Dress codes in public schooling have recently been a controversial issue nation-wide.
Mandatory uniform policy's measures and emphasize the benefits of students on specific behavioral and academic outcomes. The arguments for the issue are just as strong as those against the issue. There are two main points surrounding school uniforms: performance and school and reduction of violence due to uniformity.
Uniforms are argued to positively affect student safety by: lowering student victimization, decreasing gang activity and fights and differentiating strangers from students in school building. Dress codes in public schools would be good, in order to cut down the violence, which would eliminate the problems of wearing hats or jackets that could carry weapons to school.
Every school should adopt some kind of dress code so it will cut down some of the everyday problems that schools deal with today. Problems such as violence and substance abuse are on the rise in schools. Dress codes would decrease the amount of violence and substance abuse in schools.
David Brunsma, from the Department of Sociology, Morton Hall of Alabama, and author of the article School Uniforms, performed a study at a local junior high school and noticed uniforms did actually decrease violence more than those schools who had no dress codes at all (2-3).
If a simple shirt and tie with dress pants were worn by boys and some type of skirt or dress for girls, baggy clothing would be eliminated which could conceal weapons such as guns or knives. Obviously, some type of dress code would stop this.
According to Loren Siegel, Director of Public Education for the American Civil Liberties Union author of Point of View: School Uniforms, in 1996, President Bill Clinton encouraged the use of school uniforms as part of an education program that sought to improve safety and discipline. Since then, a growing number of school systems in the U.S. have donned stricter dress codes and