SCHOOL UNIFORMS AND STUDENT BEHAVIOR: IS THERE A LINK?

Whether or not schoolchildren exhibit better behavior in the context of wearing uniforms has been a long-standing area of debate in education. Nonetheless, there has been little empirical inquiry into the benefits or drawbacks of school uniform policies. To contribute new insights to the dialogue, the present investigation used nationally representative data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study Kindergarten Class of 2011 (n = 6,320) to examine students’ social-behavioral and engagement outcomes across the elementary school years as a function of school uniform policies. In general, students in schools that required school uniforms did not demonstrate better social skills, internalizing and externalizing behavior, or school attendance as compared with students in schools without school uniforms. These associations were true across both public and private schools. There was, however, some indication that low-income students in schools that required uniforms demonstrated better school attendance than low-income students in schools that did not.

One major consideration pro-school uniform groups cite is student safety. Past school uniform policies have been introduced as a way to equalize the school culture/setting to support students and reduce gang attire and activity, increase school safety, and decrease clothing theft . Thus, from risk-taking perspective, school uniforms are often viewed as a way of mitigating risks to vulnerable populations, including fear of intimidation and discrimination. But beyond safety considerations, school uniforms have other proposed benefits: Increased student discipline, increased respect for teachers, promotion of group spirit, higher academic standards maintained through uniformity, decreased strain on parental budgets, and a decrease in student’s concerns for social status through fashion. These benefits may also increase academic achievement, as a third of teachers either agreed or strongly agreed that student misbehavior disrupted their teaching.

On the other hand, opponents of school uniforms argue that there is not enough empirical evidence to support its implementation and that students may seek out other ways to individuate themselves even in schools with uniforms, such as becoming disruptive in class or rebel against authority (Gentile & Imberman, 2011). In the limited research that does exist, there is some indication that uniforms may restrict students’ ability to express themselves, and thus, results in lower-levels of self-esteem. Accordingly, through seeking conformity in clothing, schools may actually be undermining efforts to understand and appreciate diversity in the student body. Opponents of school uniforms also cite a variation of the Hawthorn effect that may account for any observed differences in student outcomes where uniforms are mandatory more specifically, it is argued that differences in student outcomes are caused by a change in the way adults perceive uniformed students and not the way in which students behave or learn. If this hypothesis is correct, then meaningful change may be brought about without mandating uniforms among the student body.

When taken together, despite theoretical assertions and the policy rehteoric surronding school uniforms and their benefits for the student body, the extant literature has yielded inconclusive evidence. Thus, whether school uniforms help level the playing field in schooling, which is important for children from ethnically and economically diverse backgrounds, or whether uniforms amplify disparities and serve as obstacles to being in school is unclear. Accordingly, the present investigation sought to add to our knowledgebase by leveraging a contemporary and nationally representative sample of elementary school-aged students to evaluate whether K-5 students’ school behavior and engagement outcomes differ in schools with and without uniforms. As part of this effort, we also consider the extent to which any patterns vary for students across the income and skill distributions and across school sectors. Given the inconclusive evidence discussed above, we did not make directional hypotheses. But in addressing these research questions, we build upon the limited, dated understanding of whether school uniforms are associated with students’ social, behavioral, and engagement outcomes in the crucial early years of development.

We begin with a descriptive presentation of the types of schools that had school uniform policies along with the students who attended those schools. We then present our main effect analyses before we turn to a discussion of heterogeneity in outcomes and close with set of supplemental analyses. With that said , roughly 28% of students across the U.S. attended schools that required a uniform. When looking across different types of schools, we find that 78% of Catholic schools that students attended had a uniform requirement as compared with only 54% of other religious schools and 43% of other private schools. And, among public school students, only 21% attended schools with a uniform policy. In terms of the student body, we find that schools with uniforms served a larger number of Black (20%) and Hispanic (40%) children and English Language Learners (27%) than schools without school uniforms (8–18%). In contrast, White children were more likely to be served in schools without uniforms (64% vs. 31%), whereas schools with uniform policies served a larger share of children from low-income families (52%) than schools without uniform policies (41%). Other descriptives stratified by schools with and without uniform.

«Sayyid Muhyiddin maxdum» o’rta maxsus islom ta’lim muassasasi ingliz tili o’qituvchisi Boburjon domla Bazarbayev