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School uniforms ought to be worn in primary and secondary schools.

I thank my opponent for participating in this debate. I will begin by rebutting his contentions and will then move on to my own. ======== "Consider why judges wear judicial robes. Clearly, the judicial system would not disintegrate if judges dresses casually. Nonetheless, it is virtually universally accepted that there is an incremental gain in focusing both the judge and the court proceeding that improves justice." I would argue that the practice of judges wearing judicial uniforms is an unnecessary one, but that is not my main argument. My main point is that this is an improper analogy. Judges lead court hearings, and are the focus of attention. Students are not. A better analogy would be a uniform for the jury. But the jury does not wear a uniform [1], so this analogy in fact works in favor of con; what the jury wears in practice is more analogous to a dress code. A dress code is a "formally or socially imposed standard of dress" [2], and refers to types of clothing more than a specific uniform. I do support a dress code, as it is not appropriate to wear just anything to school, but a uniform is excessive. Back to the analogy, the judge is more analogous to the teacher. So this point argues more that teachers should wear uniforms, not students. "We see also se [sic] this in the practices of the police, military, security guards, airline pilots, nurses (and doctors' white coats), professional chefs, and many private companies, like package delivery services." All the named professions are very specialized. For many of these, the reason for wearing a uniform is clear: so that they are easily recognizable. In a hospital, for example, it would not do to confuse the nurses with the patients. And police should be recognizable so that we can quickly get help from them. But there is no such need for students to be recognizable. "Catholic schools, which mostly have uniforms, succeed better than public schools. There are differences besides uniforms that lead to better performance in these schools, but they all relate to discipline and focus." 1) How is my opponent quantifying success/performance? 2) My opponent has not provided evidence to support these claims. 3) Catholic schools differ from public schools in many ways, and any of these differences could be responsible. An increase in discipline may not be responsible. The main reason is probably parental attitude. Parents who are willing to spend extra money to send their children to private school clearly care about their children's education. It is easy to see how this attitude can lead to an increase in school performance. My opponent cites a study showing a potential correlation between school uniforms and reduced crime rate. However, the study is incomplete. Many policies (schoolwide, citywide, etc) can change in six years, and there is very little evidence that school uniforms were the cause of the change. The study my opponent cited also stated that "there is little research on the effectiveness of school uniforms." [3] Correlation, while something, is far from evidence. Additionally, the credibility of the study is questionable. Why would school uniforms, admitted by my opponent to probably only cause "an incremental gain" in performance, lead to such dramatic changes? Very few policies could cause that sort of change. I would need some proof of the credibility of this study before I would accept this extraordinary evidence. "2) [...] It puts everyone in the same boat so they are more likely to help each other succeed." Why do students not cooperate? Why do they instead compete? Am I supposed to believe that students aren't cooperating because they're wearing different CLOTHING? "This is a reason why players on sports teams wear identical uniforms." A school is not a sports team. If students are made to wear uniforms, it will emphasize the divisions between different schools or school districts. In sports, these divisions are necessary, but a school is not a sports team. Uniforms are potentially harmful for this reason. Addressing the original point, my opponent seems to be saying that uniforms improve sense of unity. Even if they do, how is this beneficial to a scholastic setting? Fast-paced communal reactions are unnecessary. "3) It removes the distractions of fashion trends" The concept of fashion trends being distracting is pure fiction. Distractions occur due to boring material or boring teachers, and school uniforms don't fix that. "4) [...] reduce clothing costs." I hardly see how buying an extra article of clothing could reduce costs. Yes, the school system can provide uniforms for lower-income families, but the money has to come from somewhere – and that somewhere is taxes. Why not skip a step and just shift more of the tax burden to the rich? Chasing fashion fads may be expensive, but it's optional. Parents do not have to buy so much clothing for their children. Additionally, children will want to have fashionable clothing for outside of school: who would wear a school uniform all the time? So in the end, no money is saved. *** My opponent cites a study by Mrunsma and Rokquemore: "The key defects are that the study contained almost no public schools, and even more importantly, never considered data from the same school before and after the policies were implemented." The study used the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, a nationally representative set of schools [4]. While it is true that they did not compare schools before and after uniform policies were implemented, this is irrelevant. Firstly, they reduced bias by accounting for other variables such as school location. Secondly, comparing schools before and after is still biased because it is highly likely that something besides school uniform policy changed between the first and second studies. "If dramatic improvement could be achieved effortlessly, the "reforms" would surely be adopted universally, which they were not." This is self-defeating: if school uniforms could achieve dramatic improvement, they would be adopted universally, which they were not. ======== The character limit approaches, so I will keep my contentions short. It is worth noting that several potential contentions have already been addressed above: for instance, I could make the point that school uniforms are expensive, but I already made that point in response to my opponent's fourth contention. Pre-Contention: Unless school uniforms are proven to be more beneficial than detrimental, there is no reason to use them. All else being equal, a school uniform is an unnecessary entity. Contention 1: School uniforms restrict the students' self-expression. Many students feel that the best way to express themselves is through their form of dress, and if they are required to wear school uniforms, it stifles creativity and self-expression. I concede that uniforms are not the only means of self-expression, but students will still feel stifled and many will be unsuccessful at finding alternative means of expression. Some students may even use inappropriate means of self-expression such as painting graffiti on school property, rebounding and dressing overly inappropriately, or bullying or harming other students. Contention 2: School uniforms greatly limit the potential for diversity. Cultural uniqueness, for instance, is usually promoted through clothing. Contention 3: School uniforms enforce conformity, and conformity is stifling to creativity and originality. Even the limited conformity enforced by school uniforms is still stifling. Conformity leads to stagnation. ======== I thank my opponent for this debate and look forward to his response. [1] ehow.com/how_13928_dress-jury-duty.html [2] merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dress%20code (definition) [3] findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3626/is_200310/ai_n9248791/pg_7 [4] nces.ed.gov/surveys/NELS88/

should public school students wear uniforms

Well, it doesn't matter if they wear uniforms or not. Students will still change the uniforms into a clothing style that they want. There will be no difference in how they do in school with or without uniforms. Uniforms is just a type of school spirit dress code. As my opponent said about being sexy, girls will do the same thing with uniforms. Its just like when you play soccer. You use pennies to differentiate teams. Players dont wear their pennies the right way. They wear it just like they wear their regular shirts. My opponent makes no point with this argument. Therefore I shall make a superior statement in the final round

students should not were uniforms in school

I accept School uniforms are important as students don't worry about being judged for their clothes, they are all wearing the same uniform and therefore there is one less thing bullies can use against you: "In America, where a majority of schools do not have a uniform, roughly 160,000 children miss school every day due to fear of attack or intimidation by other students. This might not be directly linked to what they're wearing, but having a uniform can be a safety net for many students who might otherwise suffer from bullying. A strict uniform gives the impression that rules are strict too, perhaps helping maintain a sense of order at school."-The Guardian Sure, the bullies will pick on people for different reasons but this is one less reason for them to pick on people! There have also been many non-uniform days for charity here and everyone gets distracted when we have our own clothes, uniforms stop us from getting distracted. It's also great to clean as you can have it cleaned at the weekend ready for the week whereas with clothes you might not even find something you can wear and can't even go to school due to having no clothes to wear into school. That's when you could be bullied for many of the reasons Pro has posted. Additionally, wearing a school uniform identifies you with your school; it's really useful on field trips and other events where pupils may be lost! To sum up; Uniforms are essential as they can reduce bullying and create a sense of identity to the school Source(s): http://www.theguardian.com...

should school uniforms be made compulsory in schools

P1. School uniforms won't help change discrimination P2. School uniforms cost more for the average household C. School uniforms are an impractical idea in modern society No matter what you do people will still form cliques and pass judgement on others. If they aren't judging people for the clothes they are wearing then they will do it on many other factors such as weight, height, or hair color. Also one of your main arguments was that financially disadvantaged people would finally fit in with the general populace. But school uniforms would cost more then average clothes therefore not making the financially disadvantaged equal but rather making them repugnant to their classmates. http://www.angelfire.com... I look forward to your rebutle.

School Pupils Should Be Required To Wear School Uniforms

The main reason that uniforms are actively in place is to control the sexual "distractions" on campus between the sexes. I agree with all of your positions, but where I'm from, the schools could care less about school spirit or equality. In fact, I believe my school system is rather sexist with their dress codes and I've just recently written an essay about it in my English class. Most dress codes in the United States are purely based off of male sexualization. For example, the censorship of basic things such as legs. Many people argue that men find them attractive, but I believe that women find arms very attractive, and the thought of censoring a body part so simple as arms is ridiculous, like legs aren't simple and necessary. I don't think dress codes and uniforms should be in place because they are mostly one sided and unfair.

school uniforms

Those uniforms that are used book sales are also very torn and worn out. Some of them may even be stained. The uniforms are also not the most appealing attire to go out in public with; let alone, they are uncomfortable. Teens should get to wear what they want and when they want to, and to be comfortable all the time.