Essay Example: Should Student Wear Uniform

A school uniform is a common attire worn by students, primarily, as a core requirement by some learning institutions. Wearing of school uniforms is a common phenomenon in thousands of primary and secondary schools in different nations around the world. For years, there has been a dilemma on whether learners in schools should wear school uniforms as part of their education systems requirements. This is a persuasive essay illustrating the importance of wearing uniforms in learning institutions.

Uniforms Connect Students to the Rich Culture of a Learning Institution

Wearing of uniforms in schools is not simply an exercise in students conformity to an institutions requirements. Instead, school uniforms connect students to the rich history of a learning institution and also act as a symbol of its distinguished history and culture to its surrounding community. This is an important phenomenon as it makes learners feel as if they belong to something bigger than just themselves. The act of wearing a uniform makes every day a significant occasion for learners. It also indicates the readiness of the students to the daily activity of learning. This is as opposed to schools whose students do not wear uniforms. In such schools, the rich educational culture cannot be portrayed through a common phenomenon among all students such as school uniform. As such, the rich history of such institutions is sometimes lost or poorly portrayed to its neighboring communities.

Focuses Attention of Learners to Academic Performance

School uniforms help learners to pay more attention to their academic performance. This is instead of concentrating on how they look when attending the classroom. Mandated uniforms can be effective in shifting the emphasis of competition in wearing of designer clothes among students to classroom performance and personal achievement. This is as opposed to schools whose students do not wear uniforms. In such schools, learners concentrate on how they look and what they wear while attending the learning institutions. Consequently, this distracts such students on their main goal, which is to focus on education for excellent performance. Additionally, uniforms should be emphasized in schools because they improve discipline, self-respect as well as self-esteem among students. In this case, the focus of students is taken away from distractions such as fashion competition among others.

Uniforms Act as a Measure of Safety in Learning Environments

Wearing of uniforms in schools also enhance the security of students as a result of identical dressing. In such a case, gang identification is obscured, and group violence, as well as theft, are dissipated. Also, students are not identified by their attires, and unauthorized persons entering learning institutions can be easily identified by the security personnel. Moreover, weapons that can be concealed in baggy clothing, jumpsuits, and overcoats cannot be brought into school. This is contrary to schools that do not emphasize on uniforms for their learners. In such schools, gang violence and other criminalities are a major risk to students. Lack of uniforms also subject some learners to social bullying by being perceived as fashion biased individuals in the school. Consequently, such negative factors due to lack of school uniforms ultimately distract the students in their learning process. Additionally, this also affects the academic performance of learners significantly.

Creates a Sense of Collective Singularity in a Learning Environment

Wearing of uniforms in schools creates a feeling of oneness or belonging for students in a learning environment. This means that students attain the feeling that they are on the same team when undertaking various learning activities. Consequently, a sense of loyalty to a school emerges from the students and it is usually accompanied by the use of extra effort by learners to perform in all their academic functions. This is as opposed to students whose schools do not emphasize on the wearing of uniforms. In such schools, learners are more concerned about their personal achievement than the collective achievement of all learners. As a result, there occurs a great disparity in the academic performance of such learners due to lack of collective singularity in learning.

Supports Cultural Inclusion in Schools

Wearing of uniforms helps in the attainment of unity among students in learning institutions. This is amid the presence of cultural diversity in the learners population in some learning institutions. Additionally, the wearing of uniforms eases ethnic and cultural tensions among learners, and it also fosters the upholding of the values of tolerance as well as civility among learners. In addition, the wearing of uniforms bridges the economic differences between students from families with a wide disparity in income levels. For instance, such families may be from the minority ethnic groupings in the United States, who are characterized by high poverty levels (Loue 25). This is as opposed to schools whose students do not wear school uniforms. In such schools, students from moderate economic backgrounds are subjected to exclusion or ridicule mostly on account of their dressing. Additionally, even at their earliest grades, such students may be subjected to the pressure of conforming to idealized standards of dressing in learning institutions. Such standards may be beyond their families economic means, and it might ultimately affect their learning process in schools. As such, by wearing school uniforms, such pressures can be eliminated from the students, and instead, their focus directed towards learning and academic performance.

Uniforms Can Act as a Strategy to Raise Students Expectations.

Additionally, uniforms are effective tools for promoting learners expectations of themselves. By dressing neatly in school uniforms, students tend to become more serious in their learning activities. Often, educationists find learners who wear uniforms to be calmer, politer as well as more attentive in class in comparison to students who do not wear uniforms (French Toast 1). Moreover, such students feel more confident in the way they look, and this projects an equal confidence in themselves. At the same time, such levels of confidence are projected in their academic performance. This is as opposed to students who school in learning institutions that do not mandate the wearing of uniforms. Such students may be subjected to social ridicule based on their dressing standards. As a result, their confidence levels in their learning process is compromised, and this ultimately deteriorates their academic performance.

Uniforms Prepare Learners for Future Professions

The wearing of school uniforms empowers students with the skills of appropriate dressing in an institutional setting. This is because the wearing of school uniforms compels students to be neatly dressed at all times, which is an important aspect emphasized in numerous professional institutions today. As such, such learners can fit well in future professions that mandate smart and appropriate dressing codes. This is as opposed to students who hail from schools that do not mandate the wearing of school uniforms. Such students face dressing challenges in their future job professions. This is because they are not able to maintain appropriate dressing codes in working environments where appropriate dress codes are mandated.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the wearing of school uniforms by students in learning institutions is important in promoting learners academic performance. This is because the wearing of uniforms connects students to the rich culture of their learning institutions. Also, the wearing of uniforms enables learners to focus their attention on academic performance, and at the same time, the uniforms act as a measure of safety in learning environments. Additionally, uniforms create a sense of collective singularity in a learning environment and at the same time support the cultural inclusion of students from diverse cultural backgrounds in schools. Ultimately, wearing of uniforms acts as a strategy of raising students expectations in learning institutions and also prepare learners on how to dress appropriately in their future professions.

Works Cited

BIBLIOGRAPHY French Toast. Why School Uniforms? 2017. 21 June 2017. <https://www.frenchtoast.com/category/school+info/more+about+school+uniforms/why+school+uniforms.do>.

Loue, Sana. Ethical Issues in Sandplay Therapy Practice and Research. New York: Springer, 2015.