Students who wear required uniforms to school seem to undergo an attitude change once they are wearing them. According to one Listserv member, the students developed pride in identifying with "their" school once a uniform policy went into effect. The writer also noted that students, teachers and administrators had a degree of flexibility regarding uniforms. On cold days, the students could wear long-sleeved uniform shirts or sweaters and on warm days, they could wear uniform shorts.
Once a uniform policy goes into effect, teachers seem to feel added pressure to "police" students for uniform policy violations. One teacher says that, even when students are in compliance by wearing the required items, they "push the envelope" by leaving shirts untucked or not wearing a required belt. Other students buy the required item in a designer version, which still allows the "haves" and the "have-nots" to identify who belongs to which group.
Student attitudes toward school uniforms run mostly against the idea, although a minority of students support them. Reasons for not liking uniforms vary. Some students don't like a part of the uniform. "Uniforms make you look like you are not wearing what you like. In my case, I hate it," one student said.
Another pointed out, "I think that uniforms are so tacky, if you know what I mean."
And even when everyone is wearing the same thing, kids still find a way to signal social differences. "You still worry about picking the best outfit," a student said. "The popular kids all wear white and blue at the same time and some people can't afford all the colors, so it's a big problem."
Some districts turn to uniform policies to combat a gang or violence problem. The Long Beach, Calif., Unified School District cited reducing gang violence as the primary goal in requiring uniforms for all its elementary and middle school students. Some schools have noted improved discipline and lower rates of violence and school crime with the advent of mandatory uniforms.
Some legal challenges to uniform policies state that students' freedom to select what to wear is a form of self-expression, and schools should not interfere with this right. Conversely, one school administrator notes that athletes who wear team uniforms have never complained about their freedom of expression being suppressed.