Style Of Clothing Popular Among Students example essay topic

Argumentation / Persuasion research School Uniforms Media stories about a nationwide school epidemic, in which assaults on teachers are frequent and students are routinely killed over designer clothing, have been constant over the past few years. These reports have placed pressure on schools and politicians to act quickly, before the situation gets out of control. In these post-Columbine days, educators from the Bible Belt to gang-infested inner cities are asking students to wear uniforms as one way to help all around. Uniforms can curb fashion fads that stigmatize poor students and strap parents' income. They are a visible sign that public schools expect more of students.

Requiring uniforms is also a natural step beyond requiring uniforms for marching bands, athletes, and cheerleaders. At the least, they help parents get children out the door faster in the morning. Uniforms (or the lesser alternative of strict dress codes) may reduce violence and possibly raise safety in the schools. Uniforms could be the answer to permissiveness - in both clothing and ethics- that has seeped into public education. Statistics now show that making students wear uniforms actually reduces school crime. In 1995, the school district of Long Beach, California, decided to adopt uniforms as a requirement.

"Since they mandated uniforms... , overall crime in the school district has dropped by a startling 91%. Suspensions are down 90%, sex offenses have been reduced by 96%, and vandalism has gone down 69%" (Chatterjee par 2). Statistics like these show positive results for school systems which have been debating whether or not to adopt school uniforms. Many students' hunger to be fashionable brings another dimension to the connection between clothing style and school violence.

Some students may envy other classmates' clothing and lack the financial resources to purchase similar styles. Subsequently, many students have been violently injured or even murdered for their designer clothing, sneakers, or professional sport-team paraphernalia. School uniforms may reduce these occurrences. In addition, requiring students to wear the same clothing could send other students a message that they all belong to the same team, which may decrease violence toward other "team members". Arnold Goldstein, PH.D., head of the Center for Research on Aggression at Syracuse University, believes uniforms work by promoting a sense of community, allowing troubled students to feel part of a supportive whole. Goldstein says that "There is a sense of belonging" (qty. in Chatterjee par.

2). Some people argue that such dress codes will lessen a student's individuality. The fashion trend at schools, especially urban schools, is largely dominated by students wearing gang-related or gang-like clothing. With respect to gang-related clothing, gang members frequently roam streets near schools and often enter schools. Hence, the color of clothing that students wear can result in their becoming targets of intentional or unintentional violence. In addition, the style of clothing popular among students today arose from the clothing of inner-city gangs, who have worn baggy pants and oversized shirts that could hide weapons and drugs from law enforcement officials.

With such clothing glamorized by music videos and television sitcoms, more students wear similar styles of baggy, oversized shirts and pants to school. Such clothing can become a means of transporting weapons or drugs into school and thus indirectly increase school violence. Therefore, requiring students to wear uniforms may increase the safety of the school's environment. Making school uniforms mandatory not only can lessen the cost of school attire for parents but also can make the school experience more enjoyable for the students. Schools that have adopted uniforms are looking out for the best interest of their students. Uniforms may reduce the violence in school by eliminating the need to be current with the up-to-date fashions.

With required outfits there may not be as many fights over clothing or styles. Also requiring uniforms can help with the gang-clothing, thus dropping the violence and raising the safety of the school environment. Uniforms also encourage and reinforce a valuable principle: Judge individuals not by their appearances but by their character..