Less Time For Style, More Time To Study Reduce Distractions Uniforms Foster Unity, Shift Focus To Learning

Middle school students can spend an inordinate amount of time on their clothes, twisting into the latest jeans, twirling around in surfer labels, and preening in front of mirrors.

If even a fraction of that energy could be funneled back into academics, imagine the results. Great books could be devoured, science fair projects polished, jump shots mastered.

Parents at Lakes Middle School in Coeur d’Alene vote this week on whether their children’s school should adopt uniforms. Obviously, this is a decision best determined by local schools and parents. But we can think of many great reasons for making the switch.

Most important, school uniforms foster a sense of belonging. For kids who can’t afford the latest fads, walking through the school door can be painful. The experience may build character. It may also stifle and wound. Public school should be a place where everyone may belong, where no one becomes an outcast because the family budget won’t stretch to cover a $60 pair of Silver jeans or a $22 Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt.

On the issue of school violence, uniforms do constitute the most superficial of solutions. But they might reduce the number of spots an anti-social kid could hide a weapon: No trench coats.

And what might happen in the absence of gang colors, offensive T-shirts, sleazy tops, vampire fangs? Education just might improve.

In Long Beach, Calif., 58,000 elementary and middle school students started wearing uniforms in 1994. By the following year, overall school crime dropped by 36 percent. Fights were down by 51 percent, sex offenses by 74 percent, weapons offenses by 50 percent, vandalism by 18 percent.

Parochial school students have been wearing uniforms for years. Gone are most of the hated plaids and scratchy woolens. Contemporary uniforms consist primarily of khaki pants and polo shirts. At Lakes Middle School, kids could also wear Oxford shirts and shorts, or skirts for girls.

These aren’t loathsome choices. After a few weeks, most kids would peacefully settle in, turning their focus elsewhere: to their shoes and hair clips, yes, but maybe, just maybe, to their studies.

Parents, their budgets eased with hand-me-down uniform exchanges, and students, swirling through life’s major transitions, both could wind up pleased with this time-honored concept.