UNISC Medicina 2016/2

Should Students Have to Wear School Uniforms?

Traditionally favored by private and parochial

institutions, school uniforms are being adopted by

US public schools in increasing numbers. Almost

one in five US public schools required students to

wear uniforms during the 2011-2012 school year,

up from one in eight in 2003-2004. Mandatory

uniform policies in public schools are found more

commonly in high-poverty areas. Proponents say

that school uniforms make schools safer for

students, create a “level playing field” that reduces

socioeconomic disparities, and encourage children

to focus on their studies rather than their clothes.

Opponents say school uniforms infringe upon

students’ right to express their individuality, have

no positive effect on behavior and academic

achievement, and emphasize the socioeconomic

disparities they are intended to disguise.

The first recorded use of standardized dress in

education may have been in England in 1222, when

the Archbishop of Canterbury mandated that

students wear a robe-like outfit called the “cappa

clausa.” The origin of the modern school uniform

can be traced to 16th Century England, when the

impoverished “charity children” attending the

Christ’s Hospital boarding school wore blue cloaks

reminiscent of the cassocks worn by clergy, along

with yellow stockings. As of Sep. 2014, students at

Christ’s Hospital were still wearing the same

uniform, and according to the school it is the oldest

school uniform still in use. When Christ’s Hospital

surveyed its students in 2011, 95% voted to keep

the traditional uniforms.

In later centuries, school uniforms became

associated with the upper class. At one of

England’s most prestigious schools, Eton, students

were required to wear black top hats and tails on

and off campus until 1972, when the dress codes

began to be relaxed. School uniforms in the United

States followed the traditional use of uniforms

established in England and were generally limited

to private and parochial schools. One exception

was found in government-run boarding schools for

Native American children, first established in the

late 1800s, where the children, who had been

removed from their families, were dressed in

military-style uniforms.

The first US public schools known to institute

uniform policies were in Maryland and

Washington, DC, in the fall of 1987, with Cherry

Hill Elementary School in Baltimore, MD, gaining

the most publicity. These early uniform programs

were voluntary, but according to a New York Times

report from Dec. 1987, most parents supported the

idea and “almost all” students wore the uniforms.

School officials and other advocates of the new

uniform policies noted improvements in students’

“frame of mind” and stated that uniforms had

“sharply reduced discipline problems.” They also

reported that uniforms had “already reduced the

preoccupation of students with expensive designer

clothing for school wear and eased the financial

burden that placed on the students’ families.” The

origin of the uniform policy in Baltimore has been

linked to a 1986 shooting, in which a local public

school student was wounded during a fight over a

pair of $95 sunglasses.

By the fall of 1988, 39 public elementary

schools and two public junior high schools in

Washington, DC, had instituted mandatory

uniform polices, and soon the movement spread to

other states, including Connecticut and New

Jersey, generally in urban schools with mainly low

income and minority students. In 1988, Ed Koch,

then-Mayor of New York City, expressed support

for school uniforms, saying that they encourage

“common respect and improve the learning

environment,” and praising them because of their

similarity to outfits worn in private and parochial

schools. A pilot uniform program was introduced in

New York City in 1989.

Fonte: adapted from http.school-uniforms.procon.org. Access on april 18th, 2016.