Friday, September 27, 2013
Uniform Policy
The uniform policy in schools is becoming a very hot topic. It seems that teachers and administrators are so wrapped up in making sure students are dressed properly that behavior problems or other concerns are being pushed aside. Students are checked everyday to make sure they are wearing the right belt, shoes, socks, shirts, jackets, etc. With all of this time being spent on checking uniforms, we are losing out on valuable time for teaching. 1) Do you think schools are too strict on uniform policies? 2) What can be done to improve the time lost due to uniform checking?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This is a touchy subject! I agree and disagree with the uniform policy. I worked in the Mobile County Public School System for three years and dealt with this on numerous occasions. Now I work for the Tuscaloosa City School System and see the other end of the spectrum with no uniform policy, just a dress code. It is very difficult with a dress code, because students like to ride on that fine line between appropriate and not appropriate dress for school; uniforms fix this problem. However, I do not have to spend time checking uniforms to make sure they have belts or the correct socks on either.
ReplyDeleteWhen I worked with uniform policies, I would check students as they came into my classroom. I stood in the hallways greeting students as they came in and this was also a great way to utilize class time. This extra five minutes between classes really helped cut down on non-uniform attire and wasted class time. Students tend to do what you ask more if they are not singled out in front of their peers.
Another good thing about uniforms is it teaches students how to look appropriate and professional when going to a job interview. Students with just a dress code are not taught day in and day out that a shirt being tucked in means being appropriately dressed. Where as the students with a uniform policy does.
I agree about the dress code. I have been in some schools where students are allowed to wear whatever they desire as long as it meets "standards". There is a fine line on what students view as appropriate and what teachers and administrators view as appropriate. I like your idea about checking students as they enter your classroom. This is a great utilization of that extra time!
DeleteThis is a sticky issue, to be sure. On the one hand, it seems a small thing for students to accomplish- simply wear the correct clothes. On the other, how much time should be taken away from instruction- theoretically the school's primary goal- in order to enforce this policy? Complicating matters are a child's age and home situation. At what age do children, and not the parents, become responsible for their uniform violations? Late elementary school? Middle School? High School? Also, how can a school ever hope to enforce policy if the parents are not willing to help. If a fifteen year hold does not own the correct shoes for school, is that the fifteen year old's fault, or the parents' fault? Also, how much time is "too much?" I don't know much about the uniform policy, so I can't really speak as to whether it is too strict or not. I was in high school when it was implemented, and it seemed simple enough to me, though that was in 1998 and 1998 and things could have certainly changed since then. I also don't know I also don't know how much time teachers spend dealing with uniform violations. My question however, is "why do teacher's deal with it at all?" If a violation is egregious enough to be spotted easily, why should the teacher say anything other than, "go to the office"? Let those in charge of discipline issues deal with violators and leave the teachers to teach. Now, what the office chooses to do with the student is an open-ended question. A single uniform violation might be punished by spending the day in in-school detention. A second might be met with the same thing, along with a conference with the parents to determine the problem. A third might be met with an extended stay in in-school suspension, along with detention and suspension from clubs/athletic teams (I am not a fan of outright suspension, as I don't believe in giving the offending student a "vacation" from school). I say this, however, with little knowledge of the major cause behind uniform violations (defiant kids, lazy parents, poor home life, etc.) I imagine that different schools have different problems with it and would be interested to hear from teachers that teach at a wide variety of schools.
ReplyDeleteRyan,
DeleteMost teachers do just send students to the office for uniform violation. My concern is that administrators are focused too much on how the students are dressed instead of working on correcting bigger issues such as student behavior. I like your statement about when uniform violations are the responsibility of the student and parent. If parents cannot afford the correct shoes for their students, then why should the student be punished for that?
I think uniform policy has become a little much in the system. The students are there to be educated, so does it matter what they are wearing. However, uniform policy is also a school political issue. If the teacher tries to enforce policy and is not supported by administration, then what. The teacher looks over baring and the administrators get off easy. For example, students have a habit of dying their hair strange and unflattering colors. the uniform policy says that hair must be normal. What is normal for one family is abnormal for the next. If the teacher tries to enforce this rule on a student most of the time it results in a parent letter or conference that acknowledges the issue but does not change student behavior. I think we need to think beyond trying to uniform the students and more on how to improve their education.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment on the abnormal hair colors. This is a very open ended situation. As you pointed out, what is normal for one family may be to have pink and purple hair. Although I would never personally dye my hair crazy colors, I don't think it is the school's right to tell students what color their hair has to be.
DeleteI do believe that schools are too strict on uniform policies because like Melva's point, the kids are there to learn and spending time enforcing the rules should not take away from teaching time. I personally do not agree with school uniforms because I believe that it tries to imply that no one is different in a way. By making all of the student dress the same, a part of their individuality and of their culture is being stripped from them. How detrimental that can be to a student I do not know.
ReplyDeleteIf the school is going to have school uniforms, then the best way to prevent any violation of the uniform is to check each student before they enter the school or enter your classroom. If they are not properly dressed they need to go to the principals office and either fix what is wrong or face the consequences. How severe a uniform violation punishment needs to be I cannot say, but if the problem is recurring then suspensions, like Ryan pointed out, should be implemented.
Whether the school is a uniform or dress code school I believe that problems are going to occur and if they are not dealt with quickly then the students will eventually be too much to handle. This is an issue that has to have zero tolerance in order for the policies to be upheld by without serious problems occurring in the future.
Alex,
DeleteI agree with your "zero tolerance" on the policy. The only way to make sure that a uniform policy is followed by every student, is to check them as the enter the school and take any and all offenders to the office.