Uniforms Persuasive Essay

FCA’s                                                                Alisa Lytvyn
1. Supporting details                                            March 16, 2009
2. Parallel structure                                              English 6-1
3. Sophisticated vocabulary                                 School Uniforms

Dear Superintendent DiMuzio:
    “When we lose the right to be different, we lose the right to be free.” (Charles Evan Hughes, US Supreme Court Justice, 1925) Schools around the United States often have problems over what their students should wear, because clothing can become a distraction from education. More and more schools are deciding to enforce dress codes to lower behaviour problems. However, in trying to solve one problem, uniforms create new problems, like disgruntlement among students. Uniforms are not a great decision, because they limit children’s shining creativity, they often cost more than regular clothes, and they will not improve, and even possibly worsen the behaviour of students.
   In a school, creativity is prized just as much as intelligence: art class, music class, and projects are places at least a little bit of creativity is required. Uniforms suppress the creativity of students by not letting them choose out outfits. Many children really like having their own sense of fashion, their own sense of style. Children also have pride in themselves if they have the newest pair of stylish boots, or a T-Shirt that shows a little bit of who they are on the outside. Many teachers say that fancy clothing can provide distractions, but distractions can also be open windows, pictures, or any thing around the classroom: children with wandering minds can find a distraction anywhere.
    “Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes.” (Henry David Thoreau) Uniforms are likely to be costly, since many are specially designed. If you look at any designer clothing store, you will see that the prices of the clothing are sky-high compared to buying regular clothing at your average store. Even if you only have to buy two to three uniforms, you will also need to buy ten to fifteen sets of clothing to wear after school, instead of just buying ten to fifteen outfits to wear everywhere.
  Many people believe that uniforms will reduce bullying. But “If fifty million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.” (Anatole France) Even if uniforms are enforced, bullies will find other reasons to torment people. Actually, bullying about clothing isn’t the main type of bullying right now: cyber bullying is, and cyber bullying happens because of bigger reasons, like religion or ethnics.
Some people argue that studies have been done about bullying, and that they showed that schools with uniforms had a reduced rate of bullying. However, this “reduced rate” was later proved to a minuscule difference.
    Enforcing uniforms is not very wise, since they limit creativity of students, and they cost more than regular clothing. Some people say that making children wear uniforms can reduce bullying, but that is not necessarily true. Uniforms go completely against the American beliefs: “America has believed in differentiation, not uniformity, lies the path of progress. It acted on this belief, it has advanced human happiness, and it has prospered.” (Louis D. Brandeis)