Uniforms in Public Schools and the First Amendment: A Constitutional Analysis - Essay Example

Standardized ArgumentsUniforms in Public Schools and the First Amendment: A Constitutional AnalysisIntroductionThe following essay will present standardized arguments for the article on: uniforms in public school and the first amendment: a constitutional analysis. The essay will first identify the premises and then present the conclusions. First premises: arguments fora) Uniforms help in eradicating dress-related behaviour problems.b) Uniforms helps in promoting students’ health, safety, and varying academic related outcomes.c) Uniforms reduce negative peer pressure such as teasing and bullying, and other victimization.

It also decreases gang activity and fighting.d) Uniforms can increase positive student attitudes toward school and its educational goals.e) Uniforms can increase attendance rates, lower suspension rates and decrease abuse rates.ConclusionUniforms have a positive impact on students and it reduces youth violence that is associated with clothes and accessories. In the implementation of school uniform policies, the need for student safety outweighs public school students’ rights to select school dress (Mitchel and Knechtle, 2003).

Second premises: argument againsta) Uniforms tend to restrict student, parent, and family rights from freedom of expression in dress.b) Urban youths, their parents, families, and community members may view dress codes and uniforms as restrictions on students’ cultural expressions of dressing.c) Uniforms restrict youth engagement in normal developmental task of identity experimentation with dress.d) Uniforms contribute to punitive zero tolerance in student discipline policies.e) Uniforms represent and encourage the interference of local and state lives in the private lives of students and parents.f) There is little empirical evidence to prove the effects of uniforms on academic achievement and social behaviour of students.

ConclusionPublic school students’ First Amendment right to free speech outweighs the interest of the state to eliminate the competition and expenses associated with some clothes, to increase self-respect, reduce discipline problems and violent behaviours that are seemingly associated with school uniforms (Mitchel and Knechtle, 2003).ReferencesMitchel, H. and Knechtle, J. (2003). Uniforms in Public Schools and the First Amendment: A Constitutional Analysis. The Journal of Negro Education, 72 (4), 487-494.