
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 30, 1995                   TAG: 9508300039
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SCHOOLS

IN THE movie, ``Clueless,'' all the Los Angeles high-school students have rich parents and can afford to shop for their back-to-school duds on Rodeo Drive. In the real world, many students can't afford pricey threads. Even if everyone could, is a value system that treasures $150-a-pair sneakers what we wish for them?

In schools where all dress alike - say, simple white shirts and navy blue skirts or trousers - individuality isn't necessarily quashed. Distinctive traits of personality, talent, intelligence and integrity might be more quickly recognized with less distraction.

That's the thinking, anyway, behind the decision by increasing numbers of schools to encourage, if not to mandate, school uniforms.

We continue to harbor worries and questions. Should government (in this case, school authorities) really dictate what people must wear? Might public schools be stifling freedom of expression? Clothes, faddish and outrageous as they may be, are one way among others that young people express their personalities.

Still, school uniforms are gaining favor because they're having some good effects. Uniforms can substantially ease the financial burden and hassle for parents who might otherwise be lobbied constantly by their kids for designer-label jackets and Air Jordans. They can take pressure off kids to keep up, garbwise, with friends and style-setting celebs. They also can help mask differences in class and background that might otherwise divide young people.

School officials and teachers insist, moreover, that uniforms help reduce discipline problems. Some schools also are seeing uniformed students - with fewer distractions, and less showboating by materialistic clotheshorses - making better grades.

For these reasons, several public schools in Virginia have adopted uniforms on a voluntary basis. Some schools appear to be headed toward mandating them. Even where uniforms are only an option, schools report a surprisingly high level of participation and acceptance by students.

Few institutions if any in our region have experienced assaults by students trying to steal expensive fashions. But, on the evidence, we can't argue with schools trying out uniforms - at least voluntary policies - to see if they fit.

by CNB