It’s one of those issues—unlike, say,guns, gambling or Medicaid expansion–that periodically cycles back into the legislative halls of Tallahassee but doesn’t leave zero-sum polarization in its contentious wake. It’s either a good, practical idea or a well-intentioned but unnecessary, ineffectual one. Nobody gets demonized.
It’s the familiar refrain about uniforms in public schools.
We’ve heard the pros and cons. They reduce peer pressure, make schools safer, help level the playing field, decrease truancy and put the focus on academics, not fashion. Or they stunt individuality, preclude choice and don’t affect change.
As with so many issues today, partisans can cherry pick studies for validation.
Currently five Florida school districts, including Polk County, have standard–districtwide– student attire policies. In fact, Polk has had its–for elementary and middle school students–for 15 years. (For the record, Polk students can wear dark blue, black or khaki bottoms, such as pants, shorts or skirts, and white or navy shirts with a collar. Students may also wear school T-shirts.)
But no Tampa Bay county has a districtwide school uniform policy. Instead, the districts let individual schools decide. Here in Hillsborough, for example, schools can require uniforms if at least 3/4 of teachers and parents support it. Families can opt out for whatever reason, including religion or student disability.
This legislative session has brought forth HB 7043, the Students Attired for Education Act (SAFE), that would encourage all school districts to create a K-8 uniform policy. The measure, which was passed 102-8 by the House, would not be a mandate; it would provide additional funding to school boards that adopt such a policy for 2015-16. (In Hillsborough’s case, that could amount to as much as $1.4 million.) Impetus for the SAFE bill came from positive input from school officials in several counties, including Polk.
Personally, I’m in favor of uniforms.
As a former teacher, I’m in favor of anything that can help. I would want as many variables on my side as possible.
If there’s anything our public schools can use, it’s the wherewithal to enhance classroom discipline and mitigate the impact of pop-culture distractions. The learning process is subject to numerous variables–most critically, the socioeconomics and parental buy-in at home–that you can’t control. So let’s max out on what we can control, which is the environment students encounter once they enter the actual classroom.
But let’s also be realistic. Society has never been more challenging. Teaching has never been more complicated, from Big Brother test-taking decrees to have -and have-not student diversity. There are no pedagogic panaceas.
This is not “dress for success.” This is: Address ways to limit distractions to the learning process.
State Rep. Joe Geller, D-Aventura, is a recent dress-code convert. His take is a sobering reminder of societal context.
“If you have uniforms,” points out Geller, “nobody is wearing gang colors. Nobody is being teased or bullied because of what they’re wearing.”
Then there’s the bottom-line, parental reality as noted by House K-12 Education Committee Chairwoman Janet Adkins.
“It will actually be less expensive (than buying nonuniform, back-to-school clothing,” says Adkins. “And we think this would streamline morning activities for moms and dads,” says Adkins, “and help improve the climate at schools across the state.”
There’s also this variable.
Teachers are professionals, as they keep reminding us, albeit underpaid and over-burdened. They’re on the front lines for everything. They help shape this country’s future. Creating, nurturing and maintaining a positive learning environment is critical to their charge.
They also have to dress the part. Not all do.