Over the past 20-30 years, school uniforms have become more popular in schools. Although uniforms are more common in private schools, there are still a recognizable amount of public schools that require them. Many people only think of the negative things about uniforms, but there are also a lot of positive things about them. This is my list of the pros and cons of school uniforms:
Pro- Uniforms allow getting ready to take less time
A lot of people spend a long time getting ready in the morning. A majority of the time is spent choosing an outfit. If outfits are already chosen for students, they don’t have to wake up as early to pick them out. This can be beneficial to students because even just getting a little bit more sleep, will make the brain’s performance improve and your mood can be improved.
Con- Students just don’t like them
This is probably one of the biggest issues with school uniforms- many students just do not like them. Students express themselves with their outfits and I think that outfits can affect people’s moods. School uniforms honestly look pretty boring and not many people actually want to wear them. They probably aren’t comfortable and they aren’t colorful either.
Pro- Less dress coding
At our school dress coding used to be a pretty bad problem, but now that crop tops are allowed to be worn, there has been a lot more leniency with outfit choices and I haven’t noticed any where near as much dress coding as there has been in previous years. Most schools are a lot stricter with their dress codes than our school has become, and they have a lot of issues with students not following the dress code. I think that uniforms could be a solution for this but it’s not ideal for most students.
Con- Promotes less creativity
Like I said previously, many people express themselves through their clothing choices. Many people love picking out their clothes in the morning, and some even pick them out at night. I know some people really love putting together new outfits and looking for new outfit inspiration, and school uniforms take that away.
Pro- Everyone wears the same thing
This can be seen as a pro or a con, but I think that everyone wearing the same thing could eliminate some problems. I don’t see it often at our school, but some people make fun of others because of the clothes they wear. We’ve all seen this at some point and if everyone was wearing the same thing, this wouldn’t be a problem.
Con- Can be expensive
School uniforms can be pretty expensive. Most school uniforms have the schools name or logo on them and some are even personalized with the students’ names. As you can imagine, this isn’t cheap and is probably more expensive than regular clothing. It may seem more reasonable because you don’t have to buy new school clothes every year, but you still need clothes for the weekend and the summertime, so it really isn’t cheaper than buying regular clothes.
Pro- Equality/inclusion
With everyone wearing the same outfit, I think it would decrease the “levels of hierarchy” we see at our school. Often times people split into different social groups based on style and appearance, but if everyone wears the same clothes this is likely to decrease.
