In a big amount of countries, it is compulsory for students to wear uniforms. In this essay I will delve deeper into this topic, by underlining what are in my opinion the positive sides of this practice, but also by remarking the negative aspects of it.
Firstly, it may be very useful not thinking about what to wear every morning, both for parents that dress their children during the very first years of school, but also for the teenage student later on in the years. It’s also a fact that school uniforms are, in most of the cases, cheaper than regular clothes, easier to wash, and to buy new, in case they get dirty or broken at school. This may result in a big help for low income families, which would otherwise struggle in providing new clothes to their children very often. Connected to this last point, I experienced in my school years how uniforms avoid discrimination and classism among students. We all know that the way in which teenagers dress is very often the reason of bullying in schools. Children coming from wealthier families, most of the times, dress with more expensive and fancier clothes. Students are in this way exposed to this kind of confront, which makes them feel wrong and less than others. Lastly, wearing a uniform make students feel part of a big community, where everyone is important exactly as much as everyone else.
However, the homologation that comes from wearing uniforms could have a negative impact on teenagers which feel the need, growing up, to express themselves through the way they dress. Students during those years develop their style and personality, and clothes are a big medium of self-expressions. As fashion is cathartic for many young adults, not being able to dress as they prefer may result in a stronger need to manifest their typical feeling of rebellion in other and more harmful ways, such as smoking and drugs.
In conclusion, I think the advantages of wearing uniforms outweigh the few negative sides of this practice, which should however be taken in consideration!