School Uniform, Equality, Inclusion: Impact on Identity

Introduction

This article explored the connection that student uniforms have with power relations and personal student development in Thailand. The study was conducted on 8 anonymous undergraduate students attending Kasetsart University and Nakorn Panthom Rajabhat University (which rank as some of most prestigious institutes in Thailand). Research was conducted through individual interviews with each student, four males and females. The methodology was to integrate a series of open-ended questions that would allow each student to voice their honest opinions; they were allowed to keep certain responses confidential or avoidable if needed. The interview was composed of a series of questions relating to the effect a school uniform, equality has on students. The participants revealed that dress code was an undisputable enforcement that all student must follow precisely, claiming that the purpose of the uniform was not one of punctuality but one of compliance and avoidance of punishment.

The Complex Role of the School Uniform

Negative connotations associated with the enforcement of dress policy were the: “illusion of uniformity, suppression of individuality, limiting gender acceptance, and not promoting life goals”. Female students felt uncomfortably subjected to their tightly and sexual archetypes, students with relations to the LGBTQ+ must mask their gender, and the majority of students feel that they lack the passion of learning due to the enforcement of wearing a uniform. To summarize, uniform-wearing students feel that their personal identities are demonized and that they are constricted to blend in. They stress that this practice assumes that confrontation of diversity is unimportant. The research conducted in this study show that there are many underlying problems with implementing student uniforms. Interesting enough, this article also shows that the negative response to limiting a student’s self-expression goes beyond North America. Although the presence of cultural bias may be present, it still agrees with the notions known to westerners that uniforms jeopardize self-identity. Although anonymous testimonials are an effective way of discussing this issue, it does not fully account for the larger consensus, thus further research is required with more participants. The need for reassessment is not to say that the testimonies are not valuable, but to possibly find counterarguments or more supporters of the beliefs expressed. As a whole, this article demonstrates that educational policy can differ around the world, but self-expression is a universal right.

Effects of School Uniform Policies

This article seeks to determine the effect school uniforms have on middle school classroom discipline and student appeal in Nevada. Research was conducted on seventh and eighth grade students through the use of surveys, both collected at the beginning and end of the enforcement of uniforms. The survey questioned the students general appeal to the implementation, as well as the consensus of feeling safe at school by using a numeric scale of 1(strongly like) to 4(strongly dislike). Although the majority of students deemed uniforms as distasteful and ineffective in discipline (44% voting ‘strongly dislike’ and 1.7% ‘voting strongly like’), the enforcement did appear to benefit some students; more significantly, students that are often misrepresented. Of the approximate 700 surveyed students, 68 females and 147 Latino/a students (each quantifying higher than estimated) reported that uniforms made them feel respected, confident, and validated.

While these could be considered anomalies to the mean average of results, it still demonstrates that uniforms can be effective in creating safe spaces for students. Furthermore, significant impact of the uniform enforcement was the decrease in school violence and inappropriate behaviour; With a 63% decrease in police logs and 33% decrease in inappropriate behaviour, it was evident that this may be a correlation with the punctuality of wearing the same clothes as fellow students. Results obtained from the research can infer that student uniforms, although undervalued by students, can actually promote equality in education. The findings of this article are insightful, but cannot be considered resourceful. Seeing as the study was done on a small group of seniors who are more familiar with lack of restriction, seniority, and life without uniforms, the risk of bias was high. As a whole, this experiment does consider the benefits of integrating student uniforms, but has little credibility due to its limitations of no widespread research and short-term analysis of one year. Further studies should be conducted on more students in a variety of schools and years of study.

Equality Factor in School Policies

Opposed to focusing on the sociological impact and politics of enforcing school dress-policies, this article uses quantitative analysis to understand the link student uniforms have with academic success. Results were obtained by using a ‘value-added estimation strategy’ and analytical research regarding student achievement. Data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K) and the National Education Longitudinal Study (NELS) studies on the mean and standard deviations of student’s success were analyzed by the author. The assessment of both studies ranged from the start of primary school to the tenth grade. The NELS set of data showed that students in the tenth and eighth grade performed better wearing uniforms than their casually clothed counterparts. In contrast, the ECLS-K set of data demonstrated the underperformance of students who wore uniforms to the students who did not. Overall, it was concluded that the implementation of student uniforms posed no benefit to academic success. Ironically, the data tends to show that uniform-wearing students are actually demonstrating lower ‘-scores’ in the fields of reading and mathematics.

To avoid any type of bias in the article, various factors were observed through the use of multiple data sets; influences of ethnicity, socio-economic stability, population, and parental involvement were all assessed. These variables on academics did not pose any methodological challenges and relationship to uniforms and their effect on student success. Along with the observed data that was collected, the author formulated a ‘success formula’ to quantify the probability of academic achievement. Although an empirical mathematical formula was used to assess the possibility of student success, a large equation does not match the complexities of uncovering the exact causes of achievement. Instead of using variable arithmetic to, replication of this research could help reaffirm the conclusions of the research. In terms of the data collected, it is apparent that uniforms do not drastically affect the way a student performs in their academics. These results suggest that grades cannot be impacted by clothing. Ultimately, this article proved that the beneficial intentions of implementing school uniforms are not as accurate and that education policy requires a reassessment of what makes a successful student.

The implementation of student uniforms continues to be a discussion of widespread and heated debate. While this method of educational policy confidently persuades to promote the betterment of the classroom and student performance, its actual effects are not exactly as linear. The effects of these institutionally placed rules are complex and, as seen by the articles, are questionably invaluable methods of improving student life. Although each of the articles focus on different aspects surrounding dress code rules, they all cohesively demonstrate the complex responses to uniforms. Student identity, school safety, and academic success were the main areas that were reviewed to determine if the enforcement of dress code is in fact a valid idea. As seen in two of the three articles, it is apparent that there is no positive connection associated with a student’s self-expression or academic endeavors through wearing a student uniform.

On the other hand, one of the articles found that schools supporting uniform wear are generally safer, less discriminative and more disciplined. These contrasting sets of data could infer that the general agreement on uniforms is inconclusive. In actuality, these articles can prove that policies on education are flexible and are subject to what is important to a specific group of individuals. The takeaway should be about assessing the purpose of school uniforms through different analytical lenses. What “works” in location X may be deemed insufficient in location Y because of their unique issues or culture. This idea of diversity in educational needs is significant to education stakeholders because they must realize that education is not as direct as a mathematical equation. Education is not a universally identical practice; It is an ever-growing, interpersonal, and complex system that requires open-minds and teamwork.

Conclusion

Therefore, mindlessly enforcing students to wear uniforms because statistics from elsewhere in the world prove it to be effective is not an appropriate excuse. Many variables must be factored in before assuming the clothes a student wears will prove them to be successful and validated. There are several reasons (beyond those discussed in these articles) as to why uniforms can be proven beneficial, while there are just as many reasons why they’re ineffective. Ultimately, implementing school uniforms on students should require a democratic debate, not a pseudoscience backed by personal interest.    

Works Cited

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