Final paper

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.