School Dress Codes and Uniforms - Essay Example

What followed was a 76% reduction in all incidents of school crime, including assaults and weapon violations, within one year. This result was appreciated by the community at large with only 600-700 out of the 70,000 students in the district preferring to be exempted from wearing uniforms, a whopping 99% (Cohn and Cohn). This policy was adopted in other states like California with positive results being registered in all cases. This argument was also supported by Daniels' publication on students' dress codes in which he asserts "dress codes reduce conflict associated with name brand and gang clothing, decrease the gap between poor and rich students, and encourage a sense of belonging that contributes to overall order and discipline.'' This also supports the proponents of the debate.

Opponents of the school dress code on the other hand claim, that it will infringe on the First Amendment rights of students to freedom of expression, and religious rights and in total, will contribute to the dampening of student expression rights by suppressing their speech. Despite the displeasure of the opponents, many Schools have already started making uniforms mandatory in Kentucky sharply contrasting to majority of public schools showing reluctance to the same. While both sides of the divide continue to hold on to their position, it can be seen quite clearly from their arguments that their debate revolves around general morality and constitutionality. Proponents think this will help to improve the discipline among the students and to an extent increase morality in school while Opponents hold on to their culture preservation and constitutional provision on rights of expression.

Considering that constitutionality of the same had been challenged in court and the decision was to the contrary, it is evident that proponents are winning the debate. They seem to have support even from the few research results available as well as The Center for the Prevention of School Violence pointed out that the "3Ps' of school safety (place physical security of the school, people in the school, and purpose mission of the school) can be impacted by school dress policies. However, they were concerned about the limited nature of the research on that particular issue. The reason for limited research on the relationship between dress code and the factors above and the public demand for absolute knowledge on the area will form the basis of this research. This research is going to investigate how a uniform dress code for students in school will help to reduce the gap between the poor and the rich in school, improve the learning achievement of students as well and combat the formation of criminal gangs in school. Read More