args

School uniforms

I want to thank my opponent for the opportunity. I will present four levels of counter-arguments. 1. economy: While the clothes industry might profit from sales if every household needed to be outfitted with several sets of uniforms, this is not per se a good thing: a) Clothing would need to be produced cheaply if school uniforms became standard. So most likely, the uniforms would be produced in third-world countries, employing slave and child labour. b) Who's going to pay for the uniforms? The parents? This seems very hard on poor families who are underprivileged already. The schools? School money comes from parents (see a)) or some public source. Public funds are needed for more important matters than additional clothing for children who have clothes of their own. The state? See b). A mixed system where rich parents pay themselves while others get help from public sources? This necessitates a public authority/agency, which will consume even more money for administration. 2. ecology a) Toxic chemicals are often used in the production of cheap clothing in third-world countries (see 1.a)). They are subsequently dumped in rivers or oceans, poisoning the ecosystem. b) Additional clothing will need to be laundered. This is a waste of drinking water. Also, detergents are a burden on the environment if not disposed of properly, which will most often not be the case. 3. community a) While some claim that school uniforms would help fight bullying because poor children will no longer be distinguishable from rich children by their clothing, there will always be bullying. Bullying is a symptom, not the source. f some children want to vent their anger and frustration, they will always find alleged "reasons". If it's not the clothing, it's the haircut or accessories. If we counter-act by giving children identical haircuts and banning accessories, it will be the colour of their hair or skin. Clothes do not generate hatred. Bad education does. The same goes for gangs, obviously. If gang members can no longer identify each other by wearing certain clothes, they will share the same haircut, like skinheads do anyway. b) Children in one school may be forged together and bullying may be reduced, for argument's sake. But on their way home, they might meet children from other schools. While previously, two kids meeting on their way home would just be two kids, now they would be pupils of rivaling schools. Bullying might ensue, this time on larger scale, between schools. Incidents of that kind have happened between uniformed athletes from rivaling schools already. Do we want that to expand on all pupils? Imagine the football team of one school encountering the chess club of the other on their respective ways home. The risk of the athletes picking on the weaker children from the other school would be higher than without uniforms. 4. personal growth a) What would children learn from their uniforms? Nothing but to be superficial and shallow, laying weight on outward appearance. For some reason obscure to them, they would be made wear a uniform to discern them from other pupils from other schools. So they will see differences where there are none (see 3b)). This will not only gain them nothing, as bullying will find other ways of expressing itself, it will also turn their attention towards clothing and probably more superficial details, as now they will be forced to describe others not by their clothes but by irrelevant details when talking with others. The "girl with the bright leggings" will now be "the girl with the freckles and the little wart under her right ear", for lack of other identifying details. So children will be raised to see every imperfection, which will also amplify the process of bullying as described under 3a). b) Clothing is an expression of your personality. We have the right to express ourselves any way we want. Taking that right away is crippling our civil rights in general, as they are impartial. If a child wants to wear a CareBears T-shirt with My Little Pony skirt, let him or her be happy! c) Somehow, we all need to learn how to defend ourselves against bullies. Clothing as a target is relatively harmless. I would rather see a coloured child be harassed for their Star Wars sneakers than for their ethnicity. Being bullied for clothing is not nice, but it doesn't hurt as much, and our children have relatively safe ground to learn how to defend themselves without being mentally scarred for life. They'll soon enough tire of their outfits. So, in conclusion: we gain nothing from school uniforms that wouldn't be outweighed by severely harmful consequences. Great Britain's elite boarding schools are a living example for snobbism as a result of school uniforms. Children will stand aside in awe when the elite scholars pass. And if they are lucky, they will be ignored rather than bullied.