“What should I wear to school today?” This is the question that millions of American students ask themselves every morning. I believe that there is one solution to this daily dilemma, which would benefit both students and schools. The obvious answer to this problem is a school uniform. The advantages of having a school uniform would be to show the unity of the school community, to minimize social classifications in the student body, and to allow the students much-needed additional sleep in the morning. Although students may cringe at the thought of wearing designated clothing day after day, this mundane task will actually benefit them, their teachers, and their schools.
When students wear a uniform, they show that they are part of a school community. When the public sees the uniformed students, they will be easily recognized as students from a school whose logo they are wearing. This would encourage the students to behave in a proper manner in public areas. The reputation of the school will benefit by people seeing children doing good things around the community wearing the school uniform. This may also increase the number of entrance applications into the school, because of the good reputation of the school as shown by the students’ behavior. The students will also feel an increased feeling of school spirit when they see the entire student body, proud to represent their school. As a result, both students and the school would benefit from the increased feeling of school identity.
Furthermore, a uniform could help relationships among students themselves, and between students and their teachers. Among the students, there would be no differences in the clothing that they wear, which means that there would be less judgment and exclusion of people who may have a different style from other groups of students. In turn, this would make the student body more unified. In addition, there would be less dress code violations, because students are more prone to violate the rules when they have clothes at home that can violate the rules; whereas, if there was a uniform, the students could not possibly wear these clothes to school. This would be one less thing that both students and teachers have to worry about, resulting in a more calm and peaceful learning environment.
Finally, having a school uniform saves time in the morning and allows students to get much-needed sleep. A student would not have to put any thought into what they have to wear that day, allowing around 15-20 minutes of more sleep. Even though this amount of time may seem trivial and of no consequence, fifteen to twenty minutes per day add up to 75-100 minutes per week, which is over 70 hours more sleep in a single school year. During class, this would prevent problems, such as students not paying attention, due to the lack of sleep. Students would definitely benefit and teachers will find it easier to teach their classes.
In conclusion, I believe that a school uniform should be implemented into all schools. It would help unify the school, increase school morale and spirit, and allow students to gain many hours of sleep a year. With the obvious benefits to the students, teachers, and school, uniforms should be made mandatory. So the next time you hear someone say, “What should I wear to school today?”