The Positive Effects Of Uniforms In Public Schools

However, the study by Brunsma et. al claims that uniforms have little effect, if at all. Bodine notes that all of the schools used were private schools (Gentile 22-23; Bodine 3-5) which may account for the lack of improvement. The same may not necessarily hold for public schools. Also, according to Gentile and Imberman, “uniforms provide an additional tool that administrators and teachers can use for discipline by providing students with rewards of “uniform-free” days for good behaviour,” (Gentile 3) an ingenious approach to further discipline students.
Second, uniforms affect a student’s sense of self, a person’s view of himself/herself. They affect a student’s self-esteem and consequently their educational performance. Role theory is a hypothesis on how uniforms help students are able to better internalize their identity as a student: “Role theory is related to the use of appearance in the pattern of attitudes and actions taken by an individual in social situations (Mead, 1934; Sarbin, 1954). The specific role that a person plays at any given moment depends upon the situation and upon the person’s self-concept. According to role theory, clothing may influence the self-concept and make the role easier to play, possibly determining whether or not a particular role is to be played at all” (Draa 25).
Uniforms are a way for students to internalize and accept their role as a student.
Admittedly, another problem is that uniforms force gender nonconforming students into the gender