Angus Young, of the rock band AC/DC, is who comes to mind when picturing a school uniform. His costume is like that of an English schoolboy dressed in shorts and a funky hat. Another image that comes to my mind when thinking about school uniforms is that of a group of young fifth-graders, all wearing the same colored uniforms, assembled in front of a Catholic School. Such pictures of students dressing in school uniforms have led to stereotyping and a negative attitude towards schools enforcing a uniform policy. Students being thought of as robots without the ability to express themselves freely in a society that says you must express yourself and be an individual at all cost. The problem is that the cost to express oneself and be an individual is high in some cases. In Detroit, a 15-year-old boy was killed for his $86 basketball shoes (Grantham 5). I believe that the cost of life is too high. It would be better to be laughed at and teased about wearing a uniform than to be shot by some gang member that did not like the color of the pants I am wearing. School uniforms have been the cause of many jokes and harassment to those who wear them. In the past public schools considered uniforms old and out-dated trends. Recently though, many public schools have started to implement and enforce a uniform policy. The implementation of a school uniform mandate is important if we are still striving to improve the quality of education that our students receive. The arguments against school uniforms are fading while those for (or promoting) them are gaining ground. Today many public schools are mandating and enforcing school uniforms for their students. The San Antonio School district requires all 60,000 of its student s to wear uniforms. Over 60% of Fort Worth’s elementary schools require their students to wear uniforms (Radcliffe 1999). In fact, in 1995 the Texas legislature gave public school districts the authority to require...
