Should public schools benefit students and make uniforms mandatory? Although some parents say schools uniforms would put a restrain on a students uniqueness and creativity or also make them uncomfortable, uniforms should be enforced in public schools because it will reduce the rate of bullying, it eliminates the pressure to dress to impress others, it reduces students coming to school dressed inappropriately, and it saves money for the parent.

School uniforms first made their appearance in 1961, they were mostly in poor charity schools first, but during the 19th century more great English public schools began to use uniforms. More public schools now than ever are beginning to make school uniforms mandatory, and have welcomed them with open arms.

On of the issues we have now in both public and private schools is bullying. Although there appears to be more bullying in public schools than private but it still occurs. “There are about 2.7 million students being bullied each year.”(Bullying Statistics 2012 par.1) Some students don’t even show up to school because of the ongoing fear of being bullied.

Students don’t realize that a good majority of students that attend a public school are part of our less fortunate community of the U.S and these students can’t afford the nicest clothes and often will wear the same clothes every week. So they make fun of them, and they don’t realize that their words can cause a horrific reaction from their victim, suicide being one of those horrifying results. If we released uniforms into public schools then we could immensely reduce bullying. Everyone would have a leveled playing field and looked at as equal.

As students go through school, it is a critical time for them psychologically to feel socially accepted. It is when both friends and enemies are made and they self-identify themselves. With this comes the pressure to impress the “popular” or “cool” crowd and a great deal of that is judged by how a student dresses. If public schools would agree to uniforms more students would not have to constantly worry about what they were going to wear or worry about clothing items that they don’t have or can’t afford. It will make it somewhat easier for students to make friends that do not base friendships off of what they wear or what they can afford.

Among the many problems that continuously occur in public schools, one is the way students are dressing. It seems as the schools years go on the clothes that students wear become riskier. With new crop tops that show female student’s mid drift and high wasted shorts that are entirely too short, over the past couple of school years female clothing seems to be playing a magic trick on all eyes and vanishing.

Male students have the struggle of hanging their pants below their knees or wearing shirts that have vulgar sayings or images on them. “Typically, students purposely violate the dress code to elicit a response from their peers or from others in the school community.”(Collett par.2) Students crave social acceptance from peers, so if we imposed uniforms we would be able to stop students from dressing inappropriately just to impress other students.

For most parents during August and September they know it is time to stock up on not only just schools supplies but also clothing for their children. Stores often have sales right before school and promote back to school shopping. “Parents will no longer have to spend a fortune on school clothes because they will only need to buy a few uniforms.”(Are School Uniforms A Good Idea Par.4)

Many schools even have a uniform exchange where parents can bring their child’s old sizes that they have outgrown and switch with others. Many parents will find that they would save money by public schools transitioning to school uniforms.

School uniforms would be beneficial but to every great argument there is a rebuttal. Some parents feel that if public schools would enforce schools uniforms it would put a restriction on their child’s uniqueness or creativity. Although that argument is invalid, because wearing the same uniform would result in students expressing themselves through their personalities and attitude rather then pricey brand-named clothing that not every student can afford.

Another argument that the individuals opposed to uniforms propose is that uniforms lack comfort. Parents say that the collared shirts can make some students itchy and that the pants sometimes don’t fit correctly so it makes the student uncomfortable, but others believe that most female students are uncomfortable wearing clothing that shows all their skin but do it because they crave attention and social acceptance. Uniforms would not cause students to be any more uncomfortable than they already are.

In conclusion, uniforms in public schools would be beneficial to students. Uniforms would help to reduce bullying in school by making everyone dress the same and creating a leveled playing field. Uniforms would also give students less pressure to try and dress a certain way to “fit in,” while doing this uniforms would cancel out inappropriate dressing in schools. Lastly uniforms would save parents money when it comes to back to school shopping. Uniforms would be beneficial all around for public schools so the new question proposed is: why aren’t uniforms effective in public schools yet? Works Cited

“Bullying Statistics 2010.” – Bullying Statistics. N.P., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. .

Moore, Bryan. “Uniforms.” Uniforms. Arkansas State University, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. .

“Should We Have School Uniforms?” The Premier Online Debate Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. .

“When Did School Uniforms Start?” – Ask.com Answers. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2013. .