Topic 135

135. Some high schools require all students to wear school uniforms. Other high schools permit students to decide what to wear to school. Which of these two school policies do you think is better? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

WHETHER SCHOOL UNIFORMS ARE COMPULSORY VARIES

Whether high schools should require whole students to wear unified school uniforms primarily depends on special qualities of schools. In some ordinary schools, for example, community schools, it is better to require that uniforms must be worn. In some other cases, for example, costume schools, it is more reasonable to let students themselves to decide which clothes to wear when they go to school.

As a threshold matter, in common community schools or other state-run schools, an act that mandates all students to wear school uniforms has various benefits. On the first hand, the same costumes could diminish differences, to some extent, between students who have a good family circumstance and those who do not. As a common sense, poor students may develop some kind of self-contempt, if they find that their classmates wear expensive and luxurious clothes while they cannot afford such things. Instead, poor students only have to wear quite cheap costumes. Therefore, this psychological problem may even induce to their performance in study, which certainly ought to be prevented.

On the other hand, requiring all students to wear some sort of same uniforms also could increase sense of solidarity and pride among students. For example, when students walk in school campus, they will find persons around them wearing the same costumes. As a result, they may be prone to reckon them as one of their friends though they might not know each other. Moreover, a sort of uniforms is a logo of a school, which could be easily recognized outside schools. For instance, if a student is from a renowned school, he or she will be identified by persons in street and considered as a A-class student.

Nevertheless, in the case of special schools, it is better to give freedom to students to determine what clothes to wear. For instance, in a school that focuses on designing costumes, requiring all students to wear same uniforms is just in conflict with teaching goals of this school. A costume school teaches students to be different, creative and ingenuous. Therefore, if students are told to wear various costumes designed by them, costume schools will be filled with energy. As a result, students may produce high level products, which is beneficial for both students and schools.

In summary, policies of distinctive schools ought to depend on their specific situations. In ordinary circumstances, such as state-owned schools, it is better to execute the same uniform policy. In other cases, such as costume schools, students will be glad to have the right to determine which kind of clothe to wear themselves.