I understand that there is always a good chance that...
Uniforms at School!
My Arguments: -Uniforms ensure equality among students. If children wear uniforms then they cannot be judged by what they wear. [1] -Uniforms make students less self-conscious of their appearance. Students would not have to have to stand in front of the mirror for half an hour every morning to decide if their outfit is good enough or what outfit to wear. This argument can be applied to many students, especially girls. -It shows signs of respect and politeness. You show respect to your school and teachers when you wear uniforms. -Uniforms save money. When you only have to wear two outfits a week that aren't your school uniform, you can have a more limited selection of clothing. You do not have to buy as much clothing, and therefore, you save money. In low income areas, uniforms would be a good idea because parents wouldn't have to worry about buying all sorts of new clothing for their children and children wouldn't feel pressured to have new cloth items to fit in because everyone would have the same clothing as they did. -Uniforms enforce discipline. Students are made to wear uniforms instead of whatever they want. -Teachers don't have to worry about dress code. Things to worry about in dress code: hats/hoods really short shorts/skirts etc... If there are uniforms then everybody will be dressed appropriately. This would give teachers one less thing to worry about. -It helps prepare students for their future jobs. Students learn how to dress appropriately for work. If they dress in t-shirts and jeans while they go to school then they might think that this would be OK to do when they go into jobs as adults. If this is what they learn at school, then this is what students would do as adults. I understand that there is always a good chance that parents might teach students how to dress appropriately but this doesn't always happen. [2] -School uniforms could lower the cases of bullying within schools. In many cases kids are insulted and picked on because of the clothes they wear and how they look. If all students wear the same thing it would be very hard almost impossible to make fun of someone who is wearing the same thing as you. -Making all children wear school uniforms would make them put more focus on school work. Kids wouldn't be constantly looking at what others are wearing and thinking about what they should be wearing. In addition to this, students often waste a lot of time shopping. If students had to wear uniforms then they wouldn't need/want to shop as much since there would never be a chance to wear the as much cloths. -Uniforms save water. This might seem like an odd argument at first site. However if you think about it, this argument would start to make more sense. Students would only have 2 uniforms per weak and wouldn't have as much chance to wash them. Today, many students wear one pair of jeans, one t-shirt, and one sweater per day and wash seven pairs of all three items every day. Students wouldn't have 5 uniforms (one for each school day) and as a result, a lot of water would be saved. -What studies show. Some studies show that school uniforms might help attendance and graduation rates. Studies show that having students wear uniforms would help them get through school. "...reported that mean graduation rates rose nearly 11 percent at schools that required uniforms, compared to pre-uniform years. Non-uniform school mean graduation rates dropped 4.6 percent, compared with the earlier years." [link below] http://www.19actionnews.com... The negative sides of uniforms: I agree that there are several negative sides to wearing uniforms. I will state some of them now and I will also state my arguments that oppose these points. -Students wouldn't get the freedom to choose what they want to wear. My response: People's lives must have some limits. Children and teens may want to wear whatever they like and would be very unhappy if they were forced to wear uniforms. However I showed that students would benefit from being forced to wear uniforms and that benefit is more important than freedom. -Students wouldn't be able to express themselves properly. My response: This is true. People are often judged by how they dress. If a student is dressed neatly and has clean clothes every day then teachers may think differently of that student than they would think of somebody who constantly has sagging jeans and dirty clothes. I haven't really responded to any of my opponents arguments since my opponent has not yet had the chance to state any. I simply stated my opinion and position on what I think my opponent's arguments will be in the next round. Conclusion: I have provided many arguments that support the idea of having uniforms at school. Although uniforms may be unpopular with many people, they are not a bad idea. Studies support my thinking. The future of students should be put in front of what individual stunts want to wear. Students would be more successful if they did not get the option of deciding what to wear every to school. After all, students can always wear whatever they want on the weekends. Weekends are for students to do what they want. I await arguments and/or responses from my opponent. Sources: http://www.angelfire.com... http://www.ehow.com...