Do you think school uniforms should be in all American/Canadian schools?

This is just my experience, but as a grade and middle schooler in the US, I attended a school that required a uniform. I honestly think that it was a pretty good thing, as it removed some of the social pressure to "dress right" that I saw my friends at schools without uniforms experiencing. It seemed like, in some paradoxical way, people felt more free with the uniforms on, as they started out with the same base and could express themselves in other ways without people immediately having opinions based on their clothes.

Talking to my sister, who attended an all-girls high school that had a uniform, she also feels that, at least at her school, the uniform was a good thing for similar reasons as I mentioned before.

Overall, I feel that it should probably be left to individual cities and schools to decide, but I don't think that uniforms should be immediately dismissed as a non-option.

I understand the sentiment that many have about leveling the playing field within a school, but I feel like it removes options from people who need them. For trans people, for example, even if a school with uniforms does their best to allow us to do our thing within those bounds, a large part of our exploration for many while still in the closet comes from doing things that are associated with our actual gender but are still ambiguous enough to not out us. Clothes are personal expression and clothes are art. I think we need more of both those things in our education.

I also generally don't like things that make schools feel more rigid and prison-like. Even bell systems bother the hell out of me. I realize that uniforms work for a lot of people but I think I value individual expression more than that. However, I will say that if properly done, uniforms could sidestep the usually very misogynistic dress code problems in schools.

The purpose of a school uniform can vary from school to school. Here are the ones I'm aware of and my arguments regarding them:

1. Professional image for the educational institution. Students from poorer families often cannot afford or do not know how to take care of a uniform, e.g. using a clothes iron to remove wrinkles. Thus, you'll find that some students will still appear sloppy, defeating the purpose of the uniform to promote professional appearance.
2. Pride for the student in their dress. Once again, students from poorer families often won't be able to properly maintain their uniforms. When comparing the state of their uniforms to those of their peers, they won't be feeling pride, but shame because they will obviously appear sloppier than the other students, defeating the purpose in establishing a sense of pride.
3. To prevent bullying arising purely from income disparity with regards to clothing choices. Again, poorer students will often have more sloppy uniforms, so the income disparity will still be clear. Bullying will likely continue, defeating the purpose of the uniform to prevent bullying in the first place.
4. Establishing a sense of belonging within the educational institution, or "school pride". Poorer students will not feel as though they belong if they're being bullied for having sloppier uniforms, and they definitely won't feel any school pride if they don't feel that they belong there, defeating the purpose.

In other words, there are often really well-meaning purposes for school uniforms, but they don't actually solve the problems that they're meant to solve.

Additionally, students lose the ability to express individuality, or at least have it severely limited. Being able to explore and express yourself is vital when you're younger. That self-exploration and self-expression can be approached in other ways, but if uniforms aren't even serving their intended purpose, then sacrificing the easier method in exchange for the uniforms just doesn't make any sense.

So unless students are provided uniforms free of charge and are given a freshly cleaned uniform every day to take home so that they can come to school nicely dressed without their income posing a problem, I'm opposed to their adoption. Otherwise, I could see their adoption being potentially positive.

I am about to go to bed, so I'll try to be as concise as possible.

I honestly think that the dress code (regardless of it allowing the student to dress "freely" or force them to wear an uniform) can be use as a tool to enhance the educational experience of the student as a member of our society. As an anecdotal experience I can say that in my school, which happens to be a private school, we were forced to use an uniform. The rationale behind this was to show us that we were equal, and to avoid any kind of socioeconomic discrimination. For the most part I can say that it work in the classes I was part of; although I am the first person to admit that is not always the case. I also have to say that it avoided us making groups based on our first impressions, which I believe fuel our initial biases and willingness to get to know certain people. Similarly, I can see how allowing the student to dress "freely" allows the student to learn about the difference in personality and taste of each individual. But, overall, I am biased towards the uniform system.

Now, my question to you is, what do you mean by a freak? That seems like a rather general term, and it can be used under this context to create discrimination based on how different people perceive others. I am not saying that you were trying to attack anyone in specific, but I do think that it is the kind of question we should pose when creating boundaries.

PS: Pardon any mistakes. I will check and edit the message tomorrow.

My child attends a public elementary school in one of the top 10 largest cities in the US. Despite the school site being in one of the most affluent neighborhoods within the city, low-income students make up 55% of the student body. Uniforms do a great deal to level the playing field, in my opinion. At the very least it doesn't obviously sort kids into haves and have-nots the way that my own non-uniformed elementary school certainly did. Additionally, the school and school district provide financial assistance for uniforms to families in need throughout the school year.

The children are still totally able to express their individuality through socks/leggings, shoes, jackets, and hair (accessories, styles, and even dyes.)

But to be honest, I think the biggest benefit is not needing to have a debate over what to wear every single morning before school as often happens on the weekends & during breaks!

I went to both a private Catholic school that required uniforms, and public schools which did not. In my ancedotal experience, kids can be quite horrible. If they can't bully you about what you wear, they will find something else to bring up.

With that said, I don't think that children in public schools should be required to wear uniforms. Clothes and how one dresses is a way to excercise freedom of speech and expression. This was aleady covered in Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District. Another aspect is allowing students to express themselves, which would be diminished by school uniforms.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinker_v._Des_Moines_Independent_Community_School_District

I hear the level the playing field thing a lot when uniforms are discussed. Maybe this is only an issue in Asian, but uniforms can be really expensive. And depending on how strict your school is, you may be required to get new ones every year. Guess this might be off-topic, since funding uniforms is sort of a separate question of should we have them.

I think allowing students to dress how they like or enforcing uniforms could have a significant impact on the culture of the student body. As other have mentioned uniforms can level the playing field and reduce the initial judgements people make about others. However this does come at the cost of using clothing as an expression of ones individuality. I'd be curious if schools with uniforms had students who expressed themselves using other avenues. Such as backpacks or stylized school supplies.

As for applying a standard to all schools, I don't think there's significant evidence that either aproach would be beneficial across the board. It's likely that some schools would benefit from a standard dress-code while others would benefeit more from a uniform. That being said, it'd be very interesting to see if any studies have been done to try and suss out what effects differing dress-code standards have on schools.

Almost every school in Australia has a uniform. Boys don't care and girls love it, as they know the fashion competition that would arise without one.