A very common debate at school is whether the uniform is effective or not, coming from an all-girls school. I asked people from different backgrounds and different classes to gather their opinions on this debate to provide the most perspective possible.
The first person I asked came from a co-ed public school, which is the perspective she is speaking from. She said no, she doesn’t think uniforms are effective because she wants to wear free dress and the uniform makes her more tired during class. She says the absence of the excitement of wearing a unique outfit makes her less confident about her personality. I asked another person, and she said that it depends, because uniforms are easy to put on in the morning but they also don’t allow for creative expression in clothing. They allow students to perform better without any distractions in school, but restrict the creativity of the individual. Even though this student came from a school with a very strict uniform, she still agreed to the fact that in school, clothes should be a free expression of someone’s personality and uniqueness.
Another person asked, ‘why do we have uniforms in an all-girls school? If it wasn’t all-girls, then yes, uniforms would be good so students can focus on their work, but in an already-normalized environment, we don’t need them.’ In other words, she thinks the uniform is in place for gender reasons only, which is not related to the effectiveness of education. Therefore, the uniform is not valid for making a student’s academic life easier, but rather their social and personal life. This student came from a private school without uniform, which influences her opinion. Similarly to this student, another said that she thinks uniforms are good for the time in the morning because they don’t need to be thought about, and it also normalizes the identities of the people at school. For example, at our school, it’s not allowed to wear spaghetti strap tank tops. The reasoning behind this rule is probably not the same as the ones at co-ed schools, because we’re all girls at the school, but the rule allows people who might not have these types of clothing not to feel left out. Normalizing the “trends” is what she said she was trying to get at. Personally, I agree with this student’s point, because the dress code and uniform allow students to feel more comfortable in their clothing, since everyone’s wearing it. This allows everyone to learn in a non-judgemental environment based on clothing.
Some other students said that they don’t mind the uniform because it is easy for them in the morning and they like the variety. At our school, students can choose between 3 colors of polos and sweatpants, skirts, or pants, with a variety of outerwear sweaters and sweatshirts. They think it is effective in learning because it doesn’t make them distracted, but they would also be fine with free dress.
Overall, students agreed that the uniforms are effective in education, but not in expression. Some think they are ‘normalization factors’ while others think they’re merely dress codes without reason. This debate is common among most schools around the world, mainly because it is so subjective.
