School Uniforms Thursday, October 15, 2015 ​ School uniforms- two words almost every high school student does not want to hear in their lifetime. Sure, it would be nice to not have to worry about what you would wear every day, but that also takes the fun out of it. (I especially have a hard time wrapping my mind around school uniforms. I am a shopaholic and could not standit if I had to wear awful socks and itchy sweaters with ugly brown shoes every day of my high school career.) I have not actually attended a school where the policy switched from casual clothing to uniforms, so I had to do my own research online to see the effects that uniforms have on schools and students. In every article or "experiment", if you will, there seemed to be roughly four things tested with the implementation of uniforms: violence rates, attendance rates, academic excellence, and graduation rates. Depending on the school and location, all of these differed and results were very inconclusive. Many of the reports stated that violence had decreased significantly and graduation rates had increased significantly, although there was little to no change in attendance or academic performance. The reports I read that stated these conclusions seemed to agree that a plaid skirt and button up shirt have no effect on how well a student can read Shakespeare or solve an algebra problem, it is the fact that when a school demands a level of physical performance, the student will rise to meet that. Studies show that there is a correlation between uniforms and a decrease in discipline problems. Still other schools reported that there had been no change at all in the way their students performed. In fact, violence rates had risen during the first year of the uniform policy at one school. By the second year the rates had dropped again and the administrators speculated that this could have been due to the fact that the students were now used to the uniforms. There was an interesting survey that was taken at one of these schools. The school had interview several students and teachers to see how they felt the school had changed since it had switched to a set uniform. A good majority of the interviewees said that they felt the school had become better and safer, when in all reality there had been no change in rates of violence, academics, attendance, or graduation. It is interesting to read these articles and see how uniforms affect students and staff at high schools. I would say that uniforms definitely give off a more "important" air, and if it helps students feel better at school, it would be worth it, in my opinion, to change all high schools' policies to incorporate school uniforms. I know several students would be highly opposed to this proposition, and I myself have a hard time wrapping my mind around it, but if it would help even a few more students to graduate or decrease our violence and need for disciplinary action, I am all for it. ​