Dress Codes in Public Schools

It's school time across the country, which means it is time to bring out the annual argument about school uniforms in public schools. About one in four public elementary schools and one in eight public middle schools in the US have policies dictating dress codes in some manner.

The argument for school uniforms: they improve the academic performance of the students by eliminating distracting clothing and creating an orderly atmosphere.

The argument against? Uniforms violate a child's constitutional right of free expression and violates the guarantee of a free public education, as uniforms can cost a family hundreds of extra dollars to suit up every child.

While I can agree that the cost is an issue, and families under certain incomes should be provided with free or reduced cost uniforms, one could argue that the cost of a uniform is still less than the cost of buying an entire school wardrobe, as theoretically the cost of clothing would decrease with school uniforms.

However, putting cost aside, I cannot get on board with the violation of the first amendment right. To say that a child is defined by what he wears is, first of all, the wrong message to begin with. Any parent arguing that has its own priorities messed up. A child can easily be herself and differentiate from others with the same clothing (as if wearing clothing from the Gap, Nike shoes, and a Yankees cap is unique anyway).

Second, it is not the intent of schools to allow for children to express their inner self whenever they want, however they want. There may be outlets for that via specific classes or activities, but the main intent of school is to learn, first and foremost.

Third, where does it say in the first amendment that similar clothing is restrictive of free speech? It doesn't, which is why most lawsuits against school uniforms fail. Parents against uniforms say it is their job, and not the schools, to say what is appropriate to wear, but even if I were to agree with that point ideally, the fact is the parents are failing on this accord, so someone has to jump in and fix it.