of schools implementing strict dress codes indicates that the proponents are wining the ongoing debate on school uniforms. The proponents of school uniforms include an extensive number of educationists and legislators, who laud the advantages of school uniforms, but on the contrary, the opponents include the mob of extreme individualists, who just see the dis-advantages of school uniforms.
The former President Clinton advocated school uniforms in his State of the Union address, “public schools should be able to require their students to wear uniforms.” The proponents offer their sound arguments for school uniforms and cite a number of advantages of school uniforms. The arguments of proponents in favor of school uniforms sound more logical and just.
According to proponents, one of the major advantages of school uniforms is that they make schools safer. School uniforms help to reduce gang influences in schools. The US Department of Education reported in 1996 that school uniforms helped to decrease – crimes in schools by 36%, school violence by 51%, and vandalism by 8%. Uniforms make it easier to identify trespassers.
School uniforms help eliminating socio-economical barriers. They greatly help to erase the cultural & economic disparities among the students. With school uniforms, the economic advantages and disadvantages are no longer obvious. They relieve parents from the pressure of buying latest fashion wears for their children.
Promoting the sense of responsibility and discipline, School uniforms create a strong learning atmosphere in schools. They make students realize that they are in schools just for learning. The NAESP’s (National Association of Elementary School Principals) study in 1998 revealed that the schools with active uniform policies had almost 20% better discipline rate than the schools with non-active uniform policies. The study also revealed that school uniforms helped increasing student achievements by 10%. It showed that the students wearing uniforms concentrate more in their studies, schoolworks, and work hard for great grades.
According to expert educationists, there are numerous advantages of school uniforms; they are rather necessary for the proper and better functioning of schools; between “for” and “against” opinions, the advantages of school uniforms sound heavier than the dis-advantages of school uniforms.