I was scrolling through my Facebook feed yesterday and saw a picture from this week's newspaper dated October 25, 2016, about the Union Middle School shooting of Sandy, Utah. The article reported that a fourteen-year-old student had shot another sixteen-year-old student right there in the parking lot, at point blank range. The killer was arrested and the 16-year-old victim was rushed to the emergency room in critical condition where she was treated with extensive surgery. My heart sank. And to think this happened in Sandy Utah, not on the streets of Compton. In fact, from 2013 to October 2015 alone, there were 199 school shootings in America, an average of nearly one per week (Everytown Research). I sat there in amazement thinking: with all these school shootings happening lately, there must be some sort of overriding cause! I got to thinking about all the different changes that had happened recently in schools that would lead to this behavior. Out of curiosity I looked up the school website and found that there are standard dress codes for public schools, but no school uniform enforcement. I then continued to research the dress code policies of other schools that have recently been attacked with student shootings and saw that most of them don't actually enforce uniforms or any strict dress code. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Some scholars, like Shirley Farrell, argue that bullying and violence, like yesterday's shooting, would have occurred regardless of what students were wearing. He points out that there is no way to officially prove that the lack of uniforms was the cause of such behavior and that this is simply random evidence. Other experts, such as Friederike Sommer, Pablo Pizzurno, Belinda Luscombe, Randy Rockney, Julian Tanner and Julian Tanner would agree with my theory and support the fact that the lack of school uniforms is a prevalent cause of the influx of student violence in schools. They say enforcing strict school uniforms and dress codes helps provide the school and students with the structure they need to stay focused on education rather than getting involved in violent or unrelated and inappropriate activities. Not only do their studies show that school uniforms and strict dress codes reduce violence such as school shootings, but also other inappropriate actions such as bullying, theft, harassment, as well as helping to ensure safety, limit distractions and improve overall academic success. While Farrell makes a valid argument that there is no way to prove that the lack of school uniform was the sole cause of such violence, I say that there is sufficient cross-evidence to argue that it was a large enough factor that be taken into consideration. There are too many studies to show that schools that enforce strict dress codes and uniforms have substantially lower rates of violence, bullying, and bullying and much higher academic success and school unity for it to simply be a coincidence. Even if, for example, they only lowered the rate of violence by 10%, wouldn't it be worth it? I would definitely say that. If making uniforms mandatory in all public schools were enough to reduce the chances of shootings like the one I saw on the news yesterday that left school kids defenselesssixteen years on operating tables, I would definitely say that. Let's not just start with a school shooting. There are many complicated reasons why students would want or have an incentive to blow up a school. One of them is bullying. Friederike Sommer, author of the International Journal of Developmental Science, reported that in 88.1% of cases the future perpetrator of school shootings experienced social conflict within the school environment, primarily bullying from other students. When a student is bullied, they feel threatened and angry towards that person and even the school itself, causing them to take matters into their own hands and act irrationally with violent actions, such as shootings. To reduce the number of school shootings, we must reduce harmful exchanges that occur with students at school that result in bullying. How do we do it? Simple. Apply school uniforms. When students are all dressed in unison, it doesn't allow for much diversity that puts every student on equal footing. When students have to go to school without any imposed dress standards, there is a clear and defined separation between different groups. Instead of just being students, students are separated into rich versus poor, popular versus unpopular, and elegant versus not elegant. This, in turn, makes it easy for students to form groups with other peers who fall into the same category as them, which ends up alienating others from different categories based on their appearance. Once those lines are drawn about who belongs to which group, it becomes all too easy for a group to pick on someone from a different group simply because they are seen as different. An experiment conducted by a man known as Pablo Pizzurno was done to show the negative effect that different clothes and appearances can have on the public school system. He made Adelita, a very popular girl who normally dressed stylishly and always paid a lot of attention to the way she dressed, go to school for an entire week wearing plain, simple clothes. She wasn't supposed to wear accessories, she was told to only wear certain bland colors like brown and gray, and the clothes she was told to wear were not at all flattering or fit her body well. In the one week that she went to school dressed like this, she went from being a popular young lady, a homecoming queen, and someone practically adored by everyone, to a social outcast. Her old popular friends refused to talk to her, spread mean and false rumors about her behind her back, didn't spend time with her outside of class, and even gave her hurtful looks and inappropriate comments. At the conclusion of the experiment, Adelita comments: “School uniforms become 'a social regulator, a way to control abuse and excess'. Different styles regulate one's distance from others and one's position within the social order which, in the end, brings nothing but harm." As unfortunate as these experiment results were, it was an accurate representation of what happens in public schools where uniforms are not present. Only one Adelita was bullied by her so called "friends", students are bullied day after day simply based on their appearance and more specifically the way they dress. With school uniforms in place, there would have been no difference in how Adelita was treated from week to week because everyone would have looked the same and the bullying that occurred during the week of the experiment would never have occurred. In the present, we actually see the opposite effect of bullying.The International Journal of Developmental Science surveyed teachers from thirteen schools in three different states and found that an average of 88% of teachers saw significantly more respect, care, and trust shown throughout the school after implementing a school uniform policy. When students are bullied, you see disrespect and hostile interactions, but once the school uniform policy took over, the school environment did a whole 180. By mandating uniforms, we blur the lines of status social and this helps students to see other students for what they see. they are and allow them to shine based on their bright and loving personalities, which in many cases you wouldn't see if you judged them based on their appearances. Students are able to interact with other students from completely different backgrounds and social classes who otherwise would not have had the opportunity because they do not "fit in" and would not want to risk associating with "different" students. The presence of school uniforms dramatically reduces the amount of bullying that occurs, which not only includes harmful words and alienation (as in Adelita's case), but also includes things like theft and sexual harassment. Uniforms act as great levelers. They are not meant to be a fashion statement made by the school, in fact, they are meant to look a little ugly. When you choose a strategic uniform, desirable, expensive and elegant clothing disappears, as does your body type. The drab, boring colors everyone wears won't deter students from stealing from each other because they have the exact same shirt and pants. Unwanted uniforms also serve as protection from sexual harassment because they are unflattering to everyone and hide body image. Therefore, inappropriate touches and comments made by other classmates will also disappear. Expert Belinda Luscombe grew up in a uniformed public school and saw the effects firsthand when she worked closely with students as a principle at three different public schools for over 20 years. Bullying not only lowers students' self-esteem, but can lead to mutual anger that can worsen and progress into more violent actions. We have seen the correlation between the enforcement of school uniforms and dramatic decreases in school violence beyond bullying for a couple of decades now. A school in Long Beach, California, has mandated school uniforms since 1994 and has seen its school crime rate drop by 76% as a result. Other schools have seen this statistic and recognized that enforcing uniforms is a valid and reasonable alteration they could make in their public schools to reduce student violence. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in the 2013-2014 school year, nearly 23 percent of public schools implemented school uniforms, compared to 1999-2000 schools that had only 12 percent. More and more schools are mandating school uniforms because, like everyone else, they want to see their students succeed and thrive, without hurting each other. When more schools enforce uniforms, they help ensure student safety by not only decreasing the amount of bullying and violence in schools among students, but also protect them from intruders. “School uniforms make it easier for school staff to spot unwanted intruders in the hallways and prevent the importation of some of the more obvious signs and symbols of gang culture into the school environment,” says Julian Tanner, a high school teacher in Canada. Likewise, Randy Rockney, a specialist in theChild and Adolescent Behavior from Brown University, states that “loose clothing makes it easier to hide weapons or drugs. Some styles or colors may be associated with one gang or another. Real gang members can enter schools without warning if dressed like many of the children or teenagers who attend the school.” In public schools without uniforms, baggy, low-cut pants and extra-extra large shirts are seen as “cool to wear” because that style is glamorized by popular culture. Not to mention, that particular style of clothing is popular among gangs. This makes it difficult for other students, teachers, and other school officials to understand whether the student wearing such clothing is actually involved in a gang or is simply following today's fashion trend. Or who is to say that the student is really a student? As Rockney said, real gang members could enter schools and officials would not be able to distinguish them from other students wandering the halls. Uniforms help distinguish students from intruders who could potentially cause harm and prevent them from wearing or associating with violent clubs and gangs. In addition to reducing the violence of bullying and enhancing unit safety, school uniforms also help limit distractions and keep students alert. right path to success. If a school doesn't have a uniform policy, chances are they have a dress code policy of some kind. However, it is difficult to enforce dress codes when certain items of clothing or accessories may or may not comply with the code. Dress codes are much more subjective than a standard school uniform. Because of this, the amount of time and energy spent among students and faculty at the school arguing about what is and isn't allowed adds up and ends up detracting from the primary purpose of the school: getting an education. An example of this would be how “political slogans on t-shirts may offend those with a different political perspective, and yet schools may find it perfectly acceptable for girls to wear bikinis to promote school-sanctioned car washes, which may be found socially offensive by others. Furthermore, the practicalities of applying it in schools create further complications and inconsistencies. ” (Journal of Philosophy of Education) These additional complications are often blown out of proportion and end up involving third parties when it is not necessary. Just a few years ago, In Omaha, Nebraska, 23 students were suspended from school for wearing the wrong clothes. The teenagers, all students at Millard South High School, were ordered to stay home for one to three days in late August for wearing T-shirts commemorating Julius Robinson Per Millard Public Schools officials, the words "Julius RIP" on the t-shirts were disruptive. The students' parents ended up engaging with the American Civil Liberties Union and the event was all over the news and social media. The ordeal cost thousands of dollars in court costs and months to obtain all the statements. date the court finalized the charges. (Johnson, NBC News) This is one of many cases where students misunderstood what was and was not acceptable to wear according to the school's dress code. It would have been impossible to know whether the school's teachers would find a T-shirt reading “Julius RIP” disruptive. What makes a t-shirt disruptive in the first place? The subjectivity of dress codes leads to misunderstandings and distractions with the school system and here's why.