For the uniform

I don't know if they still do it but back in my high school days, the debate about whether or not to institute school uniforms was an annual thing. They were talking about it long before I was there, and to this day the school is uniform free. While I don't know what the exact reasoning was for never implementing the change, I can only assume that the debate never decidedly leaned towards the "yes" side; at least not enough to warrant changing the status quo. Every year, I'd be happy about the end result. Of course, this would usually spark debates within whatever group of friends I happened to have that year. Every year there were passionate supporters of the uniform idea, and they all had the same argument.

It will eliminate social inequality

The biggest argument in favour of uniforms is that it will make the social gap disappear between the children who come from richer families vs. those who come from less fortunate ones. That in turn means that less privileged children won't stand out as much and therefore won't get teased. I think it's an oversimplification of things. While the uniform may reduce the visibility of the social gap, it won't eliminate it entirely. Kids—specifically teenagers—are like sharks smelling blood. They will pick up on any and every little detail they can to attack each other. The old saying "kids can be so cruel" is no exaggeration. So even if little Sally is wearing the same clothes as the other girls, they may notice her shoes, her jewelry  her makeup (or lack thereof), her bag, her school supplies, her lunch, or anything else they can observe. Add to that the fact that some people likely know little Sally from elementary school, and so the knowledge of her background is there. In high school, these things get known. So the uniform, in this situation, is a retardant, not a deterrent.

Mind the Gap

So we've established that it's difficult to level the playing field and make all the kids equal. But if we really stop and think about it, would we want to even if we could? I mean, school is meant to prepare children to integrate into society. High school in particular teaches skills that those kids will carry with them throughout their entire lives, not the least of which being how to function in a social hierarchy. When those kids leave school they're going to be small fish in a very big pond and no one is going to give them a break. It's already hard to hit the ground running in that kind of situation. If they're unprepared for the cold realities of the social ladder, that might be a bite of reality too big to swallow.

I realize that to some, my point of view seems callous."Just toss them to the wolves?" you ask. Well. that's part of it. Kids can't be coddled their entire lives, everyone knows that. Most parents try to shield their children from the harsh realities of the world for as long as they can to protect them, to prolong their enjoyment of the world and try to hang onto their innocence for as long as possible. As a goal, that's admirable. Some would say that protecting your offspring should be a parent's first responsibility. But there's shielding them, and then there's keeping the truth from them. And the truth is that the world isn't always a nice place, it sucks. We all wish it wasn't so but that's the reality of the situation. There's a balance to be stricken between keeping a child safe and keeping them informed and ready. The best preparation will come from them cutting their own teeth.

There are, of course, other arguments that are brought up on both sides of the equation. Some parents favour the idea of uniforms because it will save money on school clothes. I can't disagree with that. Clothes are expensive and kids go through them a lot. The kids would say it stifles their individuality even though they still get to wear whatever they want outside of school so that one might be more of a draw. All in all it's certainly not something that is easily cut and dry but I believe the cons of instituting school uniforms far outweigh the pros.