Member Since: 3/15/2013
Posts: 10,338
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Sry i was a lil busy doing something!
either way, they arrived
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Red Team:
Quote:
Originally posted by Citrus
(As a preface, not part of the entry: Our speech and debate recruitment meeting went waaaay over due to questions and the fact that some little **** didn't have a ride and ended up living across town. I'm sorry for sending this in late, but don't punish the team for that. That's on me)
Uniforms in Schools: The Four Positive Pillars of a Common Identity in Education
1. Environmentally, the use of uniform code reduces a school and its area's utilization of otherwise unwisely and illegally sourced fabrics that are more common in casual clothing. This can help not only mitigate the carbon footprint of the school, but also foster connections to the local business community in producing and maintaining the uniforms. Additionally, it is much more financially viable for a family to purchase three or four outfits for a student to alternate between during the school year than an entire wardrobe.
2. When the element of social status as a means of clothing is removed, students turn to other forms of self-identification. This leads to an increased interest in the arts, sciences, and other extra and co-curricular activities. Such involvement can not only lead to the augmentation of a student's interest in possible career fields, but in an overall increase in participation in school events. It is an established position that schools with higher levels of student involvement produce students with higher grades and degrees of academic readiness.
3. The establishment of a common identity reduces bullying and negative peer influence. Roughly 20% of students in 2013 reported being bullied, of which approximately half cited their perceived socioeconomic status as a factor in the bullying. Seeing as how the deterioration of interpersonal relations between students in conflict has been continuously on the rise, any reduction in the emotional and physical abuse suffered by victims of bullying that can be reached with uniforms should, doubtlessly, be attempted.
4. A higher percentage of inner city schools have uniform policies than do suburban districts. This is often attributed to the fact that children in more urban environments are typically more prone to exposure to compromising situations, and, therefore, uniforms help to foster a sense of belonging and give these students an avenue out of otherwise dangerous situations.
However, the majority of wide-scale school violence comes out of suburban settings. So, if the more encompassing violence is occurring in settings that are predominantly non-uniform, and uniforms have been proven to decrease school violence, bullying, and increase peer support in the inner cities, it is nothing more than common sense to extend uniform policies to suburban settings, as well.
Having discussed the implications of uniform code implementation including:
- Reduction of the carbon footprint
- Creation of ties to the business community
- The sustaining of family's economic position
- An increase in the pursuit of passions by students, and, as a result, a rise in students' grades
- The rise of a more connected and widespread school "community" to which students can belong
- A decrease in the amount and severity of bullying among students
- A decrease in the levels and incidences of school violence, therefore saving lives that would otherwise have been wasted
Given all of the benefits of uniforms, it is the position of the Red Team that a large scale policy of the adoption of a standard uniform code would not only be beneficial to the students, but also to the parents, faculty, and community at large.
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Team Blue
Quote:
Originally posted by Hugamari
Anti-School Uniforms
Every child has a right to freedom of expression, may it be through what they say, what they do, and definitely through their choice of clothing. To say that children should wear uniforms is akin to saying that children should conform. Is that a lesson that is healthy on a young person? When every child has to dress the same way every day, it takes away a feeling of individuality, when it is individuality that should be celebrated, and not confined.
Besides for the fact that the children wearing the uniforms would be stripped of their right of choice, school uniforms cost, on average, $249 a year per student. This could be a significant burden on parents with multiple children, or those with lower income.
This leaves both the children and the parents unhappy. When a student in not as happy, they will not do as well. This is a reason that many parents do not support a uniform policy, and only 23% of schools nation-wide actually support the idea, despite the potential profit to be made by requiring uniforms to be bought through the school.
In closing, the thing uniforms are most effective at is stripping individuality from children, and money from their parents; uniforms simply do not have a need in today's modern school system.
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