When it comes to the pros and cons of school uniforms for students, most schools of repute would rather have their students come to school wearing uniforms.
The idea is to inculcate a sense of discipline in the students, give them a sense of belonging and ensure that no one gets known by the clothes they wear. This is certainly true of the premier international schools in Dubai (including CBSE schools).
Pros of School Uniforms
1. Safety
Wearing a school uniform gives students an identity in terms of belonging to an educational institution and that protects them from unwanted attention from undesirable elements. It also makes the school safer by inculcating discipline and order in the students.
2. Focusing on Education Rather Than Clothes
If students are required to wear a uniform, instead of regular clothes to school they will be relieved of the daily pressure of deciding what to wear. They would not have to worry about wearing the right kind of trendy brands and obtaining peer approval. They would, instead, be able to focus on their studies.
3. Higher Attendance
Students who wear uniforms to school are as a rule found to attend school more regularly than those who don’t. Not having to make a choice about what to wear to school every morning has something to do with it, as also the fact that there is a certain pride in showing up in your school uniform every day.
4. Promotes a Sense of Equality Amongst Students
When everyone wears the same uniform in a school, there is a sense of fraternity and equality amongst students as no one is treated differently on account of the clothes that they wear.
Cons of School Uniforms
1. Boring for the Students
Wearing the same uniform day in and day out can be tedious and boring. This is a little tough and hard on young people, who ideally could do with some color in their lives. Also, they lose the opportunity of learning to become discerning dressers.
2. More Clothes Need to Be Bought
Students who need to wear a school uniform need to be bought more clothes than one normally would. These include their uniforms as well as the clothes they need to change into once they are home. This really takes up more closet space and makes doing the laundry quite a chore.
3. It Places Restriction on Individualism
Getting everyone to wear the same clothes, makes school children get used to conforming to what is prescribed for them, which stifles their individualism and creativity. Clothes are a great way of expressing one’s individuality and uniforms definitely suppress that.
4. The Problem of Branding Remains
Even though everybody is supposed to wear the same uniform, in a reality where one buys the uniform makes a difference in that the expensive ones bought from a known brand will be viewed differently than a uniform bought at a discount store.
So, the very purpose of promoting equality by way of one’s school uniform is soundly defeated.
Why is School Uniform Important?
School uniform is merely a way to build a sense of community in kids. School children have been wearing school uniforms for the longest time and seem to have turned out quite well and have in fact gone on to do very well for themselves.
In fact, most of them look back fondly to the time they wore the school uniform and are even quite attached to it. Most of us have grown up going to school wearing some school uniform or the other and none of us has any negatives associated with the experience.
We live in times where everything is analyzed and scrutinized much more that it is really necessary. School uniforms are an essential part of the school going experience and there really is no reason to dislike them.
As a matter of fact, there might be those who might even object to going to school altogether and insist that children be taught at home using computers as it is so much more convenient. Any education specialist would tell you that is pretty much a bad idea. The same can be said about not wearing school uniforms.
Conclusion
The debate about the desirability or otherwise of school uniforms is an old one. There are those who would liken school uniforms to the regimentation typical of the armed forces or even prison, and point out that this is something that can’t possibly be good for young minds.
Most people would disagree with the notion and hold that wearing school uniforms is all about the fraternity, pride in belonging to an institution and the installing of the notion of discipline in young minds.
On the other hand, by introducing unique uniforms, schools are in a way promoting elitism and competition between educational institutions which may not be very healthy. Conversely, there is nothing wrong with taking pride in one’s alma mater and a little bit of healthy rivalry with other schools is quite healthy.
After all, it prepares one for life as a grown-up where you have to both belong to an organization and compete with others for your place in the world.
One may take a very philosophical view of the whole matter and choose to call the insistence that children wear a school uniform, an imposition, as well as something that stifles one’s free will, but the fact of the matter is that there are a number of practical reasons for insisting on such a measure.
For instance, a school will get to recognize its students from other children only on account of the distinctive uniform they wear. That way they will be able to identify their own and provide them with better security. The students too will be able to recognize their own by the uniforms they wear and thereby forge fraternal bonds with them.
What is life without one having to undergo some form of rituals and customs and wearing school uniforms is part of that whole process and should not in any way be curtailed, restricted or done away with. Going to school and wearing school uniforms go hand in hand and that’s the way it should remain.
