Persuasive Essay Sample: Uniforms are Not Beneficial

Uniforms are in schools around the world, and they usually are to eliminate discrimination and rebellion. Others claim that they help students focus in class, but all of these pros to wearing uniforms come from people who do not wear them. Many of the claims these people make do not even have any evidence of working, either. Some of these positives come from uniform companies to make money. Uniforms are bad for scholars and harm them and their families in many ways, such as expression, sexism, expense, religion, comfort, and even human rights. 

One of the issues with uniforms is the sexism they entail. Traditionally, boys wear shorts and pants and girls wear skirts. This rule separates the genders and traces back to the 19th and 20th centuries, where it was illegal in many US cities for women to wear pants. Similar to legal prosecution, girls can get dress-coded and even face suspension for wearing pants or shorts. Do schools want to allow outdated morals and mistreatment of women and their rights? Many schools view women wearing pants as a negative, but no one ever made the privileged, male-led school boards and principals wear an irritating skirt that is either absurdly tight or so loose it is comparable to a bag. Schools are allowing people to make choices that they are not accurately educated on and have not endured. Why should people get to make decisions for things that do not affect them? 

Another bigoted dilemma is the cost. Uniform prices are exorbitant from the origin. What makes this issue even worse is that uniform pieces for girls are more expensive than those for boys. So not only do young women have to wear uniforms they dislike, but their parents are paying higher prices than the parents of young men. Lands End is a clothing company that caters to uniforms. A boys' shirt is $19.95. A girls' shirt, with no difference except for its shorter sleeves, is $25.95. Parents often have to buy two shirts, two skirts or shorts, one or two gym uniforms, a jacket, and a formal uniform. A single blazer for St. Theresa's Catholic School is $155.95. That is for something a child dislikes and will outgrow very quickly. Some schools, including STCS, have a dress code for things like socks and shoes. Rather than allowing their child to wear their current shoes, parents often have to buy new shoes. A pair of white Nike shoes that would suit the dress code is $80. And don't forget the socks. Six pairs of socks that are within the dress code $22. After some number-crunching, an 8th-grade girl's uniform set at St. Theresa's costs $608. That's two regular uniforms, two gym uniforms, six pairs of socks, one pair of shoes, one mass uniform, and one sweatshirt. A boys' uniform set, which has the same items plus a belt, is $508. So not only are there differences in the actual uniform, but women have to pay more money so they won't be reprimanded for breaking the dress code. This price difference means schools are implementing sexism within our children, and parents are paying for it. How can we expect our young boys to treat young girls as equals if their schools do not? That is a vicious double standard run by schools nationwide. 

Furthermore, religion is a problem. In many schools, religious attire such as Hijabs and Yarmulkes are not allowed, because they are 'hats'. And are students permitted to say, "I plead the first!" Of course not! According to schools, that's disrespectful, and they are breaking the dress code. So are Muslim women expected to break their religious rules? Are Jewish men supposed to disrespect their faith? That's what some uniforms support. Religion is one of the earliest signs of civilization, and now, some schools are choosing to disregard its importance. In some countries, not wearing a hijab is punishable by death. Even if that won't happen when students don't wear them, the penalty is severe within the Islam faith. Schools shouldn't promote uniforms that can be considered sinful.

Students dislike wearing uniforms. This is not an assumption, it is factual evidence. In a student survey by Scholastic, 2,383 US citizen scholars dislike uniforms. Only 530 children argue that they like uniforms. The study was performed in six regions of the United States: the central, northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast, and west regions. In every region except one, students overwhelmingly voted that uniforms negatively affected them.

Possibly the most poignant reason why uniforms are not beneficial is the issue of human rights. The Constitution of the United States of America states in its first amendment that, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." Freedom of speech not only encompasses the ability to say anything, but also the freedom of expression. For example, in the Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District case in 1968, high school students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam war. Their school district wanted to punish them for breaking their uniform rules. However, in 1969, the court ruled that "students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate." This is relevant because this proves that the Supreme Court of the United States considered choosing how to dress is a constitutional right, designated under freedom of speech. Even if the arguments before were not convincing enough, constitutional rights are something no US citizen should be denied, adult or not. 

Some might argue that uniforms help students, from improving test scores to helping them focus. A recent study performed by researchers at the University of Houston found that uniforms don't improve student achievement. The study concluded that uniforms do not affect grades. The issue with the argument that uniforms help students focus is that they are more preoccupied with how much they dislike uniforms. While this is a legitimate argument, it is overwhelmed by the negatives to uniforms. Encyclopedia Britannica states that uniforms promote conformity, emphasize socio-economic divisions, are driven by commercial interest, and delay the transition into adulthood. Another argument is that students cannot be trusted to choose what they would like to wear without having spaghetti straps or wearing shirts with vulgar language. There is a simple solution to this that would not conflict with any of the issues brought up previously. Dress code. Dress code allows students to wear what they want, and express themselves freely, without promoting negative ideals. Students get to practice their constitutional rights, without breaking focus or negatively affecting grades. 

In conclusion, uniforms negatively affect students and should be removed. If schools want to enforce non-distracting dress, they can implement a dress code. This way, students can practice their rights, parents don't have to pay the extra money, and social issues dissolve. 

Works Cited

ACLU. “Tinker v. Des Moines - Landmark Supreme Court Ruling on Behalf of Student Expression.” 

American Civil Liberties Union, 2006, Constitute Project. “United States of America 1789 (Rev. 1992).” Constituteproject.org, 2018, 

“Constitutional Rights.” LII / Legal Information Institute, 

Montie, McKenna. “Why Uniforms Are a Bad Idea.” Wiscnews.com, 27 Mar. 2019, 

Oppenheimer, Mark. “The Downsides of School Uniforms.” The New Yorker, 2017, 

ProCon.org. “School Uniforms.” Procon.org, ProCon.org, 24 Oct. 2018, 

“Pros and Cons of Schools Requiring Uniforms.” Moms, 18 Jan. 2020, 

“‘School Uniforms’ Survey Results.” Scholastic.com, 2019, teacher.scholastic.com/kidusasu/uniforms/chart1.htm.

“Why School Uniforms Are Bad - 703 Words | Internet Public Library.” Www.ipl.org, 

Wilde, Marian. “Do Uniforms Make Schools Better?” Parenting, GreatSchools, 25 Apr. 2014,