School Uniform Should be Compulsory
I would like to begin by thanking Con for accepting this debate. Good luck. :) First
I shall rebut the arguments my opponent made in Round 1. I forgot to mention this
in the first round, But my stance on school uniforms is that they should be compulsory, But exceptions should be made if needed (sorry
about this, I should have clarified myself earlier). My opponent mentioned that "if
you mess up your uniform, You can get punished". This is neither something which I
support, Nor something which occurs in primary or secondary schools (in my experience
at least, Perhaps some schools which I have not attended do this). Life is unpredictable
and schools recognise this. If a student accidentally damages his/her uniform, And
they do not have any others (which they often do) they can (and should be able to):
a) Obtain permission via a written note by their parents that excuses them from wearing
the uniform until they can either purchase a new one or clean the old one, Or if this
is not possible: b) Burrow a uniform from the school"s second hand uniform store (for free if necessary); note that all second hand uniform
items are thoroughly cleaned before they are allowed to be used. You also mention
liberal disciplines are the best discipline when it comes to what children wear at
school. While I do agree that liberal disciplines are the best when it comes to (for example)
what you want to wear to work as an adult (as long as you are not wearing anything
inappropriate/offensive), I believe this because adults are (for the most part) responsible
enough to pick appropriate clothing, And also treat other people with respect. However,
I do not hold children to the same standard. Children come from various different
families, And have families with various incomes. A major problem with not having
school uniforms is that bullying can occur when a child with rich parents buys him expensive clothes
to wear to school, And then that child acts hostile to children from lower income families who do not
have clothes that are as "flashy". School uniforms places everyone on the same level, Thus eliminating discrimination based on what
the children are wearing. One could argue that that this is punishing the people from higher income families
just for being rich, But the problem is that these are children; not adults, And therefore
it is likely that the children have done nothing to obtain the money which they have (there are exceptions to this of course). Another
issue with giving children too much freedom in this aspect of their education is that
children are still developing, And many (not all of course), Especially when they
are younger, Do not understand that they should respect other people regardless of
their wealth. Adults (with some exceptions) are more respectful to one another on
average, And while there is bullying in the workplace (and this is a serious issue),
It is not as common as bullying at school, And when it does occur it isn"t as often about clothes. In the same fashion, I believe
that adults with nut allergies should be responsible enough to avoid food containing
nuts in their daily lives, And there should not be a "nut ban" in the workplace. However,
Children (particularly young children) are not as responsible, Which is why I support
nut bans in school. I bring up this point to show how liberalism is important, But is not always the
best idea for school children. The robot analogy my opponent brought up is a false equivalency, Because
students only have to wear school uniforms when they are in school; not when they are at home or out with friends/family, So they do experience freedom:
just not as much in school. Robots, On the other hand, Never experience freedom at all. In fact, Having a lack
of freedom of choice in terms of what clothes to wear to school may make some people even happier when they earn more freedom after school. For school children, I believe that equality is more important than freedom. You mentioned the
time factor. The issue with this is that having compulsory school uniform saves time, Not wastes it. This is because it eliminates any time required
to choose clothes for school everyday; I mentioned the money factor earlier and, If given a choice, Some people
may want to wear a variety of different clothes to school on different days as to not look financially disadvantaged, Which causes them to
spend more time on picking clothes for school. You mention washing and ironing your clothes, But people generally have more than
one school uniform, Which eliminates the need for washing and ironing their clothes every single
day, Or if they cannot afford this, They can obtain uniforms from the second hand uniform shop at school. Also, Washing and ironing the clothes is done even if students do not wear school uniform. Thus, Having school uniforms does not waste the time of students, And may even save time. Another benefit of school uniforms is that it creates unity. You mentioned that we must feel at home when we are at
school, And I would argue that school uniforms actually help to promote this, By creating a sense of unity. When everyone is wearing
the same school uniform, It helps to make one"s peers more relatable and allows them to perhaps become
friends with them more easily (this is especially beneficial in younger years when
people are first developing their social skills). I mentioned earlier that a lack
of school uniforms can create division between rich and poor people, As well as bullying, And it also
causes someone wearing "poor" clothes to not be relatable to someone with "rich" clothes.
Having common clothes causes nobody to feel like an outsider. In addition to this,
School uniforms make students easily identifiable as being students of the school. In the past couple of years, There have been a few incidents in my city where adult
sex offenders have come to high schools to abuse students. They were immediately recognised
as not being students by teachers and chased off the school, Since there were not wearing uniform. If there was no uniform, The teachers could
have thought that the offender was just a senior high school student, And would not realise their dangerous intent until later. I admit that this
is something that does not happen often, But when it does, Having uniforms are always the best policy for student safety. Therefore, School uniforms benefit school children as they allow for equality, Unity, A safer environment, And they save time
for children.
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