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Friday, November 21, 2008
Another attempt at uniforms
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
DeKalb County already tried it and so have smaller school districts, like Buford. Now Clayton County will require all students to wear “uniform dress” starting next school year.
School leaders don’t want to call the new rules a uniform policy, but it seems really close. The policy will require students to wear khaki pants, skirts, polo shirts and sweaters of the same color. No jeans and no T-shirts will be allowed.
Clayton started a uniform policy at all elementary and middle schools at the start of the school year. School leaders decided to extend the rules to high school after four students were shot and killed this year.
Officials say uniforms would promote safer schools and stronger academics. That’s a popular argument. Others have said that the way some students dress is too much a distraction and uniforms would eliminate that.
The national model for school uniforms is the Long Beach Unified School District in California. They were the first urban school district to require uniforms and saw test scores go up and discipline problems go down. But leaders there are quick to say there were other reforms going on — more training for teachers, extra help for struggling students and more challenging classroom lessons. It’s impossible to say that uniforms alone improved schools.
There are many who oppose uniforms. Some say school leaders should first strictly enforce the dress code and discipline rules that already exist. And there are teachers who say they don’t want to spend time acting as the fashion police.
Can uniforms improve schools?
