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 * Schools should require student uniforms. **


 * About 60% of all children's clothing is along the guidelines for school dress codes. (ZB) **

MANUAL ON **SCHOOL** **UNIFORMS** (U.S. Department of Education) n.d., pp. 1+ **MANUAL ON** SCHOOL UNIFORMS **SCHOOL****UNIFORMS**: WHERE THEY ARE AND WHY THEY WORK A safe and disciplined learning environment is the first requirement of a good **school**. Young people who are safe and secure, who learn basic American values and the essentials of good citizenship, are better students. In response to growing levels of violence in our schools, many parents, teachers, and **school** officials have come to see **school****uniforms** as one positive and creative way to reduce discipline problems and increase **school** safety. They observed that the adoption of **school** uniform policies can promote **school** safety, improve discipline, and enhance the learning environment. The potential benefits of **school** **uniforms** include: - decreasing violence and theft--even life-threatening situations--among students over designer clothing or expensive sneakers; - helping prevent gang members from wearing gang colors and insignia at **school**; - instilling students with discipline ; - helping parents and students resist peer pressure ; - helping students concentrate on their **school** work ; and - helping **school** officials recognize intruders who come to the **school (MS) ** President Clinton provided momentum to the school uniform movement when he said in his 1996 State of the Union speech, "If it means teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms." (EL) Virginia Draa, assistant professor at Youngstown State University, reviewed attendance, graduation and proficiency pass rates at 64 public high schools in Ohio. Her final analysis surprised her: "I really went into this thinking uniforms don't make a difference, but I came away seeing that they do. At least at these schools, they do. I was absolutely floored." Draa's study concluded that those schools with uniform policies improved in attendance, graduation and suspension rates (EL) What kind of uniform? What is a uniform? (EL) || Proponents of mandatory school uniforms claim that data and evidence support their assertions that uniforms improve discipline and reduce crime. While the positive reports emerging from some school districts with uniform policies seem to lend credence to this position, upon closer examination, flaws begin to appear. In Long Beach, California, the first district to have a widespread mandatory uniform policy in the public schools, the initial reports concerning drops in crime and discipline were astonishing. Assault dropped by sixty-seven percent, vandalism by eighty-two percent, and robbery by thirty-five percent. Overall crime was reduced by seventy-three percent the first year the policy was in place ("K-8" 1 ). Unfortunately, these radical improvements were, at times, attributed exclusively to the new, mandatory uniform policy. During a telephone interview in April 1996, Dick Van Der Laan, Long Beach Unified School District spokesman, stated that the only change which had occurred in the district, prior to the improved discipline results, was the implementation of the uniform policy. However, in the study conducted by Drs. David L. Brunsma and Kerry A. Rockquemore of the University of Notre Dame, a closer look at the Long Beach case revealed that several other reforms were put in place at the same time or shortly prior to the implementation of the uniform policy. So, while uniforms were the most visible change, the improvements were more likely attributable to the other programs which included, among other initiatives, a $1 million grant from the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation for the improvement of teaching methods (Brunsma and Rockquemore 16). Concerning the tendency of Long Beach sources to give credit for the improvements exclusively to uniforms, the study states, "It seems curious given these substantive reform efforts, administrators continue to insist that uniforms are the sole factor causing a variety of positive educational outcome" (16). In response to such scrutiny, Van Der Laan now states that while the district believes uniforms were a contributing factor to the improved discipline rates, they were not the only cause (United 4). The University of Notre Dame study also belies the claims that uniforms improve discipline (SM)
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Opponents also cite potential civil rights violations(SM)

Having all students wear the same uniform helps create a sense that you belong somewhere and maintain a good school either by culture or spirit. And by showing that the expects an even higher standard, expectations are soon raised and students will usually respond with a better, more mature, behavior. When the United States began to use uniforms in public school there were many reports of improved discipline. (EL)

Uniform is a social leveller - it makes all the children at a school equal no matter what their family background or income. If students can choose their own clothes, then the rich kids compete to show off their expensive designer labels and costly sneakers (trainers). Children from poorer families get picked on for not being able to afford lots of pricey outfits. Schools in the USA have used uniform to overcome the problem of students wearing “gang colours” if they were allowed to choose their own clothes. Clothes with particular colours or symbols marked rival groups of students out as linked to street gangs. This often led to fighting inside and outside the classroom. If everyone has to wear the same clothes to school, this problem is removed. (EL)

Schools with uniforms obtain better educational results. This is because there is better discipline and so the school setting makes learning easier. Without the distraction of checking out what all the other students are wearing (or how much flesh they are showing), students find it easier to concentrate and do better in tests. (EL)

Some kids use baggy cloths to hid weapons and drugs. (EL)

Kids wh School Uniforms Proposition Cole Bloomfield Cite: // Jet // [serial online] Avalible from MAS Ultra - School Edition, Ipswich, MA. “ In Detroit, a 15-year-old boy was shot for his $86 basketball shoes. In Fort Lauderdale, a 15-year-old student was robbed of his jewelry. In Oxon Hill, MD, a 17-year-old honor student was killed at a bus stop, caught in cross fire during the robbery of another student's designer jacket. President Bill Clinton thinks so. During his recent State of the Union address, he said public ** schools ** should be allowed to require ** uniforms ** if it would mean "teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets


 * uniforms ** would help discourage violence because students won't have a need to fight over who looks better or want to cause harm in an attempt to take another student's trendy clothes.

The Long Beach (CA) Unified ** School ** District became the first public ** school ** district in the nation, in 1994, to require that students wear ** uniforms **. In the first year, the district recorded a 50 percent decline in fights and number of cases of students bringing weapons to ** school **, according to a spokesman for the district.

o's parents would not or could not buy them the newest fad, would not be embarrassed or harassed because of their cloths. (EL)