Clothes make the student

Public schools are moving towards uniforms b ecause of gang violence.

Those in favor of uniform argue that uniforms promote a safe and professional learning environment. They also claim that uniforms reduce the chance of gang-related violence on campus. They cite that students wearing gang c olors provide excuses for this violence.

However, the students that have to wear the uniforms remain divided on the issue.

Some students say that uniforms infringe on their freedom of expression. Others like the policy because it eliminates co mpetition between students for popularity. The great majority do not even associate the violence at school with clothing.

Students against uniforms argue that great changes take place in teenagers during the high school years. They experiment with new hair styles and clothes. They try to learn more about who they are on the inside by changing what is on the outside.

But uniforms do not interfere with a teenager's social growth. They can still wear what they want outside of school. They can still say what they wish and they can still believe in what they want.

There is an inherent inequality when a large group of teenagers are placed in a situation where clothes mean more than intelligence and affluence contributes more to popularity than virtues.

School officials should not hide behind gang violence for their reason to introduce uniforms. Instead, they should point to the need to keep a balanced harmony in their schools by placing each student on equal fashion footing.

S chool uniforms provide an even keel for students from different incomes. A student from a wealthy family would still be able to wear what he or she wishes outside of school. Students from less-affluent families would not be placed in an unfair social e nvironment.

The cost of school uniforms is negligible. Parents need only to buy two or three sets for the entire school year, rather than a whole in-fashion wardrobe.

Uniforms aren't going to stop gang violence. If gangs have infiltrated a scho ol, then what a student wears is not going to stop student rivalries from leading to violence.