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School Uniforms, on Balance, are Beneficial

I thank my opponent for accepting this debate. By looking at his profile for just a few minutes I can see that he is a quality debater, which is pretty awesome. Looking forward to the clash. ----- I just want to give everyone this fact with a time frame, so they can check if either sides' sources are out of date or not: The first school district in the USA to require all K-8 students to wear uniforms was in Long Beach, CA, in 1994 ----- Deterance of Crime: According to the University of Nevada, there are some pretty awesome benefits that occur when there are uniforms in place in public schools [1], such as less crime, less bullying, and even less gang involvement (pretty crazy to think that uniforms lead to less gangs). I have some numbers for you here, these were after two years of school uniform policy in Long Beach, California [2]: Assault wiithin the school district dropped by 34% Assault with a deadly weapon dropped by 50% Fighting incidents went down by 51% Sex offenses down by 74% Robbery dropped by 65% Possession of weapons (or weapon look-a-likes) dropped 52% Possession of drugs (legal or otherwise) dropped by 69% Vandalism dropped by 18% Now, I know what you are thinking: "Is Long Beach, CA representative of America?" (I'm assuming that we both live in the USA by saying America), and the answer is pretty much mostly. But I understand that you want some more sources that back this up, and here you are: In 2012, there was a study conducted in Sparks Middle School, Nevada, which showed that after the schools there instuted school uniforms, there was a 63% decrease in some police log reports, and decreses (not mentioned in a number, but I assume drastically enough to be noted) in gang activity, student fights, graffity, property damage (to the schools) and battery [3]. Increased Productivity: A letter published by the NASSP, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, said that, "When all students are wearing the same outfit, they are less concerned about how they look and how they fit in with their peers; thus, they can concentrate on their schoolwork" [4]. In 2010, the University of Houston conducted a study that showed that when elementary schools implemented school uniforms, the average test score for a girl went up by 3% [5]. Before I go on, I just want you to think about that statistic, and the implications of it. 3% less people failed the 3rd grade, all thanks to wearing something that was provided by a school, at little or no cost. Here is a syllogism that I will provide to you: Premise I: Things that indcrease productivity at low cost are beneficial Premise II: School uniforms increase priductivity, and are of low cost (I will explain low cost in next contention) Premise III: School uniforms are beneficial This syllogism directly proves how I have successfully fulfilled my BoP to prove that, on balance, school uniforms are beneficial. Low Cost. I believe that this contention is pretty self-explanatory. Parents often reduce their financial burden due to low income when their children have only one type of clothes to wear to school, instead of having to buy a large variety, when most uniforms come with 2-3 pairs. In 2013, there was a study of 517 US school leaders that found that nearly 95% of them (exact statistic is 94%) believe that one of the main benefits to parents is that shcool uniforms are more cost-effective than regular apparel [6]. In this study, 77% of leaders estimated that the average annual cost of school uniforms per child (with replacements included due to accidents) is going to be less than or equal to $150 [6]. The student uniform compant, called French Toast (which is an awesome name) reportes that the average cost of their complete uniforms is about $45, and that most students only require about 2 sets (maybe 3 if they are accident prone), which means that the average cost per student per year is only going to be around $135 a year if they are clumsy, or $90 a year if they are pretty cautious (which most students are) [7]. Allows for free expression. Now, before you start yelling in caps at me for making this rather offense-sided contention, just hear me out. I am pretty sure that I am going to be hearing the "but, uh, our students need their ability to creatively express themselves" argument, which is valid, but wrong. In 1969, the US Supreme Court (which I should remind you, is the Supreme Court of the Land), heard a case "Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District", which was about the ability of some teenagers to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War (which I support their right to do so), and they ruled that this was constitutional for the district to set up school uniforms, on the basis that the right of free speech "does not relate to regulation of the length of skirts or the type of clothing" [8]. That basically means that the Supreme Court, the guys that check if something is constitutional or not, said that school uniforms are. I mean, you can't really be standing up here and be preaching to me, "omg lexus, but what about the freedemomom of expersion?" (not an impression of you, just an impression of some uninformed people), when it is totally constitutional for schools to be setting up these kind of regulations. [1]: "News." School Uniform Study: University of Nevada, Reno. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. [2}: M. Sue Stanley, "School Uniforms and Safety," Education and Urban Society, Aug. 1996 (cannot list page numbers, this was throughout the book) [3]: Claudene Wharton, "College of Education Researchers Conduct Study on Impacts of School Uniforms," unr.edu, Apr. 23, 2013 [4]: Peter Caruso, "Individuality vs. Conformity: The Issue behind School Uniforms," NASSP (National Association of Secondary School Principals) Bulletin, Sep. 1996 [5]: Elisabetta Gentile and Scott A. Imberman, "Dressed for Success? The Effect of School Uniforms on Student Achievement and Behavior," utdallas.edu, Jan. 15, 2010 [6]: National Association of Elementary School Principals, "National Survey of School Leaders Reveals 2013 School Uniform Trends," naesp.org, July 30, 2013 [7]: French Toast Official School Wear, "Why School Uniforms?," frenchtoast.com (accessed late 2014, sorry if out of date at current time) [8]: David L. Hudson Jr., "Clothing, Dress Codes & Uniforms," firstamendmentcenter.org, Apr. 1, 2002 Thanks for accepting, con. Looking forward to your case