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Uniforms In Schools K-12

Thanks for the debate, Pro. To clarify, I went to a Catholic HS and absolutely loved wearing uniforms. That said, I'll proceed to negate the resolution at hand. [ Rebuttal of Pro's Arguments ] 1. School uniforms make getting dressed easier and less time consuming. While the decision process of what to wear might be easier, it's not true that uniforms are always convenient. For instance, suppose you have 4 uniforms that you rotate. For one thing, what happens if some of your uniforms are dirty, and the ones that aren't get ripped or somehow soiled? This is a problem that everyone I know who were required to wear uniforms has had, including myself. If a part of your uniform was missing or unavailable to you, then you essentially could not attend school that day. Additionally, you had to do laundry far more often than you would if you didn't have to rely on just a few uniforms for continued use, making the clothing process not any less time consuming (perhaps even more time consuming) and also economically and environmentally unfriendly considering the amount of water being used on a frequent basis. 2. Uniforms are less expensive than current clothing trends, thus they are more economical. Actually, it depends on the uniform. Some uniforms are more expensive than others. This argument does not stand against people who make their own clothes, or who specifically shop at vintage stores or other lower priced outlets for their attire (like Wal-Mart). In that way, forcing someone to buy clothes more expensive than what they would typically or could conceivably wear is unfair, and a policy that wouldn't hold water in a public school. The only way it would work is if those who couldn't afford the uniforms could receive some assistance, meaning it would actually cost the tax payers money to help dress people in clothes that they might not even want to wear. This option seems like it's only economical for the company who makes the uniforms, as well as an infringement of rights on the tax payers. Plus, even if tax payers weren't somehow held responsible, it's still an infringement of rights that some would be required to buy these uniforms because children are required by law to attend school. 3. Uniforms would eliminate students being ostracized based on what they wear. Maybe not. In my Catholic HS, students were not ostracized for what they wore but rather how they wore it (i.e. their skirt was too long, etc.). Additionally, students will just find other things to tease about, such as jewelry accessories or lack thereof. Plus, this is kind of a moot point since teasing is going to occur anyway. Instead of saying "Your shirt is really ugly," people will just say, "Your face is really ugly." That type of ostracizing is routine in schools and it will not decrease in general thanks to the implementation of school uniforms. 4. Uniforms provide a level of safety in schools. In situations where harm has ever been done to a student body, the perpetrator almost always went to that school, so whether or not they had a uniform would be irrelevant (since they probably would). Further, you could easily avoid a label of gang affiliation by monitoring what you wear. [ Conclusion ] In addition to my points about being forced to do a lot of laundry, spend money on clothes you might not want to wear for possibly a higher cost, etc., I maintain that uniforms shouldn't be forced upon public schools because they're unnecessary. Additionally, the benefits aren't definite and don't outweigh the detriments. Why should we be forced to accept something that doesn't even really help? Students develop a sense of identity sometimes by how they dress. Additionally, letting them come to their own decisions about dress and its implications can provide beneficial and educational results that go beyond a classroom and into a sociological perspective. I'll send this debate back to my opponent for now -- good luck!