public schools should be able to require their students to wear uniforms." (Portner) This statement would be agreeable if one was uneducated on the matter at hand. As a matter of fact, school uniforms bring on problems that the school board did not see coming. For example, the costs of the uniforms create an ordeal, there are restrictions on freedom of expression and the behavior and beliefs of the children are affected by the uniforms that are forced upon them.

Uniforms are an identifying outfit or style of dress (dictionary.com). Uniforms are also costly. On an average, according to Truman Lewis’s article on family strains due to uniforms, a parent will spend anywhere from $100 to $400 on uniforms (“Back to School Spending Strains Family Budgets”). Different schools require different brands, different styles, and most will require even a gym uniform to be bought to avoid inappropriate short length for the girls. Not only do the actual articles of clothing cost more, but the child, or the parent of the child, is going to spend extra money on the clothes the child wants to wear outside of the school walls.

One way for children to express themselves is through the style of clothing they wear. It sets the child apart from another. Uniforms are teaching that it is acceptable to be like every other person. A cloned generation is not what the nation needs; it needs variety. America is based on variety and that explains its successfulness. It is okay to be different, or set apart. This is where the roles of behavior take place and the beliefs of the students. When all they see are uniforms, and everyone is the “same,” they will not know how to interact with people that are different from themselves. Uniforms also teach students that in order to get along and to succeed, one must