On the first day of class, Professor Michael asked us to write about our opinions on school uniforms. The question that was asked to the class was, “should public schools require students to wear uniforms?” The class listened as each person read their opinion and commented on the subject matter. On our first assignment, Professor Michael provided two articles that relate to the discussion, “Uniforms accord importance to scholarly pursuits” by Joanne McHugh and “They promote rigid conformity over independent thought” by Anndee Hochman from the The Philadelphia Inquirer.
According to Joanne McHugh, student uniforms are beneficial. She expressed that kids dress more for leisure activities instead of business casual, which would not prepare them for the future. McHugh felt that uniforms can help educate students on how to properly dress, since they lack positive role models who could show them proper attire for the various occasions. She expressed another benefit for enforcing uniforms in the school environment is the elimination of social status among students. In addition, uniforms can benefit adults too. McHugh stated uniforms can benefit parents financially, allowing them to save money because they will not need to purchase school clothes during the year.
The author Anndee Hochman discussed the limitations and discomfort that uniforms can cause young ladies. She said, since most uniforms have the girls wearing skirts, abolishing the uniform policies would allow them to participate in more activities comfortably without worrying about anyone looking under their skirts, as well as the girls’ legs being exposed to cold weather. Hochman states, “If education is supposed to teach children how to make thoughtful decisions in an atmosphere of competing influences, what better medium than their own clothing?” (Par 11) She believes instead of forcing these