The Argument Against Uniforms in Schools Essay Example

I am here to persuade you to discard school uniforms. Schools insist on uniforms being worn to keep a community and make us all a collective, which is hypocritical of them because they also tell us not to try to be like everyone else. Colleges and schools in other countries don’t have uniforms and the students there are still working competently. Some schools also have different uniforms depending on your gender or age, which conflicts with their ‘community’ argument. If any schools should be wearing uniforms it should be colleges, because it’s probably harder to confuse a primary school-aged child with a teacher than a college aged-student. Why are schools so adamant on uniforms?

Consider the costs. The average price of school uniform and sportswear in the United Kingdom is over £100 per pupil - meaning that throughout both primary and secondary, a parent of just one pupil would have to spend over £1200 on the costs, and that’s just on uniforms - bags, shoes, and coats haven’t even been mentioned. There’s pressure from peers in schools nowadays to have the most expensive, extravagant, upscale accessories; you can almost hear the money being wasted.

Let’s not forget that most children aren’t fond of uniforms. After being surveyed, 59% of children aged 6 to 15 remark that they prefer to wear their own clothes instead, and, in a similar survey, 70% of children exclaimed that - if schools were to scrap uniforms - they would not be concerned. So if you keep trying to force children into clothing they don’t like, you’re almost as bad as the monster that designed it.

You may ask, ‘Why haven’t children taken a shine to uniforms?’. The answer simply is, they’re uncomfortable. Put yourself in the shoes of a four-year-old starting primary school; you’re young and unaware, and are taken to a large and frightening place you’ve never seen before, you are taken away from your parents all morning, and are so glad you get to go home again. What are you even more glad about? That you get to remove the annoying attire you’ve been forced to wear. 

In conclusion, uniforms need to be thrown out. They’re pricey, torturing, and futile, and it’s shocking that it can still be used as a criterion for grades.