Guest Article by Edwin Choi of K12directoryofschools

School Uniforms: Choking Self Expression

Where do you sit on the war over whether or not students should wear school uniforms? Before jumping on the bandwagon that uniforms keep today’s chaotic youth in check, consider the downsides a uniformed campus has on a child’s personal and social development.

Self expression is stifled. School uniforms eliminate one of the key methods elementary, secondary, and high school students alike use to express individuality. In a society that boasts the importance of individual success, putting a cork on the search for the self could be nothing short of lethal to a child’s future experiences. Experts also believe there is no way to completely stop self expression in the psychological development of children and teenagers, so suffocating it with uniforms often leads to other, more inappropriate means of expressing the self.

Students are forced into a mold. When self expression and individuality are choked out of a student body, only a wash is left behind. Students are not exposed to the concept of diversity and go through cultural shock when facing the “real world” of America, where a mold is the last thing we wriggle ourselves into.

Students are not comfortable in uniform. I don’t know about you, but when I sit down to read a book, it’s usually in the most comfortable outfit I can find with a warm cup of chai. If a student is forced into one of the most uncomfortable outfits imaginable—like a uniform they like despise and could very well be made out of itchy, rigid cloth to boot—they’re not going to read their textbooks with the same ease as their non-uniform counterparts. No student is interested in learning when they are not comfortable in their own second skin.

Uniforms can get expensive. Some experts claim that uniforms eliminate the need to purchase expensive, name-brand clothing to boast a child’s popularity; yet school uniforms do not come with the cheapest price tag, and you’re going to need multiples to get through the week. Students that are forced in uniform are also going to want “normal” clothes to embrace individuality outside of school. Two different wardrobes can exhaust a parent’s wallet.

The next time you jump to the side of school uniforms, consider the negative impact a uniform has on your child. Your child’s academic performance is just as much based on their happiness as it is adhering to strict and seemingly necessary rules.

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