It’s rather widely agreed that educational standards are good, not bad.  There have been arguments back and forth about higher or more demanding standards, but generally, such standards have improved the schools where they are in place.  Furthermore, it seems to South Boston Online that the state educational system has been responsive when standards have needed to be changed in order to reflect “the real world”.  Therefore, we have no hesitation in suggesting additional standards.

     We would like to recommend that the local public school systems adopt a policy of requiring (yes, requiring) that uniforms be worn.  And we don’t mean just a dress code – we mean a set of uniforms to be used during all regular school hours, and in every classroom.  No uniforms would be required for outside or after-hours activities (athletics, dances, field trips, and so on).

     None of us here at the newspaper claim to be designers, but join us in imagining what the uniforms might look like.  Perhaps the boys could wear long pants of a set color, with an open-collared white shirt and a school emblem on the shirt pocket.  The girls could wear a school blouse with either a skirt or slacks.  There would have to be cold-weather garments like a school sweater and jacket.  As the students progressed to the upper grades, more choices would be made available (scarves, neckties, blazers, pullovers, whatever).  And please, no jeans, rips, gaps, or body jewelry.  Sneakers we can handle (if they don’t have wheels and glow in the dark).  Maybe an ear ornament is all right (if it’s small), but that’s it.

For parents, who are justifiably concerned about costs, school uniforms are generally less expensive than street clothing.  Uniforms don’t go out of style.  They can be worn from one year to the next, until the student outgrows them.  When the uniforms become too small, they will have to be replaced of course, but so wouldn’t street clothes.  Replacing outgrown clothes will cost the same, whether it involves uniforms or not.

     There would be a transition period.  Many students will grumble at first, but we think that uniforms would eventually be well accepted.  It’s tempting to say that uniforms might improve behavior, instill pride in a school, or even upgrade academic achievement.  Truthfully, those are nothing but conjectures.  Even so, we believe the atmosphere in a school with uniforms would somehow improve.

     And to the student who’ll have to wear the uniform:  Look, it’s already enough trouble for you to fit in, to conform to the rest of the students at your school.  Uniforms will eliminate one source of peer pressure.  Save your designer outfits and your social energies for outside of school, when you’re on your own time.  Overall, life will be easier for you.  Since you will know what you are going to wear each school day, you may even be able to sleep in an extra fifteen minutes.  Not bad.

     Here’s a promise to you as a student.  You will eventually come to like the idea of wearing a uniform to school.  Guaranteed.

     There are plenty of examples of uniform wear in the outside world.  Athletic teams, the military, and first responders are the most visible, but there are many jobs and many social activities that require you to dress a certain way.  People in uniforms take pride in what they are doing, and their uniforms contribute to that pride.