Does Requiring Students to Wear Uniforms Reduce Violence in Secondary School?

Further some critics of school uniforms say not only do uniforms not help curb behavioral problems, they can actually contribute to problems in some instances. According to Loren Siegel, Director of Public Education Department at the American Civil Liberties Union, “teenagers are sure to rebel against uniforms polices,” (1996) She further goes on to point out the practical considerations of requiring students to wear uniforms. “For a public school uniform policy to be legal, it has to have an opt out provision.” Siegel also points out some other practical issues concerning teenagers. She says, “It's axiomatic that adolescence is a time when young people strive to express their uniqueness and individuality in many different ways, and especially through fashion.” (1996) Thus would requiring them to all be attired alike stifle their creativity? Others claim that “student dress serves as a barometer of what is going on with the student and can signal problems such as drugs, gang membership, or sex abuse. Uniforms would eliminate a warning system that lets teachers and administrators identify and rescue students that need help.” (Paliokas and Rist)

Yet, despite the lack of evidence, many school districts have shrinking budgets and are electing to adopt a school uniform policy as a quick fix for their discipline problems. Philadelphia School District, for instance, vote May 8th, 2000, to implement a policy which gives individual schools the option of requiring their students to conform to a set dress code which could include uniforms if so desired. “Effective September 2001, all students shall be required to dress in the manner adopted by their schools, or be subject to corrective measures specific to the policy.” (Student Dress and Grooming, revised May 8, 2000, Philadelphia School District website)

This rush to make policy based on early information is foolish. It leads schools into an unrealistic sense of well being based on misleading results from a few antidotal reports. Instead, schools need to take a hard look at some of the root causes of violence and address them in a more direct manner. Siegel suggest seven strategies that schools could employ that were taken from a series of focus groups conducted among high school students. Their suggestions were: (1996)

1. Since school violence mirrors that of society at large, schools should seriously confront and discuss issues of racism and cultural conflict
2. “safe corridor programs should be supported to protect the safety of students as they go to and from school
3. School entrances should be secured
4. More extracurricular activities and clubs should established
5. Open-mike assemblies should be held on a regular basis to give students the opportunity to express themselves
6. Programs to help students find part-time jobs should be established
7. Conflict resolution techniques should be taught

Never once did these students mention uniforms as a solution to the problems they face. While we know our schools are facing increasing pressure from budget cuts we must consider some more in-depth solutions to curb violence in our schools. As I write this paper the school District of Philadelphia is holding its first annual conference to try and come up with solutions to the problem of school violence, “Successful schools are safe schools. The goal of the 1st Annual Student Anti-Violence Conference is to look at and learn from best practices taking place at schools throughout the Greater Philadelphia Region and the nation, and implement them in the School District. Another goal of this Conference is to find new and creative ways to tap into what students know about possible school violence and engage them into coming up with solutions to the problem.” (2003) Attention is being focused on the problem and while progress is very slow many administrations and politicians finally recognize the need to do something. Short of scrapping the whole public school system as some have suggested there has to be solutions other than simply implementing a uniform policy.

The State Board of Education in North Carolina has been very proactive in trying to develop a plan to help their public schools maintain a safe and orderly environment. Adopted in March of 2003, Guidelines for maintaining safe, orderly and caring schools offers some usable concrete ideas, that if implemented seem to be a step in the right direction. Some of these ideas are to, “annually survey teachers, students, parents and staff members regarding their perceptions of school climate and safety issues, determine the status of each school's discipline, safety and security needs, measurable objectives, and a time line for implementing these goals.” (2003) Clearly this plan is in it's infancy, and we will not know thew outcome of it for several years, but it seems to be a comprehensive plan that has touch on most of the trouble areas that schools face; nowhere in the plan does the State of North Carolina mention requiring students to wear uniforms.

Thus after reviewing the literature regarding requiring public school students to wear uniforms, I must add my voice squarely against the idea for a variety of reasons. First, teenagers feel the need to express their creativity, and I feel that dress is so benign that taking that away would cause more problems then it would solve. Second, telling parents how to dress their children seems to me as if are moving towards socialism, third, uniforms create a false seems of well being, if everything looks pretty, then it must be so, and fourth (and this is purely my opinion) uniforms are ugly. Also, the evidence is just not there that requiring uniforms actually does reduce violence. I must say, however, that I would be willing to put my objections aside if it is ever shown that Uniforms actually do have a positive impact on reducing violence in our public schools, because I'll be the first to admit that our children need a place where they can feel safe in order to concentrate on learning. But until that happens; simply requiring them to change their clothes seems like a quick fix for a very complex problem. Yes, I understand that some districts are at the end of their ropes and that budgets are tight and the need to do something is a strong one, but, I don't believe uniforms are the solution.