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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

School Uniforms Are A Sound Idea

In the 1960s and 1970s in Spokane, you saw Catholic grade school and high school uniforms everywhere. The colors and styles varied from school to school, but much was similar. They were made of wool, a white shirt was mandatory, and public-school students teased about the uniforms.

Parochial-school students didn’t ever question why they had to wear them. Was it to spare large Catholic families clothing expenses? To make the students all look alike? Or was it part of the overall discipline package for which Catholic schools were famous? The reasons didn’t matter because the uniforms served an important purpose. They were a great leveler. It was impossible to tell, by clothes alone, who had money, who didn’t.

Now it’s the ‘90s. Students in Catholic schools still wear uniforms (though they have a more casual look) and public schools nationwide are deciding that the Catholics had a good idea long ago. Public school districts in several states are switching to uniforms and finding a decrease in peer pressure, violence and behavior problems.

Yes, uniforms are finally trendy - at least with adults. Two bills were recently introduced in the Washington state Legislature. One bill would authorize the imposition of district-wide dress codes, including uniforms. The other bill would require school boards to hold hearings on uniforms before Sept. 1, 1997.

No matter what happens with the bills, we applaud the “uniform” effort. School uniforms are a sound idea, for the same reasons they made sense 30 years ago. And for several more reasons, unique to the 1990s. Gang members and gang wannabes identify each other by their clothes. And the popular baggy pants and oversized shirts provide hiding places for weapons and drugs.

Some worry that requiring uniforms would violate children’s rights. Any school district that investigates switching to uniforms does need to listen to every negative associated with them. Listen to parents, teachers and especially the students.

But keep in mind, most students will never approve. Catholic school students grumbled about the uniforms 30 years ago, long before anyone talked of kids’ rights and youth empowerment. Only as adults did some grow nostalgic for the ease, the inexpensiveness and the lack of stress associated with wearing the same thing, day after day.

How simple. How wise. Explore it.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rebecca Nappi/For the editorial board