ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220008
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-8 EDITION: METRO
ON THE issue of school uniforms in public schools, we are torn.
You have to cherish liberty of expression and freedom from government overregulation of personal behavior.
But we also recognize the value of educating youngsters in a safe and orderly environment, undistracted by the envy, taunts, disappointments, peer pressures, expenses, class conflicts, excessive materialism and even violence that varying attire can foster.
The Roanoke City School Board is considering school uniforms. President Clinton has endorsed them. The concept isn't without reasons or empirical evidence on its side.
If youngsters weren't so preoccupied with designer labels, weren't constantly trying to keep up with the latest, costly fads, they could still find ways to establish their personalities and individualism. Maybe even by, say, excelling in math or science or developing special talents in a spelling bee, the gym or a school play.
Self-esteem derived from such achievements is a lot more meaningful and enduring than the satisfaction gained from owning and wearing whatever clothes are in this week, according to teen trend-setters, the media and The Gap.
Moreover, experience in some schools suggests a uniforms policy can reduce discipline problems and help foster good conduct, respect for authority and pride in belonging to an institution. Heaven knows, in some classrooms, teachers can use all the help they can get.
At the least, uniforms might offer relief to children under peer pressure to wear expensive threads - and relief to financially strapped parents. Even if everyone could afford them, do we want makers of $150-a-pair sneakers dictating the value system for our kids? They are doing so today, to a considerable extent, in a world of coveted things and cheapened values.
Schools performing their primary mission - education even more than socialization - ought to be encouraging creativity as well as order. But what have clothes to do with learning?
And yet, all this notwithstanding, we remain wary of the impulse to demand disciplined uniformity. It seems odd for government officials outside the military to dictate what people can wear. And kids, don't forget, are persons. Will there be punishment for those who want to be different?
We can think of a lot of educational reforms more urgently needed than school uniforms.
Amid our ambivalence, we come down in favor of experiments in school communities that choose to try uniforms, assuming the policies are instituted on a voluntary basis. We also note that this is another example of schools being asked to resolve problems created outside their doors: in this case, materialism run amok.
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