School Uniforms- An Unjust Tax
by Chris Smiley Candidate for School Board District 5
After the business coalition forum was over I was disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to bring up the issue of school uniforms especially after I witnessed the passion against new taxes from commission candidates and guests. The school board recently mandated a uniform policy for all k-12 schools. This policy is far worse than a tax though because not only is it putting an undue financial burden on families, it restricts freedom of speech and expression.
The policy was founded on misconceptions and false premises. The research (including studies from the Journal of Educational Research and a 4 year tracking study by the Miami-Dade school district) shows that uniforms do not lessen dress code violations, nor do they have a positive affect on attendance, behavior, performance, or substance use. The main ‘issue’ as claimed by board members really comes down to enforcement of dress code standards already in place.
Some people say that uniforms aren’t that bad but for a public policy to be enacted that takes away rights, there has to be an overwhelming good to justify it. In the case of uniforms there is none. In fact there is no rational reason to have uniforms (and a million reasons against them but I’ll keep this post short).
In tough economic times parents will now have to buy a new wardrobe for their kids. (Don’t believe the farce that uniforms save money, no student wears uniforms outside of school. That means that the cost of uniforms is in addition to whatever regular clothes they buy.)
I couldn’t believe that the new policy was passed or that it was even brought up when there are pressing fundamental issues with education that actually affect performance in schools. (see my website)
There has been significant opposition to uniforms. All 7 high school principals wrote a letter to the board urging them to not pass the policy and to let them continue to enforce the dress code already in place. There have been a couple of protests already and a number of groups have been formed; legal action is anticipated. Whether you have children or not we all need to fight injustice and I urge all of you to email the board, to join one of the groups via facebook, or to connect with parents and dissenters (you can email me at chris.smiley@gmx.com).
Elected or not I will continue to work to reverse this policy.
My website- Fleducationreform.com
Letter from principals- http://notopolos.wordpress.com/2010/06/14/copy-of-the-letter-sent-to-school-board-from-alachua-county-school-principals/
I know that the initial investment may be more but in the long run, parents will save money. I get my school uniforms at JCPenny and my kids love them.
1That is a misconception, uniforms won’t save money. A polo will never be cheaper than a white T or free hand-me-downs. Also let’s remember that uniforms are not replacing anything, they are an additional cost. How many students wear uniforms outside of school? They will be an additional cost to whatever regular clothes one buys.
2Furthermore we are getting away from the main issue- there is no justifiable reason to mandate uniforms (I addressed this in my post when i relayed the research). Uniforms will not solve any problems.
Also there is another problem with the new policy. The district has promised assistance to those with “financial hardship”. However they have not defined any criteria or guidelines to define hardship. This means that schools could be faced with a large burden to assist an indefinite amount of students or be faced with a discrimination lawsuit if they turn students down with no explicit criteria down for the district.
Also the district has not shown that they’ve responsibly secured donations or funds for this plan and have vaguely stated through email that aid will come from such sources as business and PTA donations.
Smiley,
I think you are only looking at one side of the issue. I’m for uniforms not because of any cost liability, but for continuity.
Let’s face it, more and more children are dressing distastefully in middle and high schools. The schools currently have dress codes, but it is kind of hard to enforce this due to individual perception.
This is far too distracting for a learning situation. Parents are all different, so what may be appropriate for one might not be for another. Do children from low income families have to feel insecure because they can’t afford all the new trends? Uniforms squashes insecurities like these and help promote paying more attention to studying than what to wear, who is wearing what, and guys from getting hormone spikes in the middle of algebra from Suzy’s low cut top and wedging skin pants.
Uniforms can help children psychologically in many individual ways, even if they themselves do not know or understand it. I’m all for teens expressing themselves however they want to outside of school. It is just not the place. They can do that in college.
3Who keeps erasing my posts? Just because I oppose this article does not mean my voice should not be heard.
Uniforms are good for many reasons you can’t seem to comprehend
4All comments have to be approved the first time you post. I just got home to approve them…
5Chris, even with uniforms students will still try to wear the flashiest types to separate themselves. Also it doesn’t matter whether you have uniforms or not, kids will still make them inappropriate and revealing (i.e. it will be khaki shorts hanging too low just the same as any other.) It comes down to enforcement. Enforcement of dress code is what is needed from administrators. I don’t understand what you mean that it is hard to enforce due to individual perception. We have guidelines set up to not allow revealing clothing (perhaps you are saying we need more clarity with the guidelines so some students don’t get away with revealing clothes)
Furthermore as i stated earlier the research shows that uniforms don’t improve academic performance or behavior. I would ask you to back up your claims that uniforms have a beneficial psychological impact. I work in education research and all of the reputable studies done show that this is not true (i.e. Journal of Educational Research).
6Chris i am a rational person, i have looked at all sides of the issue. There is no evidence to suggest that uniforms will improve our schools. Furthermore any small beneficial impact they may have (such as like you said having SOME students feel less stressed about their clothing choices) does not outweigh the negative aspects and the financial burden of uniforms. Uniforms will take money away from our schools (PLEASE READ MY RESPONSE TO LOLA) when we should be focusing our time and money on solutions that will improve education.
I’ve read all these studies, papers, and journals. Even the ones that side on your view, also indicate a need for more research and even note that uniforms provide positive outcomes even if they did not directly impact overall grade improvement. Other countries that have uniform policies have much greater academic success than America right now. Our model is lacking and it is time to learn now from more successful countries in this area.
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ555450&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ555450
http://etd.ohiolink.edu/send-pdf.cgi?marietta1155586193
http://www.members.tripod.com/rockqu/uniform.htm
Bryk, Anthony; V. Lee; and P. Holland. (1993). Catholic Schools and the Common Good. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Bryk, Anthony and Mary Driscoll. (1988). The High School as Community: Contextual Influences, and Consequences for Students and Teachers. National Center on Effective Secondary Schools.
Coleman, James S. and Thomas Hoffer. (1987). Private and Public High Schools: The Impact of Communities. New York: Basic Books, Inc.
Department of Justice (1996). Manual on School Uniforms. Washington, DC: Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Gursky, Daniel. (1996). “‘Uniform’ Improvement?” The Education Digest, March, 1996, 46-8.
Jarchow, Elaine. (1992). “Ten Ideas Worth Stealing from New Zealand.” Phi Delta Kappan. 73:394-95.
Joseph, Nathan. (1986). Uniforms and Nonuniforms: Communication Through Clothing. New York: Greenwood.
Kahl, Kristi. (1996). “Support for Breakaway Teachers May Be the Key to LUBSD Reforms.” Found at web site: http://www.lbusd.k12.ca.us/
Kennedy, Michael. (1995). “Common Denominator: Schools See Less Violence When Kids Wear Uniforms.” Los Angeles Times, August, 21, 1995.
LaPoint, V., L. Holloman, and S. Alleyne. (1992). “The Role of Dress Codes, Uniforms in Urban Schools.” NASSP Bulletin, October 1992, 20-6.
Loesch, Paul. (1995). “A School Uniform Program That Works.” Principal. 74:28-30.
Polacheck, Karin. (1996). “Uniforms Help Solve Many School Problems.” Long Beach Press-Telegram. Found at web site: http://www.lbusd.k12.ca.us/
Scherer, Marge. (1991). “School Snapshot: Focus on African-American Culture.” Educational Leadership. 49:17-9.
Stover, Del (1990). “The Dress Mess.” American School Board Journal. 177:26-9.
Thomas, SuSan. (1994). “Uniforms in the Schools: Proponents Say It Cuts Competition; Others Are Not So Sure.” Black Issues In Higher Education, October, 20:44-7.
Virginia State Department of Education. (1992). Model Guidelines for the Wearing of Uniforms in Public Schools: Report of the Department of Education to the Governor and the General Assembly of Virginia. House Document No. 27.
Workman, Jane and Kim Johnson. (1994). “Effects of Conformity and Nonconformity to Gender-Role Expectations for Dress: Teachers Versus Students.” Adolescence. 29:207-23.
7What positive outcomes, from what studies? Nevertheless you have only backed up my argument because if there are varying results across studies then that means 1. uniforms don’t unequivocally mean positive results 2. we cannot justify implementation of uniforms without conclusive evidence 3. We would need evidence that a desired positive result would be likely to occur than would greatly outweigh the negative aspects of implementing uniforms in public schools
The point I was making is that there was no just reason to implement uniforms, and you said it yourself- more research is needed to identify some sort of direct cause between uniforms and some positive aspect in certain groups of students. So I am hoping that we can now agree that uniforms shouldn’t have been forced upon our schools here.
Now I am not going to say that uniforms can’t have some positive effects. However what is true is that whatever positive outcome it may have it will not be for all groups, as if it were true then all schools with uniforms would have that particular result. Also we cannot forget that uniforms may also have many negative effects. If you did read all of those studies then you must be aware that many negative changes arose in schools, schools right here in the US and in Florida at that, Miami-Dade has all but abandoned uniforms in their schools and when a study was conducted on their transformation to uniforms, one result- violence doubled.
8Also I would be wary of some of the sources you cited, some are articles that are not presenting a controlled study which one could analyze. Also some of the ones you cited are about the LA school district and the positive results seen there were not from uniforms, as was debunked by a few studies including the JER which I cited before.
Thank you for your active interest in our schools, and I agree that other schools do have far better models that we can follow, however i am talking about their teaching and testing methods not uniforms. I believe we need to be dealing with these issues instead of hoping that a polo shirt will fix our educational system.
Are there any legal actions or other avenues to pursue to help right the wrong being done to our students in Alachua County by uniforms?
9Tony, I approached the ACLU and the Southern Legal Counsel awhile ago and they both declined to help. However I have actually been conducting interviews and collecting information across the state to document the hypocrisy and irrationality surrounding school uniforms. Hopefully when I am done and present the information to the media and the school board we can get this policy repealed.
10There is also a group of parents that are still actively involved. So there are still some people who won’t let this stand.