Alli Ward

Professor Adam Padgett

English 102
29 February 2016
Should Uniforms be Worn in Schools?
Inquiry: Should students have to wear school uniforms.
Proposed Thesis: If schools require students to wear uniform, then they will lose a sense of selfexpression.
Attitudes of parents about school uniforms. By: West, Charles K., Tidwell, Diane K., Bomba,
Anne K., Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 10821651, Mar99, Vol. 91, Issue 2
The authors of the article, Charles West, Diane Tidwell, and Anne Bomba, conducted a
survey with parents on whether or not school uniforms should be enforced at their childs
elementary school. The article, Attitudes of parents about school uniforms, discusses
the information collected from the survey. Fifty-Six percent of the parents that responded
approved the movement for school uniforms. Twenty-Six percent of the parents decided
that they thought that uniforms in a learning environment would do more bad than good
and strongly voted against them. Eighteen percent could not decided whether or not
school uniforms were helpful to students or if they were hindering students. The authors
of this article state that, Those who favor school uniforms in public schools argue that
there are a number of advantages to implementing these policies (92). The previous
quote reveals that the authors provided information without being bias or mentioning
their personal views. The authors mainly use factual information, such as statistics, to
illustrate whether or not uniforms are necessary.

Daniels, Stephen. "School Dress Codes Are Necessary and Constitutional." Students' Rights. Ed.
Jamuna Carroll. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from
"Student Dress Policies: The Success of School Uniforms and Dress
Codes." Findings (May 2001). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.
In this article by Stephen Daniels, he illustrates his thoughts on why uniforms are
effective in educational environments. He portrays how school uniforms promote safety,
decreasing the gap between wealthy and poor students, and how uniforms are overall
beneficial to schools. Although this article was written fifteen years ago, this article is
still relevant to the topic because schools system has not changed significantly. Daniels
writes, Poorer students do not feel and are not treated as inferior because they don't
have nice clothes. This equality also seems to create a sense of school unity (Daniels).
Through this quote Daniels expresses his bias towards the use of uniforms within school
systems.
Deane, Samantha. "Dressing Diversity: Politics Of Difference And The Case Of School
Uniforms." Philosophical Studies In Education 46.(2015): 111. Supplemental Index. Web.
28 Feb. 2016.
Samantha Deanes article, Dressing Diversity: Politics of Difference And The Cases Of
School Uniforms, shapes her argument against school uniforms in three sections. To
begin her essay, she addresses the injustice that wearing a uniform presents. Her second
section suggests that we must redress the injustice by philosophically resituating
schooling (Deane 112). To close, Deane, outlines what it would mean to resituate the
schools. The article came from Philosophical studies in education, published in 2015.
Deane writes, the history of asking students to appear one way or another is a story of
mingled concerns about academic achievement, juvenile delinquency, gender
appropriateness, race relations, and gang affiliation (Deane 113). Through the previous

quote, Deane, presents the reasons that institutions justify the approval of wearing
uniforms to school. Deane states, these policies tell students that when and where
appearances differ, danger lurks (Deane 113). Requiring a uniform teaches students that
things that are different are not acceptable. The article is peer-reviewed and uses
substantial evidence that is cited to support her argument.
ProCon.org. "School Uniforms around the World." ProCon.org. 28 Aug. 2014. Web. 25 Feb.
2016.
The central idea of this article is to represent both the pros and cons of wearing school
uniforms. The website does so by providing two columns with information from a variety
of different sources. It is a non profit organization which gives it some credibility,
however using so many sources, although properly cited, causes a reason to question the
information. There are a few sources that are a little out dated, but there are sufficient
amounts of sources that are recent that support the older information. Although the article
includes both pros and cons, it lists more cons than pros which may show a slight bias.
An authors work that is utilized in this article, Nancy E. Bailey writes, Bullying occurs
whether students wear uniforms or not. The root cause of bullying should be addressed.
Teens should be able to develop self-expression and their personal identity (Bailey).
This author suggests that students right to individualism should not be taken away, but
the problem it self should be solved. Another author states that uniforms will only further
separate male and female students (Hoofnagle). The article gives sufficient evidence
apposing the authorization of school uniforms.
Sanchez, Jafeth E., Andrew Yoxsimer, and George C. Hill. "Uniforms In The Middle School:
Student Opinions, Discipline Data, And School Police Data." Journal Of School Violence
11.4 (2012): 345-356 12p. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 28 Feb. 2016.

In this article, researches collected data from the opinions of middle school students on
the advantages of wearing a school uniform. A vast amount of student opposed the idea of
implementing school uniforms. But, female students, particularly, expressed that they
were treated better when wearing their uniform, and also were less likely than male
students to not wear their uniform (354). The article is affiliated with the Department of
Educational Leadership and it has also been peer reviewed. The authors of the article
show a bias towards the benefits of school uniforms, but the information collected from
the students is unbiased. Although it was published in 2012, it is still relevant because our
school systems have not changed. The article states, However, it could also be beneficial
to administer the survey at the start of the year and then at the end of the year in order to
analyze within-group changes of students opinions (355). To know if requiring students
to wear a uniform would be effective, the opinions of the students would have to be taken
into consideration both before and after and change is made.
Thomas, Alicia. "School Uniforms." ProConorg Headlines. Procon.org, n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2016.
Alicia Thomas, claims that students forced to wear an identical uniform will embody an
all new competition, who does it best (Thomas)? Essentially, she states uniforms cause
more harm than good. The author of this article has several affiliations listed below her
article, as well as a number of other published work. This articles publishing date is
unknown, but the list of her other works are recent, so the assumption can be made that
this particular work is also current and suitable. She writes, They can expect to be
ridiculed for not looking as fantastic in their uniforms as some of the better-looking
students (Thomas). The uniforms essentially could cause self-image issues, specifically

in females. Also, uniforms threaten students rights to separate themselves from one
another in their own unique way (Thomas).

This paper was written well and I feel that the information was all viable and can help in the
production of a good paper. All of the sources seem credible based on your descriptions
of their ethos. You should address some grammatical issues, but overall its good. You
direct quotes from these sources are cited appropriately and works well with your other
information. Overall very good with just a few small problems.