This is a problem for three reasons: First: We still have...
Mandatory School Uniforms are a violation of free expression
I'd like to thank my opponent for his acceptance and would love to begin without much further adeiu. My Opponent's Case: My opponent's case makes a whole lot of historical and statistical claims...before actually getting to the relevant part of if it violates Free Expression. The points about the colors of clothing having effects and how much we spend on clothing and different ways to wear one's trousers, while certainly being interesting, have no pertinance on the actual resolution today. The points about color specifically are just an arbitrary assigning of value based on appearance, but I don't feel like wasting time on something that doens't link to the resolution. ANYWAY, let us continue. My opponent then goes on to make the claim, actually on topic this time, that because uniforms offer a limited range of clothes it represses our ability to freely express ourselves. This is a problem for three reasons: First: We still have the ability to design how we present ourselves physically that go outside of the clothes we wear. The make-up women use, the way one styles and/or colors their hair, accessories and types and brands of shoes, all of which are not generally addressed by uniforms, are ways for one to express themselves while maintaining consistency with the school dress code. So it doesn't actually preclude our ability to express ourselves, and thus doesn't violate it. Second: Even if we don't have control over anything that we wear or how we appear in any aspect (doubtful in itself), we still control how we act. Baring a mental coersion treatment where we are forced to act how the school wants us to in this uniform, we control how we wish to act. Our actions function as our ability to express ourselves far better than any clothing can, due to the fact that clothing are unable to truly express us without our actions and personality affecting what we wear. This alone allows us to fully express ourselves, regardless of what we wear. Third: Even the courts, the people who have decided on the freedom of speech and expression and the like, ruled that school uniforms don't violate our freedom of expression.[1] As such, school uniforms actually don't violate our freedom of expression, as there are many ways we can still express ourselves. Sources: [1] http://www.freerepublic.com...