Gov. Paul Cellucci and Lt. Gov. Jane Swift proposed a new bill yesterday that would require students attending public schools in the Commonwealth to wear uniforms. The bill would also give school-parent councils the option not to enforce the measure.
One reason to support school uniforms is that they allow students to express their identities in ways other than material means. Students may then increase their social and academic growth and development if they are less concerned with how their peers may judge their clothing. School uniforms also tend to create less of a distraction in the classroom because it would draw students’ attention away from others’ physical appearance as well as their own.
However, while the Cellucci administration may have good intentions in proposing this bill, it is advancing the school uniform with a backward approach. Schools and parents should address the issue first before the state government steps into the debate.
The state has no place in deciding what students must wear in public schools: taxpayers do. Individual schools, districts and counties should determine whether school uniforms would benefits their students. The fact that the bill includes an escape hatch for schools and parents to who choose not to adopt the policy shows that they decision should come from the local and community level rather than the state.
In addition, most schools already have some sort of standard dress code. Restricting certain types of clothing such as baseball caps and halter-tops does create uniformity among students.
The Cellucci administration should focus its efforts on improving more pressing issues facing state schools such as overcrowding and a lack of resources and teachers.
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