"No" to Uniforms!

Hi guys! I hope you are all having a nice Sunday!

Today, I will be debating against Marizo to the following debate: should we wear uniforms to school?

I think that we shouldn't wear uniforms to school for the following reasons:

1.  Uniforms devalue a child's individuality.  
2.  Clothing, in my belief, is one of the biggest ways in which a student expresses who they are. If clothing is being assigned, then the students will not have a way to express themselves, so they will try to express themselves in less desirable forms such as piercing and tattooing.  
3.  Schools should be a place in which diversity is celebrated; if students all have to wear the same things, then there barely is any diversity. 
4.  The cost of uniforms is excessively high, especially if a family has more than one child going to a school with uniforms. 
5.  It can be a financial burden to lower income/poor families. 
6.  Uniforms could lessen the student/child's comfort while they are attending school. 
7.  Uniforms make students become targets for bullies from other schools. 
8.  Uniforms are an unfair additional expense for families that have to pay taxes for their child to have a free public education. 
9.  A University of Missouri assistant professor, David Burnsma, concluded that there is no positive correlation between uniforms and school safety and academic achievement after conducting his own analysis of 2 major databases and reviewing past studies on the effect that uniforms had on academic achievement.  

Some may argue that students experience less pressure when picking clothes to wear to school when the kids/students are assigned a uniform; but really, in my opinion, there is no difference in pressure when picking clothes to wear to school between wearing a uniform or not. Yes, it may be easier to have the clothes match when wearing a uniform, but you can easily make your regular clothes match as well. When picking out clothes (based on how I do it), you have to look at the weather for the next day and the rest of the week; pick a pair of pants, a t-shirt, and maybe a long-sleeve shirt or a sweater that match (this may be the hardest part), and that will also make it so you won't be too cold or too hot (just right) based on the weather conditions for the next day; and make sure that you won't wear the same t-shirt, long-sleeve, or sweater twice during that week. All of these steps both apply to picking clothes that are a uniform or not; the only thing that may be easier is to have the clothes match; but other than that, the amount of pressure on the student/child does not change, and all the steps remain the same. 

To sum up, I think that we should not wear uniforms to school because they prevent a student/child to express themselves, they are an unfair additional expense for families that have to pay taxes so their child/children will have a free public education, and they can be a financial burden for poor families. 

If you believe that we should not wear uniforms to school, please comment on this post! Thank you!😊

Sources: 

1. http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/809991/the-pros-and-cons-of-school-uniforms/page:2

2. https://www.greatschools.org/gk/articles/school-uniforms/