Yanjun
Li
ENGL
191
Final
paper
Does Dress
Code and Uniform Work in America?
Through my three interviews this semester, I
have heard different opinions about dress code and uniform in school.
Especially Japan which did well at part of enforces students’ uniform in
school. In my point of view, uniform or
dress code does help the school to maintain their environment well and improve
academic result.
United Kingdom started their uniform
history because of the poor or underprivileged people. They thought the uniform
could fix the unbalanced social status. Therefore, “the uniform became a means
of defining status”. Also, the royal people created the sample of the uniform.
At the meanwhile, Britain started to require their high-level universities like
Oxford and Cambridge to wear school uniform in order to identify their top
students (Firmin, Smith and Perry 144). On the other side of Europe, France
announced that all students are banned to wear any clothes with religious
symbols in 2004. France purposed to unite their country’s religious and other
countries started to concern about the issue (Gereluk 643). Nowadays, France is the only countries that
put this policy in action (Gereluk 644). “In France and England, for example,
the wearing of the hijab is not only a symbol of one’s particular religious
affiliation: it has increasingly become a political symbol, as a sign of
solidarity against the state’s decision to curtail Muslim dress in the public
sphere”. Similarly, in Islam point of view, wearing tawhid is one of the sign
that you support for the religious of umbrella (Gereluk 644). On the other
hand, Turkey banned the headscarves policy in order to make their countries
more modern or at least keeping pace with the rest of the Europe countries
(Gereluk 645). From all the example of these foreign countries, we can see that
different countries have their personal dress code and uniform policy for
various purposes, and that gave a great guideline to United States.
In nineteenth and early twentieth
century, people thought that United State would not have a uniform policy;
however they used it in certain purpose at that time. United States didn’t carry
the uniform policy out to their white students; instead they made action to the
minorities. Their aim of the action was to civilize the “unruly” bodies of the
minorities. The minorities were the Native Americans, Indian, Black and women,
American thought that they were hardly ruled and wanted to use uniform to teach
them how to be a proper citizen, whom all they could wear were western clothes.
Also, their traditional clothes like tribal attire and moccasins were banned
during that time as it affected the progress of westernized. After all these
education, “women, black, Indian, poor classes, immigrants, toddlers or infants”
would know how to self-regulate or self-govern themselves (Dussel 191).
Because America brought their plan
to successful conclusion, the Catholic school and Private school started to
perform the uniform policy, too. Although America weren’t familiar with the
uniform policy, Catholic school had a rich experience on processing this policy
(Firmin 144). According to Firmin, Smith, and Perry, said that Catholic school
didn’t attempt to create the “Catholic school effect”; instead, they wanted to equalize
their students inside the school through the uniform. Moreover, equalizing
everyone and respecting people is the aim of a Catholic school (145). However,
public school’s parents always had a misunderstanding about the Catholic and
Private school, which they thought the Catholic and Private school were always
the best because of the uniform, “including the presence of safe, secure, and
orderly learning environments” (Firmin, Smith and Perry 144).
As Catholic school and Private
school’s uniform policy went really well and solved the problem of how to
equalize the underprivileged people, some of the boards of public school suggested
taking action in their school by following the Private school. The top-class
students in private school had a specific form of uniform which is called the
‘preppy look’. “Preppy look is the khaki or gray trousers, worn with Oxford
shirts with button-down collars in white or light blue”. At that time, public
school used the private school’s uniform as their sample of general uniform (Dussel
191).
Even though some of the public school chose to
have a uniform policy, some of them, began to accomplish the policy which was
similar to the uniform policy, it is called the dress code. Dress code is
different from the uniform policy, which the dress code is “the rule about what
cannot be worn at school”, and uniform policy is “what must be worn in schools”
(Gereluk 643). According to Gereluk’s research, there are mainly four
considerations of dress code, “1) whether the clothing creates health and
safety concerns; 2) whether the clothing is oppressive oneself or to others; 3)
whether the clothing significantly inhibits the educational aims of the school;
4) whether the clothing is essential to a person’s identity.” (645). The school
could discuss through these 4 points to think about whether their schools had
to carry out the dress code policy (Gereluk 645). Also, student should
understand that “dressing appropriately for the environment in which you are in
is an important component for all of life” (Firmin, Smith and Perry 154).
Therefore, dress code or uniform can make students understand about this
concept. From 80s to modern, United States went through the dress standard for
decades. Between 50s and 60s, a lot of American schools carried out the dress
code, which was “forbidding girls from wearing slacks, requiring particular
lengths for dresses and skirts, blue jean regulations, prohibiting motorcycle
boots or black leather jackets”, etc. From 1970, federal government started to
concern about the student’s choices of clothing and the
“freedom-of-expression”. In 1980, even though schools didn’t have the right to
stop their students from wearing the clothes that is against the school, the
court said that the students may not wear clothes like sheer blouses,
cross-clothing and gang emblems, which those are offensive to school (Firmin,
Smith and Perry 145). Public school launched the school uniform in Baltimore,
Maryland and Washington, D.C., and many people researched about the effect of
the school uniform on these three schools. “Some data suggests lowered
violence, gang influence, and academic improvement in students.” On the other
hand, there were controversies between both sides, people argued that those
schools have adjusted some of the policy with the school uniform policy at the
same time, like “increased teacher enforcement and involvement with students as
well as parental involvement with the school process and system” (Firmin, Smith
and Perry 146). Therefore, educators thought that there were no certainties
that can prove the dress code helped those good things. Other than that, some
schools were revealing by using the dress code in the wrong reasons, like they involved
the idea of racial discrimination involved, as they were mostly focus on
African-American gangs, but not the white gangs. But, they weren’t all true to
every school. In 1993, the students in the Will Rogers Middle School in Long
Beach, California all agreed the successfulness of the uniform. Teachers thought
the students got more patient and the students said that is because “they were
not occupied with what they would wear to school” anymore. In the statistic
that showed in Long Beach, California, the “suspension dropped 32 percent and
crime fell 36 percent” in the very first year of launching the policy (Wilson
1). Therefore, I think the Will Rogers School gave an extremely strong data to
prove the uniform is work and essential for the school. Not matter there are other
factors affecting or helping the successfulness of school uniform policy, research
found students found improved greatly in school and school become more secure,
which are the ultimate goals of schools, therefore, I think school uniform did
work well in school to urge their students.
We saw all these data proved the
successfulness or failure of dress code, but what is the initial idea of the
dress code? A school dress code suppose to “eliminate competition, teach young
people to dress appropriately, decrease non-academic distractions, and lower
the clothing costs of attending a private school” (Firmin, Smith and Perry
165). With dress code, peer pressure can’t exist anymore, it is because no one
looks different than others, and they all wore in the same standards (Firmin,
Smith and Perry 156). Therefore, the students will be equalized without name-brands
(Firmin, Smith and Perry 152), which helped to eliminate the “competition” and
encourage them to respect each other. People proved that uniform and dress code
can be the security measurement, because “they are useful for identifying
gang’s members, as they resist wearing a uniform” (Dussel 193). Therefore, the
uniform can make sure and improve the school security in order to provide a
safe and guarantee environment to their students.
Everything has two sides of pros and cons, and
uniform policy is not one of the exceptions, it has negative side, too. Sometimes,
when you are banning symbolic clothing from one‘s expression, he/she may feel
humiliated. For example, a girl who believed in Muslim requires wearing the
niqab in order to respect their god and themselves. However, if the school
banned girls wearing niqab, they will feel offensive to uncover their faces,
which it may arise to a political issue (Gereluk 647). Therefore, some people
may think the dress code is too autarchic or oppressive. Therefore, people who
set up the dress code should be very careful these kind of sensitive issues,
otherwise, it will be offensive to people’s right and freedom of speech and
religious. On the other hand, according
to the students’ interview from Firmin, Smith and Perry’s research, some
students argued that they can’t see any difference or improvement in their
classroom and the academic results. They also said it didn’t decrease their
distraction at all, as they can get good grade no matter what they wear.
Moreover, they disagree that students would be brilliant all in the sudden
after wearing the school uniform (159). To
determine whether the uniform is effective to their academic result is a
subjective statement. So, the policy has various effects on different students.
Meanwhile, it is clearly that those students who disagree the improvement in
school properly are the grade A students, therefore, they might think the dress
code or uniform wasn’t very effective for them and couldn’t push the grade up
anymore. However, I still strongly think that uniform help certain students
improving their academic results improved, at least to the students who can’t
keep focus in the class and those who have bad grades.
Setting up a dress code coordinator wasn’t
that simple, there are many careful considerations to make. “The U.S.
Department of Education issued a manual outlining the following recommended
policies for successful implementation of new school uniform codes” (Firmin,
Smith and Perry 147). First of all, while in the process of issuing the dress
code, school should encourage the parents to join the conference (Firmin, Smith
and Perry 147). It is because school can only control the students in the
school area, when the kids step out of the school authorized area, school can’t
do anything on them other than their own. In order to have a huge success in
the policy, parent’s involvement is a very critical step. Secondly, school should
“protect student’s religious expression” (Firmin, Smith and Perry 147). As the
example mentioned above, if you ban people from wearing niqab, they and even
the religious will feel offensive and humiliated, which can cause senior
political offers. Therefore, school should make sure they give enough space on these
sensitive issues. Thirdly, school should not stop students from expressing
their other rights, (Firmin, Smith and Perry 147), for instance, students love
football game, and they will buy the favorite team shirt, therefore, school
should not banned the students from wearing to support their team, as it is a
freedom of expression, too. Next, school should determine whether they should
have a voluntary or mandatory school uniform policy” or not (Firmin, Smith and
Perry 147). School should not just blindly follow the trend of having a
mandatory school uniform policy; instead, the school should evaluate their
needs and choose one of the two policies by using the evaluation. Otherwise,
overwhelming or restricting their kids may turn the effective inside out. After
that, when the school choose to have a mandatory policy, the school should also
discuss about the method of withdrawing from the school uniform policy (Firmin,
Smith and Perry 147). It is for emergency, after the school find the mandatory
uniform policy wasn’t suitable for the school, they can soon carry out the
withdrawal policy in order to decrease the losses as many as possible. Other
than that, school shouldn’t “require the student’s to wear message” (Firmin,
Smith and Perry 147). Students should not wear any shirts that printed a
message on it, it is because sometimes, it will be offensive to someone, and easily
increase people’s attention which causes distraction. Other than that, school
should assist the families that go through financial difficulties (Firmin,
Smith and Perry 147). Poor families may not be able to buy a uniform for their
kids, so school should have a good financial program that helps those families.
Last but not least, school should “treat school uniforms as part of an overall
safety program”. As it is mentioned above, educators think that uniform are
useful to determine the gang’s members, and also there are example of
decreasing the crime and suspension rate, therefore, school should treat it as
a safety policy, too.
After following all these requirements or
guidelines, I am sure the school will reach their ultimate goals: academic
improvement and secure environment. Moreover, their students will behave well,
respect each other and become a big family after the school uniform policy or
dress code policy.
Works Cited
Dussel,
Inés. "When Appearances Are Not Deceptive: A Comparative History Of School
Uniforms In Argentina And The
United States (Nineteenth–Twentieth Centuries)." Paedagogica Historica
41.1/2 (2005): 179-195. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
Firmin,
Michael, Suzanne Smith, and Lynsey Perry. "School Uniforms: A Qualitative
Analysis Of Aims And Accomplishments At Two Christian Schools." Journal
Of Research On Christian Education 15.2 (2006): 143-168. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
GERELUK,
DIANNE. "What Not To Wear: Dress Codes And Uniform Policies In The Common
School." Journal Of Philosophy Of Education 41.4 (2007): 643-657. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
Orlans,
Harold. "School's Dress." Change 29.6 (1997): 5. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
Wilson,
Amy Mitchell. "Public School Dress Codes: The Constitutional Debate."
Brigham Young University Education & Law Journal 1 (1998): 147. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 21 Apr. 2012.
