Students in public schools should not be required to wear uniforms. In private schools it is completely understandable but not in a public school. If school uniforms were once effective, they sure aren’t anymore; at some uniform enforcing schools the kids can wear whatever jackets they want, can wear sweatpants over their school pants or shorts, and half of the time don’t even follow the dress code. Coming from a person who has gone to a school with no dress code to one with a uniform policy, uniforms are useless!

Having to wear a uniform can negatively affect the students in more than one way. It’s understandable to believe that a uniform can promote the sense of school pride or community spirit but that’s not true. Most kids hate uniforms. They hate them enough to wear other clothing over it or just not wear it at all. Instead of helping, it will harm the school spirit because the kids hate the “stupid” or “dumb” uniform policy. Kids might enjoy school more if they had just a few more simple freedoms.

School uniforms can also be a huge creativity block. How are kids expected to be different, have creativity, and make life choices if they are forced to dress the same as everyone else? It’s like telling them to be different while being the same as everyone else. How can children learn to think for themselves when they can’t make simple decision like what to wear?

Bill Clinton made this statement during his presidency, “I challenge all our schools to teach character education, to teach good values and good citizenship. And if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms.” Schools should teach character education, good values, and good citizenship but not through uniforms. Kids can most of the time still wear jackets over their uniforms so what does it matter. The uniforms can’t even be seen all of the time.

School uniforms add extra costs to what is supposed to be a “free education.” With the average uniform costing forty-five dollars and kids needing at least three sets, that’s an extra $135 that some parents may not have. Not to mention if the children are an unusual size, that could make the expenses way more. For example, Illinois parents, Laura and Scott Bell, had to pay a total of $641 for their son’s uniforms. They say that their son’s clothes are already costly and hard to find but this was over the bar. This is an outrageous cost and should not be tolerated by parents anywhere.

School Uniforms are an outdated way of trying to motivate and inspire children’s education. Uniforms are hated, made fun of, and disrespected throughout school systems all over. Instead of kids focusing on their education they are focused on how “ugly” or “stupid” their uniforms are. So instead of improving children’s education it is beginning to harm it. This strategy may have been effective twenty years ago but this is a new generation of children who need different ways of learning good values and citizenship.