Dress solution Essay

America’s schools have been faced with increased challenges over the last several old ages. Aside from seeking out new ways to educate pupils and maintaining up with alterations in engineering. school leaders are confronting a continued rise in societal jobs in their schools. Among these jobs are incidents of school force. pack activity and intimidation which create a tenseness on school evidences countrywide that prevents many schools from carry throughing their authorization to educate pupils. Sadly. some of the most tragic incidents that occur in schools stem from the type of vesture that is being worn by pupils.

Frequently larceny and force can be linked to designer apparels and expensive places. Sometimes dressing bearing colourss and insignias may be used to place gang association. thereby advancing fright and bullying among pupils. Certain manners of vesture besides lend themselves toward easy concealing arms. Furthermore. the force per unit area to be stylish and have the latest apparels can take its toll financially and emotionally on pupils and parents. These issues are get downing to derive impulse. particularly among parents. in school territories across the state.

Parental support has become the force behind the addition in school territories following pupil frock policies. A recent study in Hoke County. North Carolina showed an norm of 64 per centum of parents supported uniforms in the schools. Student frock besides drew the attending of the former President Clinton. In a memoranda on school uniforms to the Secretary of Education. he directed the Secretary to “develop information about how local school territories have made uniforms portion of their school safety and subject plans. ” He besides requested that information about school uniforms be made available to every school territory in the state.

There are no perfect solutions to the societal jobs that exist in today’s schools. However. schools can and should see practical stairss to make an ambiance of regard and heed for their pupils. Implementing a pupil frock policy is one such option. Although small formal research has been done on the consequence these policies have on pupils. the feedback given by those who have implemented school frock policies indicate these policies are doing a difference. This paper will research the types of school frock policies—school uniforms and frock codes—and the effects they are holding in today’s schools. Student Dress as Policy

The attending given to school frock codifications and uniforms has become more and more focussed over the last several old ages. As duologue additions among parents. pupils and school functionaries about what redresss may be to cover with the jobs confronting today’s schools. pupil frock policies have moved to the head. The issue received countrywide acknowledgment in 1998 when. in his State of the Union reference. President Clinton recommended school uniforms as a method of cut downing school force. Since that clip. there has been a noteworthy addition in the figure of schools that have considered and implemented a frock policy for their pupils.

More late. in his State of the State reference. North Carolina Governor Mike Easley recommended school frock codifications as a means to turn to behaviour in North Carolina’s schools. In his address Governor Easley asked every school board to “enforce a sensible frock codification policy… because pupils come to school to learn—not to party. ” It appears that leaders on many degrees have begun to acknowledge the possible benefits that school frock policies can hold on the school environment. Uniforms: When implementing a school frock policy. some schools are more directives while others take a more inactive attack.

School uniforms are surely the more directing method because they tell pupils what they must have on. A school uniform policy requires pupils to have on similar looking outfits to category each twenty-four hours. Some schools do offer an “opt-out” option if the parents agree to it. Others will besides do exclusion for pupils whose spiritual beliefs may be hindered by the uniform. The first known public school in the state to follow a school policy on uniforms was Cherry Hill Elementary in Baltimore. Maryland in 1987. The first major school territory to necessitate school uniforms was California’s Long Beach Unified School District in 1994.

6 Harmonizing to the National Center for Education Statistics ( NCES ) of the U. S. Department of Education ; merely about three per centum of public schools require uniforms to be worn by their pupils. Nationwide. at least 37 provinces. including North Carolina. give local school territories the authorization to necessitate uniforms if they choose to. The first county in North Carolina to necessitate uniforms was Halifax County. As of the 2000-2001 school twelvemonth. they are the lone school territory in the province to necessitate uniforms in all their schools.

10 The county school unvarying ordinances require simple and in-between school pupils to have on certain combinations of khaki undersides with navy or white shirts ( tartan jumpers are allowed for females ) . High school pupils must have on a assortment of bloomerss and shirts combinations depending on the school they attend. The Halifax unvarying policy does ease punishments for fiscal adversity and exempts pupils from have oning a uniform if it imposes a significant load on a student’s exercising of spiritual belief. Though no other school territories require uniforms district-wide. some single schools within school territories have chosen to necessitate uniforms.

For illustration. in North Carolina’s largest school district—Charlotte/ Mecklenburg—23 of the 144 schools have chosen to necessitate uniforms even though they are non required to make so. Dress Codes: Another less rigorous attack to student frock policy is the school frock codification. A school frock codification instructs pupils on what they can non have on alternatively of stating them what to have on ( i. e. no chapeaus. no tight adjustment apparels. no vulgar or obscene word pictures on vesture. etc. ) . Dress codifications are much more common in North Carolina’s schools than unvarying policies. Out of the 117 school territories in this province. at least 48 have some signifier of frock codification in topographic point.

One of this state’s most noteworthy school frock codification policies is in Johnston County. Their policy non merely prohibits inappropriate vesture such as short trunkss and drooping bloomerss. but besides prohibits unnatural hair colourss and organic structure acute jewellery. Students who violate the policy may have a short term suspension from school for up to 10 yearss and pupils who repeatedly violate the policy may be suspended for the balance of the twelvemonth. Other counties. such as Cabarrus. hold similar policies. but leave the duty of developing regulations and ordinance up to each school’s principal.

The Consequence: There has been small scientific survey done on the effects of pupil frock policies. However. there is empirical grounds that continues to mount. particularly with the lifting figure of schools who are sing these options. One study of schools countrywide conducted by the National Association of Elementary School Principals ( NAESP ) revealed that one out of five ( 21 per centum ) populace. private and parochial school rules had either instigated a unvarying policy. were presently composing one. or had it on their docket for consideration.

With so many schools and school territories following school frock policies. it is of import to understand why so many have chosen to make so. The intent for most. if non all. schools that are following uniforms and frock codifications is to turn to the issues of subject and academic accomplishment. Classroom breaks are platitude in today’s schools and holding methods in topographic point to advance a better acquisition environment have ne’er been more of import. Furthermore. small argument remains over the dangers and force per unit areas that exist in schools today.

With the increased shows of school force. many school functionaries. parents and pupils have become more determined to happen solutions. In finding the effectivity of school frock policies. there is no more compelling grounds that the feedback from the school principals themselves. Though the bulk of public schools do non necessitate uniforms. the feedback is really positive from those who do. Harmonizing to one study conducted by the NAESP. principals of schools that have unvarying policies in topographic point believe that pupils stay more disciplined and focused in their surveies and experience less peer force per unit area.

Harmonizing to the survey. principals identified the undermentioned effects of school uniforms: 79 per centum believed uniforms positively affected schoolroom subject ; 67 per centum saw an betterment in pupil concentration ; 62 per centum noticed a positive consequence on school safety ; 72 per centum saw an addition in school spirit ; 85 per centum noted a better perceptual experience of the school by the community ; and 75 per centum indicated a positive consequence on equal force per unit area among pupils.

In North Carolina. the feedback from Halifax County is besides positive. Dr. Viola Vaughan. rule at Southeast Halifax High School said that their school uniform policy has done a batch for the pupils both academically and behaviorally. “Discipline issues have decreased enormously. ” she said. “when kids look about at each other. they don’t see the name trade names and vesture that frequently divides them. ” Dr. Vaughan pointed out that even school assemblies are quieter because pupils act more respectfully.

Alan Sledge. helper rule at Brawley Middle School in Halifax County. said that their unvarying policy was “very effectual and places a really valuable function on the academic scene because the childs are more focussed on their books over their apparels. ” Feedback on school frock codifications has besides been positive. Harmonizing to Don Woodard. a high school principal in Johnston County. the student’s “demeanor is better and there are fewer breaks because of badgering. or pupils being uncomfortable because of the dress that others are have oning.

” He besides pointed out that the pupils have more “poise and are more well behaved when they have the sense of being dressed for the juncture of larning. ”22 Commenting on his school’s frock codification. Shelly Marsh. a in-between school rule besides from Johnston County. said: “We have high expectations… by holding a frock codification. pupils know there are outlooks and guidelines that they must adhere to. Students’ attitudes are different harmonizing to their frock. ” Along with school principals. the U. S.

Department of Education has acknowledged the positive consequence that school uniforms can hold. In their publication “Manual on School Uniforms. ” which was ordered to be sent to every school territory in the United States by President Clinton. the Department of Education cited the following possible benefits of school uniforms: ( 1 ) diminishing force and larceny ; ( 2 ) forestalling gang members from have oning pack vesture at school ; ( 3 ) transfusing pupil subject ; ( 4 ) assisting to defy peer force per unit area ; ( 5 ) assisting pupils concentrate on faculty members ; and ( 6 ) aiding in the acknowledgment of interlopers.

Safety and Other Benefits Of all the possible benefits of school frock policies. none is more of import than bettering school safety. With pupil force invariably doing the headlines. the blare for solutions continues to turn. Safety in schools today is indispensable. and making an environment that reduces incidents of bullying and force is necessary for pupils to larn efficaciously. Unfortunately. the demand for high priced interior decorator vesture frequently puts pupils at hazard of larceny and force from other pupils.

Clothing that indicates association with packs is besides a job and can do bullying and fright in schools. The National School Safety and Security Services. an organisation that consults nationally on school safety and crisis readiness issues. supports school uniforms and frock codifications as a manner to “contribute toward bettering the school climate” because it “can play a important function in cut downing security menaces and bettering school safety. ” Harmonizing to this safety organisation. frock codifications and uniforms can assist cut down possible jobs by:

( 1 ) cut downing struggle stemming from socioeconomic position. such as remarks and personal onslaughts about who has better vesture ; ( 2 ) cut downing ways in which pack members can place themselves which. in kernel. is a signifier of bullying and creates fear ; ( 3 ) cut downing the hazard of pupils being robbed of expensive vesture. jewellery. etc. ; ( 4 ) in the instance of uniforms. assisting school decision makers to more easy place non pupils. intruders. and other visitants in the hallways who stand out in the crowd.

Noteworthy grounds of the effects of a pupil frock policy can be seen from the wake of California’s Long Beach school territory implementing compulsory school uniforms. Since they began necessitating uniforms. offense in the school territory has dropped by 91 per centum. suspensions have decreased by 90 per centum. sex discourtesies have been reduced by 96 per centum and hooliganism is down 69 per centum. Interestingly. these betterments came approximately without any other security steps holding been implemented at the clip uniforms became compulsory.

In add-on. a survey released by the Harvard School of Education found that the Long Beach school territory was among six territories in the nation’s 34 largest metropoliss that dramatically reduced their dropout rates. During the past five old ages. dropout rates have declined from 11. 2 to 2. 7 per centum. The Center for the Prevention of School Violence. though non backing any specific frock codification policies. points out that each of the “three Ps of school safety” — “place” ( physical security of the school ) . “people” ( those in the school ) and “purpose” ( mission of the school ) —can be impacted by school frock policies.

This is because frock policies define what is appropriate for the school puting while impacting the manner in which people relate and interact with one another. The Center acknowledges that though the research on pupil frock policies is limited. the anecdotal grounds supports the being of some signifier of pupil frock policy. It is of import to retrieve that the solution to school force does non lie in one individual approach—certainly non in school frock policies entirely. Yet. because of the likely benefit of controling school force. they should be considered along with other solutions.

Student frock policies can besides profit pupils far beyond maintaining them safe. Schools with uniforms say that their pupils have better self-pride because without the name trade name vesture on show. the pupils are placed on an equal degree. Poorer pupils do non experience and are non treated as inferior because they don’t have nice apparels. This equality besides seems to make a sense of school integrity. Dr. Viola Vaughan and Allan Sledge. both principals from Halifax county have witnessed an addition in school integrity since uniforms were required. Dr.

Arnold Goldstein. caput of the Center for Research on Aggression at Syracuse University agrees. He believes that uniforms promote a “sense of belonging” because they promote a feeling of community among the pupils and assist do a troubled pupil feel like portion of a supportive whole. These effects contribute to a school’s overall sense of order and subject. As a consequence. the acquisition environment improves—making it easier for instructors to learn and for pupils to larn. Student frock policies besides cut down the cost of vesture for pupils.

Parents whose kids wear uniforms do non hold to pass excess money on multiple outfits for their kids. Alternatively. they need merely put in a few outfits that conform to the school’s uniform policy. This is peculiarly helpful to the low-income parents who frequently feel the fiscal load of supplying suited apparels for their kids. USA Today reported that in 1998 parents of pupils in non-uniform schools spent an norm of $ 185 per kid while parents of kids in unvarying schools spent an norm of $ 104 per kid.

33 Uniforms besides minimize the confusion about what to have on to school each twenty-four hours. alleviating pupils of the pandemonium of taking and outfit each twenty-four hours. Dress codifications are besides helpful for parents when shopping for their kids because they provide guidelines for parents when buying apparels for their children—often governing out inordinate and expensive articles of vesture that struggle with the school’s policies and maintaining pupil frock within sensible boundaries.

Student frock policies offer authorization figures in the schools the chance to expose their ain dedication and subject. Some schools with dress policies include ( or widen the option to ) instructors to take part every bit good. Surely. if instructors and decision makers exhibit the same subject that is required of the pupils. it will reenforce the guidelines and do pupils more likely to follow.