As students head back to school in September, USA Today Education Beat writer Greg Toppo recently reported that more American students than ever before will arrive dressed in a school-sanctioned uniforms. Over the past decade, the adoption of school dress codes and uniforms in American public schools has expanded, even though the evidence of its impact on improving schools remains inconclusive. In Canada, school uniforms are popular in independent private schools, but — with the exception of Quebec and Catholic high schools — still remain relatively scarce in regular co-educational public high schools.
Nearly one in five American public schools required uniforms in 2010, up from just 1 in 8 a decade earlier, according to U. S. Department of Education statistics. That’s a whopping 60% growth in uniform requirements in American state schools. Boring deeper, more than half of public schools now have some sort of dress code. The National Center for Education Statistics reports that about 57% of school now have a “strict dress code,” up from 47% a decade earlier. Comparable statistics do not exist for Canadian schools, given the provincial education silos, but school uniforms are more prevalent as a result of the gradual spread of private and publicly-funded alternative schools. It is no accident. for instance, that the mythical Xavier Academy in the CBC-TV sitcom Mr. D. features scrubbed kids in very traditional school uniforms.
School uniforms have a chequered history in North American education. Private independent schools associated with the Canadian Association of Independent Schools (CAIS), and, to a lesser extent, the U.S. National Association of Independent Schools, have long championed school uniforms, even though some of their member schools have adhered to more relaxed dress codes. In Quebec, school uniforms are far more common, influenced by the classical Quebec private colleges and Montreal’s English independent schools. In Ontario and other provinces, publicly-funded Catholic Separate Schools have tended to maintain school-approved uniforms, ranging from jackets and ties to crested collared white polo shirts.
The idea of introducing school uniforms into the public schools enjoyed an upsurge in the 1980s and early 1990s. In the 1980s, Washington’s Mayor Marion Barry attempted to introduce uniforms to close the performance gap between public school students and those in D.C.’s Catholic schools. While the D.C. plan fizzled, in 1987, Cherry Hill Elementary School in Baltimore, MD, introduced what is believed to be the first school-wide uniform policy as “a means of reducing clothing costs and social pressures on children.” Nine years later (1996), speaking in Long Beach, California, President Bill Clinton announced his support of that district’s uniform initiative: “School uniforms are one step that may help break the cycle of violence, truancy and disorder by helping young students understand what really counts is what kind of people they are,” Clinton said, With this presidential nod of approval, more schools and school districts began to adopt school uniforms and stricter dress codes.
School uniforms were given a boost in Canada by the emergence in the 1980s and early 1990s of an “Academy Movement” in the public school system. In Montreal, the decline in the English population after the Quebec Referendum played a role in the 1983 establishment of Royal West Academy and Royal Vale School, both public-private hybrid schools with uniforms and entrance examinations. The Toronto School Board, facing competition from local private and Catholic schools, moved in 1989 to transform Scarborough’s near empty R.H. King High School into an Academy with traditional teaching, formal uniforms, and formal daily student mentoring groups. Two years later, in September 1991, the York Region School Board did the same, establishing Woodbridge College as a traditional Grade 7 to OAC/13 school with a rigorous curriculum, uniforms, and more structured learning. While many of these experiments faltered because of system-wide resistance and aenemic leadership, they did leave a symbolic legacy in the form of uniformed students.
Introducing school uniforms is sure to spark a raging public debate in public education, even in the United Kingdom where uniformed schoolkids are ubiquitous.. A recent piece in EduGuide provided a very handy summary of the arguments, pro and con, over the adoption of school-sanctioned, formal uniforms:
The Possible Benefits, commonly voiced by educators as well as parents:
- Increase students’ self-esteem because they do not have to participate in the “school fashion show.” Dressing alike helps students learn that what really counts is on the inside.
- Decrease the influence of gangs and gang violence. Uniforms make it more difficult to sneak in weapons, and easier to ban gang colors or symbols.
- Improve learning by reducing distraction, sharpening focus on schoolwork and making the classroom a more serious environment.
- Promote a sense of teamwork and increase school spirit.
- Mask the income difference between families. All children dress the same, whether rich or poor.
- Improve behavior and increase school attendance. Some students actually skip school to avoid embarrassment about their clothing.
- Save families time and money. Many parents report that three uniforms cost about the same as one pair of designer jeans. Even some students admit that wearing the same colors everyday makes it easier to shop for new clothes.
- Help administrators quickly identify outsiders who could be a danger to students.
The Downside, usually expressed by high school students and parents:
- Violate the right to freedom of speech and expression.
- Cost too much for families who already struggle to make ends meet.
- Merely put a band-aid on the problem of school violence and fail to address the real issues behind it.
- Emphasize conformity, not individuality, and do not allow students to develop their identity.
- Hide warning signs that point to problems. Often the way a child dresses can indicate the way he is feeling. Uniforms eliminate these red flags.
- Offer ways for administrators to exert power and an unnecessary amount of authority.
- Have not been statistically proven to decrease violence or promote discipline.
- Fail to allow students to learn to make good choices based on their own values.
Much has been made of the school-based research that supposedly shows school uniforms do not necessarily improve schools or student performance levels. One particular American book, David Brunsma’s The School Uniform Movement and What It Tells Us About American Education (2004) is routinely trotted out to support this claim. Defenders of uniforms counter with Virginia Draa’s 2005 study of 64 Ohio high schools linking uniforms with improved attendance and graduation rates and fewer student suspensions. Neither study demonstrated much impact on student academic performance.
School uniforms, as supporters of dress codes well know, mean little unless they are embedded in a school culture that affirms and supports the pursuit of high standards and improved academic performance. Studying public schools that climb on the school uniform bandwagon proves little and the American public school world is littered with bad precedents. In Canada, experiments like Woodbridge College go awry when the missionary leaders move on and school boards revert to “every day garden variety” progressive pedagogy and practice in schools with very average, uniformed kids. Studying schools with Uniforms Plus higher standards, sound core curriculum, character education, structured learning, and compulsory athletics or cultural activities would likely produce far different results.
Do school uniforms, by themselves, make schools better? Is the adoption of school uniforms in North American public schools largely symbolic rather than transformative? Is it possible to maintain a strict school dress code without turning kids into uniform thinkers? What would a broader study pitting traditional school methods, including uniforms, against progressive, student-centred methods actually prove, if anything?
Honestly as a the parent of 4 un-uniformed public education elementary (2) and high school (1 in, 1 just graduated) students in an area where just this year the local Catholic elementary board is going to uniforms… the #1 reason to do this from the Board’s point of view is MARKETING.
Their kids will look more prepared and ready for school waiting for the bus. They will look more respectful and “scrubbed” in the mall shopping at lunch.
They will look more serious when attending out of school trips and performing in out of school athletics.
It just from start to finish is a way to further differentiate their “brand” as the elite, religious, ahem… publicly funded educational option in Ontario.
In 10 years time the public board here (which is a basket case that is already on record as having to close 34 schools) will be 50% the size it is today and fully 60% smaller than the separate board will be by then. Thanks in large part to this uniform policy that has garnered the Catholic Board an academically unearned and certainly unproven reputation for “excellence”.
So kudos to uniforms for proving that “perception is reality” when it comes to parental choices and Board offerings in education.
When I see Ontario Catholic separate school EQAO scores are essentially the same as public scores, with a better demographic, I truly believe there is little difference but neither do I feel strongly against uniforms. If the school is in a known crime area I can see where it would help exclude those who don’t belong.
I have gone to visit Ontario Catholic separate schools in high poverty neighbourhoods and the uniforms obviously make little difference.
To me, as soon as I see uniforms I think authoritarian mentality at work. Fascists and Communists LOVE uniforms.
I agree with JR Birch 100%. BTW RC boards also suffer declining enrolment. Immigration now is Asian African, West Indian. Philippines only source of immigrant RCs and historic birth rate way down.
Catholic boards do not see how they can survive,
Every kid a billboard for school but some not the billboard you want 🙂
You are baiting us again, Doug.
Authoritarians of the right and the left do favour order, efficiency, obedience, and uniformity, but what’s that got to do with introducing Harry Potter-inspired prep school attire into public schools? In many cases, it’s cosmetic and, in certain schools like Woodbridge College, it may be just marketing — attempting to convey the impression of higher standards.
http://www.lfpress.com/2013/04/23/london-district-catholic-school-board-says-declining-enrolment-behind-reductions
This is only in London but the pattern’s the same across Ontario.
Is it true? Fascists and Communists love uniforms? The structure of RC church is, in my view, very similar to Communist Party.
Most people by now know that many of the highest scoring schools in the province do not have uniforms, ipso facto, uniforms have nothing to do with academic rigor or achievement.
School uniforms in Canadian schools most likely have British origins. Here’s a little trip back into history, to understand where the idea of uniforms originated….
“Straight out of primary school, each child was ranked according to ability and divided into one of three “mini schools”. ” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/the-politics-of-the-school-uniform-2346367.html
The British can be given credit for spreading the school uniform among the Commonwealth countries, and other countries borrowing from the British.
Japan did the same thing – that is borrow from the British – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_school_uniform
A Brief History of School Uniforms
http://www.weavingtoday.com/blogs/beweave-it/archive/2012/08/15/a-brief-history-of-school-duds.aspx
Do you know in Great Britain, the school uniform industry is a 1 billion dollar industry alone. One can only imagine the global dollar number.
What’s in a school uniform?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4755367.stm
In Russia – the school uniform is back in the 21st century.
http://voiceofrussia.com/photoalbum/70497437/#70501269
“The lower house of the Russian parliament is discussing whether school children’s parents should be able to “opt out” of the school uniform requirements, if the latter were reintroduced in Russia.”
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/2012_04_03/70505654/
Catholic School Uniforms: The Story Behind the Pleats
http://www.prlog.org/10353437-catholic-school-uniforms-the-story-behind-the-pleats.html
A school lesson – Blue Socks – The School Uniform Debate
http://www.mylearning.org/blue-socks–the-school-uniform-debate/p-939/
I was absolutely fascinated by the school lesson – Blue Socks – “On 12 March 1973 a girl (aged 14) at a school in south east England was refused admission to lessons because she turned up for school wearing blue socks rather than white. She had actually been wearing blue socks since Christmas and her parents were unaware that they were unacceptable as part of the school uniform. When the girl’s father asked to speak to the Headmistress he was told that she was not prepared to speak to him and that she would not teach the girl whilst she was wearing blue socks.”
Fascinated, because in the 21st century the continue debate on uniforms are still being raged, even though there is absolutely no evidence that uniforms aids in achievement. In one paper written around the 2002 mark, it concludes, “. Our children deserve educators and administrators who are guided by facts and sound educational methods. We cannot afford to allow our schools to be used as laboratories and our children to be used as guinea pigs for new questionable fads founded in vanity and based on supposition. ”
http://www.gate.net/~rwms/UniformDWilliams.html
As for the costs – I went on a Canadian one – the cost would be $328 to buy one item for the standard uniform. http://www.halperns.ca/history.html
So the average cost for parents would be in and around the $800 dollar mark.
Keith “the Rainmaker” Davies, Liberal big brain used to say In politics reality does not matter “it is the perception of reality that matters”. In this case it is the perception that a “private school high standards environment” is available at this school which may or MAY NOT be true.
In Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_uniform
“Learning something about the history of school uniforms can help parents and students gain some perspective on whether they are in favor of them or not.”
http://kids.lovetoknow.com/wiki/History_of_School_Uniforms
In Vine, New Jersey –
Petition started against school uniforms
http://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20130406/NEWS01/304060011/Petition-started-against-school-uniforms?nclick_check=1
The last link is quite typical of school boards imposing uniforms without proper consultation of parents. I have come to the conclusion a sensible dress code would be the right thing to do. When I was young, there was a dress code. No patches on boys’ pants, no blue jeans, and for girls the typical dress was a pleated skirt or jumper, with white blouse. Of course, back in the 1960s there really wasn’t a whole lot of choice out there, and most school clothes were brought at the Eaton’s store, or were home sewn, As I remembered, we were the only school to have a dress code, other then the Catholic school who had uniforms. Some boys had the white shirt and tie or bow tie, and other boys had the typical dungarees that were not blue jean material. Girls were allowed to wear pants and shorts underneath our skirts/dresses in the winter and spring respectively. By 1966, girls were allowed to wear slacks providing they were not blue jeans, but by that time, girls were wearing penny loafers and a blazer jacket or a v-neck sweater. For all purposes, one could call it the uniform code imposed by the students. The saddle shoes went bye bye into the dustbins of memories and penny loafers was what everyone wore starting in 1966.
Leave it up to parents to decide, under a dress code that allows lee-way for parents’ budgets and considerations. In the 21st century, it would cost a small fortune for parents if they were buying the clothing choices of the 1960s, and where quality and workmanship was far superior than what can be had in the 21st century.
It’s apparent in 2013 that, when it comes to the business of school uniforms, the marketing of them is a partnership between schools and the school uniform/fashion industry.
Would you believe – National Survey of School Leaders Reveals 2013 School Uniform Trends http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/national-survey-of-school-leaders-reveals-2013-school-uniform-trends-217759891.html
http://www.landsend.com/shop/school-uniforms/-/N-g54
A Canadian example – http://www.hcdsb.org/Board/Policies/Documents/2013 Elementary School Uniforms Parent Information Booklet.pdf
And the associated uniform business – http://www.rjmccarthy.com/estore/eStore_2.aspx
Here is a YouTube video – for British parents – It almost makes one run out to buy the latest in school uniform fashion.. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXUSvEd9OBM
For the safety conscious and fashionable – US schools weigh bulletproof uniforms: ‘It’s no different than a seatbelt in a car’ http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/apr/26/us-bulletproof-uniforms-gun-control
The Owenian sounding name of the Department of Social Protection in Ireland – Footwear Allowance Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance
http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/social_welfare/social_welfare_payments/social_welfare_payments_to_families_and_children/back_to_school_clothing_and_footwear_allowance.html
On the global organizations – How A School Uniform Can Increase the Use of Family Planning
http://www.impatientoptimists.org/Posts/2013/05/How-A-School-Uniform-Can-Increase-the-Use-of-Family-Planning
More on school uniforms being fashionable – http://www.euronews.com/2013/05/31/do-school-uniforms-make-a-difference/
Right down to collecting used school uniforms – 2013 School Uniform Drive
School Uniform DriveThe Town of Jupiter Recreation Division is collecting gently used school uniforms for less fortunate students in the Jupiter area.
http://www.jupiter.fl.us/index.aspx?NID=874
In Canada – its not quite as interesting as the European and American sites. But really Canada shopping school uniform web sites really do need to get in the 21st century and bring in free shipping for anything over $50, and not as it is now, only free shipping for $150 or over. Even if they insist on charging highway robbery prices compared to their less expensive counterparts in Europe and United States.
Maybe uniforms can save Philadelphia
http://www.salon.com/2013/08/19/indescribably_insane%e2%80%9d_philadelphias_public_school_nightmare/
I think that School Uniforms are a good idea. They really make school shopping and getting ready in the morning much easier, as well as quicker. It actually isn’t that expensive if you know where to shop. We get great deals on all of the kids school clothes at Burlington Coat Factory. It has really helped to make everything simple.
The conservative education group Thomas Fordham surveyed Americans and they listed uniforms dead last out of many education priorities.
The study you are referring to is “What Parents Want” conducted for the Thomas B. Fordham Institute and released August 27, 2013, and – you are quite correct -uniforms are not rated at all as a priority or preference.
http://www.edexcellence.net/publications/what-parents-want.html#infographic
The top preferences are for higher academic expectations, STEM, and character development. Clearly, in the United States, uniforms are not connected with these school preferences. The New England schools, in particular, are not big on uniforms.
It would be fascinating to see a comparable analysis for Canadian parents.
Maybe because I come from a country where everyone wears uniforms since they start going to school and it’s embedded in not only a ministry of education code but I would say, society itself, I find it more convenient to have kids attend school displaying what they are actually doing while wearing it, studying and hence, considered students. I know that detractors of such ideas will come with all kinds of reasons why not wear them, quite honest, I think certain ideas as being a sign of oppression or even belonging to an authoritarian way of thinking are simply overblown. They perhaps never wore them and feel as though they’ve been tied up by the mere fact of putting a uniform. I, by the way, bumped into this article when looking for a reason as to why in Canada, more specific the province of Ontario, kids in the Catholic school wear uniform in high-school, I was curious and wanted to actually find a reason coming from the ministry itself but haven’t found any. In any case, and the main reason for commenting is because I had already had a daughter going through high-school and found that wearing a uniform gave me the feeling that she was taking this stage more seriously. That this would make a real difference? I don’t know. By the way, I was kind of uneasy by the fact that the girls tend to wear the skirts way too short (out of school, that is) and this triggers another discussion as to whether this is actually a statement of seriousness or rebellion.
In any case, my other daughter is starting high-school this year, and again going through this process of getting her new uniform. Having seen her going to school everyday with plain clothes and not considering a uniform will change her ways or her performance, now I think that the uniform is inconvenient and an added expense. Interesting how you change your way of perceiving things. Thanks
I truly believe that bringing a school uniform back into the Public School system would be a a really good thing. Even if they just by-passed the whole uniform with school colours/ties etc. and just make it white tops (shirts/golf shirts/blouses) and navy bottoms (skirts/pants) it would look so much better. It would definitely be cost-effective for the parents as all they’d have to buy would be 5 varieties of white tops and 5 varieties of skirts/pants. Perhaps the children could wear this “uniform” Monday to Thursday, and then of Friday have a ‘free day’ to wear whatever they want. Also, these clothes could be bought at Walmart or Target. We wouldn’t need a School Uniform place to buy these articles of clothing as they’d charge way too much. I watch kids walking to school and they look like a right Motley Crue. There just doesn’t seem to be any respect for how they look.
I’ve dealt with my two children back in the day having clothes wars every morning as to what they were going to wear, even although the outfit for that day had been laid out the night before. They’re going to school to learn so if they were all dressed pretty much the same way it would definitely be beneficial in so many ways.
Now I have 5 grandchildren, and the same thing is happening all over again. It’s a joke!!! Get rid of the glitter, the pants with crotches at the knees, the rude sayings on t-shirts etc., etc.
All it is is common sense and to learn What to Wear and When to Wear it.
I suppose it’s all too ‘Americanised’ now and if someone was to take a stand on this we’d be told that we are violating the right to freedom of speech and expression and then we’d get sued!!
But in all seriousness, what does one do, where does one start to get the ball rolling and getting this all changed. Is it possible that it could happen or am I fighting a losing battle before I even start.
Thanks!!!
We do not need to have school uniforms
School uniforms should be implemented in Canadian Schools. It helps kids adjust to later in life, regardless of whether they become a medical profession, an emergency person or go into fast food, retail or any other industry and some point they will have to wear uniforms.
I went to school with uniform and it always gave a sense of pride and school spirit. My own kids here in Canada now go to a school where they wear uniform, getting dressed in the morning is easy and buying uniforms for the whole year works out cheaper than having to buy a whole new wardrobe every season.
I am in favor of uniforms. It eliminates competition and complexes developing between those from affluent families and those from middle class and working class families. It also helps children concentrate on their studies better and be more disciplined.
This whole concept of freedom of expression does not need to be shown during a school day. When kids play sports they have to wear uniform. It shows unity and comradeship.