In today’s society, “fitting in” will often decide a child’s grade school experience. Whether it’s wearing the latest designer clothing or their views on social topics, everything is heavily scrutinized, and for no good reason. There are continuous stories in the media highlighting cases of bullying, and the reasons often vary, but one thing doesn’t change, the victims are always treated as an outcast. This discrimination in the academic atmosphere can result in long term performance issues for the child. According to Coutts, Gruman, & Schneider (2017), “children who experience social, behavioral and emotional difficulties in school are at a disadvantage for reaching their academic potential” (pg. 241). Solving the issue of bullying will take much more than a blog post, and instead needs to be addressed at the home level. Yet, schools are responsible for the safety and conduct of these children for at least eight hours a day. So, what can they do to some what deter this unwanted attention towards the victims?
As mentioned earlier, the latest attire and fashion is one topic that brings attention to kids in school. I can remember in high school; numerous kids were classified as “cool” and were always particularly well dressed with the latest releases. However, this social classification does no good especially in a school setting. Jafeth Sanchez of the University of Nevada studied the opinions and effects of student uniforms in several counties throughout Nevada. Sanchez (2013) found that “although 90 percent of the students indicated they did not like wearing uniforms, various benefits to wearing uniforms were reported, including decreases in discipline, gang involvement and bullying; and increases in safety, ease of going to school, confidence and self-esteem”. In my opinion these reported benefits far outweigh the opinions of students “not liking” uniforms.
One of my first experiences in bootcamp was being brought to the barbershop and having my hair cut. One after the other, recruits would cycle in and out of the barber chair. After a few hours, we were lined back up, but this time something was different. There was no difference… let that set in. In the matter of a few hours several hundred individuals with different hairstyles, clothes, glasses, and other accessories entered a building and left now looking similar to their peers. There was one style of glasses, one haircut, and one uniform. We were no longer individuals and instead were now a team. We would continue on with each other for the next few months, building some of the strongest friendships. At the time I dreaded every minute of it, but now I look back and see the bigger picture. In today’s world individuality and self-expression is praised, however there is a time and place for that. By implementing school uniforms, you are taking away the child’s ability to stand out through appearance, leaving them to focus on what they’re attending school for. An education.
Coutts, L. M., Gruman, J. A., & Schneider, F. W. (2017). Applied social psychology understanding and addressing social and practical problems(3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, Inc.
Sanchez, J. (2013, April 23). School uniform study: College of Education researchers conduct study on uniform impacts. Retrieved from https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2013/school-uniform-study.
Hello!
You brought up an important topic, how “fitting in” affects education. Dress and fashion was a big topic in schools and an easy way for bullies to pick on classmates. I find it interesting all the benefits you found from the study for wearing uniforms. I agree with you that this can help stop bullying in schools. As you said, I don’t think “not liking uniforms” is a good enough reason not to have them when it can help many students.