Uniforms and Gang Violence

"JAM"

Uniforms and its effects on gang violence

Does uniform reduce gang violence; a question often debated within many branches of the school systems, recently stirring up controversy in secondary schools. The idea of mandatory uniform restrictions in high school, what students consider to be the school where one is “free to express their style, and hold an elevated level of maturity” is nothing but a thing of the past; when there was an increase of reported gang violence ending the 20th century, entering the half the decade of the 21st century, school administrators, and parents alike agreed on the idea that the “innocent world” they lived in was no more. The past of the 20th century without all the complicated situations faced today, is what they have engraved in their mind; the current future is quite different, with the ability to have access to a plethora of information at your fingertips, to being anti-social with the use of the internet. A major issue with the freedom of a student expressing his style was that of conflicting gang colors, through the activity of “representing” – through the use of colors for the respective gang, such as blue for the “Crips” of red for the “Bloods”, there was violent conflicts for “territorial warfare”; ironically the end result was to enforce a dress code in which all students are mandated to “represent” the school by their choice of colors. The uniform is required to be worn at all times of the school day.
When I attended my primary school, Hammocks Middle School, there was an influx of adolescents who were lost in the illusion of “belonging to a gang”, the popular reason was the mental stronghold that led the students to believe that when in a gang, they are associated with an aggressive group which they can use to threaten other students with fear; another illusion though up by the members was that they would essentially have “back up” when they’re in need. The reason this topic of research intrigued me was that over the last 5 years, I have personally observed a nation-wide ratification on how the majority of Public High schools function, in terms of dress code; in addition I have also noticed that in high school, thought as where one is aesthetically free to express themselves, was being locked down with mandatory uniform restrictions. The reason uniforms are mandatory today is due to the current situation of gang violence, which caused uproar in concerned parents. Parent’s, in agreement with the district, called to have uniforms enforced through-out the student body, in all branches of schools; uniforms were implemented through a poll in which parents expressed their positive, or negative opinion on the idea of uniforms, I clearly remember this occurring during my 6th grade year, and was a very controversial topic of interest through the school at that time. Mainly the reason the idea was successful was the advertisement of reducing gang violence through the idea that all individuals, representing a single identity would avoid ridiculous conflicts between opposing groups for clothing, or any offensive messages; Do uniforms reduce gang violence?
Research was interesting for this topic, at first I planned to conduct personal interviews with school administrators, but unfortunately they had an extremely busy schedule. With no personal interview on which to look forward to, I referred to one of my best friends, the internet! The internet is what many refer to as “the information highway”; the internet provides me with an unlimited database of electronic documents, media, interviews previously conducted, or about anything. While browsing through the index of web pages (more than 6 billion, and increasing) I stumbled upon a video hosted by NBC, and conducted on February, 27, 1996, that described on how, through a survey, “75%, or ¾ of secondary schools principals agree upon the idea of enforcing a dress code through schools in efforts to reduce gang violence” (Tom Brokaw, George Lewi). The video strongly reinforced my thoughts on how even in the past (the video being from 1996) the gang violence issue, was a major problem. The video displayed many administrators and representatives of the scholastic district having a rendezvous discussing their ideas, and thoughts on the efforts necessary to reduce gang violence; the majority agreed upon the implementation, and comes to show that the majority have the same mindset.
Research with the involvement of personal interviews with administrators in charge of scholastic entities was an impossible feat for me, due to their busy schedules, and my limited time. A physical library was not possible for me due to my automobile restrictions, and conflicting schedules of parents, or any guardian able to transport me to a physical library; my last resort was to scrutinize the web for teacher-certified “E-libraries” that contained valid and reliable information. Thereafter I stumbled upon the perfect government-sponsored library titles “Accessmylibrary.com”; “Acessmylibrary” claimed to hold over 30,000 articles that contain a huge amount of information that conveniently is supported, and trusted by official local libraries. During my profound search over hundreds, if not thousands of articles relating to the topic of “dress code polices” affecting academic performance and violence, I stumbled over one of the earliest articles to date, from the year 1999 – the article contained information stating that “during the year of 1998, in October, uniforms were endorsed for implementation by the U.S. Conference Of Mayors’ Nation Action Plan on School Violence and Kids at a national summit on school violence” (WILKINS, JULIA). According to the article (The October 15, 1998 USA today), with the implementation of uniforms for that time, there were significant reports of descending crimes rates, and ascending rates in student performance. The research belongs to data that occurred over a decade ago, thus even with the report being early, the concern of uniforms is great evidence to support my research.
During my immense research I learned that throughout modern-history, modern being the late 20th and 21st century housing un-segregated public education, throughout the globe there has been an extremely positive outcome of implementing a mandatory dress code.
“The first large school district, Long Beach Unified School District, in California reported some very encouraging results when they implemented a school uniform policy in 1994. “In the first year of the mandatory uniform policy in Long Beach, school officials reported that fighting decreased by more than 50% assault and battery by 34%, sex offences by 74%, robbery by 66%, suspensions by 32%, and reduction of vandalism by 18%.”
The positive outcome of a large-scale implementation of a mandatory school uniform policy in “the first large school district, Long Beach Unified School District, in California” resulted in an experiment that worked, with half the fights, a ¼ reduced rate in assault, and sexual harassment by a staggering ¾; The citizens of Long Beach must’ve been happy to have a 66% reduction in robberies, helping keep a higher sense of security; Mandatory uniforms are a win-win situation, when deeply analyzed by logical means. An article from the year 1999 in relation to dress code policies stated that “there is media coverage of stories about a nationwide school epidemic, in which assaults on teachers are frequent and children are routinely killed over designer clothing” (WILKINS, JULIA). The irony over the killings date back to when Clinton ruled as President of the united states, in which he stated In his 1996 State of the Union Address, Clinton said, "If it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear uniforms(WILKINS, JULIA). Therefore Clinton called for a mandatory implementation of uniforms. Uniforms are not only for the reduction of gang violence, but are used for academic performance; “The lawyer for the Anderson school district says the board expects uniforms to improve academic performance by eliminating distracting clothing and creating an orderly atmosphere” (UPI NewsTrack). The reason a uniform can be distracting can be due to many reasons, such as offensive graphics and “message”. An example of this phenomenon can be a gang member wearing a red shirt with a “crips” member being attacked; Controversy would start just from designs. Kids can get assaulted for wearing expensive clothing also.
Cheryl Thomas is an assistant principal at Meridian High School in Meridian, Mississippi, which recently approved a uniforms policy. "We expect it to equalize things," she says. Uniforms will mean "less attention on clothes and social status versus what we 're here for--and that is to learn." (Junior Scholastic)
A big concern comes into play, if a school is for learning would it really matter for the “expression of individuality”, the point of school is to be educated, and through uniforms, students focus more on their academics, than on social status.
There is no proof that a uniforms policy improves academic performance or reduces gang violence. A 2001 study by the Educational Testing Service found little difference in the amount of misbehavior in schools that require uniforms and schools that do not. So why should kids who dress properly "be punished for kids who wear their pants [so that] their underwear shows?" asks a parent in Philadelphia, Mississippi. (Junior Scholastic)
Fast-forward three years after the California study, and we find new data that there is small difference in the amount of behavior-related mischief in schools that mandate uniform policies, as opposed to those who do not; the argument presented is why should the students who dress properly from the privilege of not requiring uniforms, have to pay up for the students who show their intimate wear.

All my life I have withheld an important trait that I slowly started to stress, called “persistence”; I’m the type of person that doesn’t take “no” for an answer and I strive to achieve the goal I set forth, especially information. When I need to find information I necessitate, I will obtain it, whether I need to spend my time staying up to the late hours of the night, through searching every crevice of information on the net. The knowledge that the gray matter in my cranium contains is going to play a huge aid in the future to strengthen my personality, and overall success. Persistence is the trait that a person needs to achieve that goal, that GPA, or that scholarship one desires. My whole life I have always been excelled in reading, being a comprehensible person of logic, and an extremely creative writer (I have a medal of me scoring a 6 in the 8th grade FCAT to prove that). My daily routine that expands my mind include activities such as reading blogs, the latest news, information, books, and completing my assigned homework; through this extensive amount of information my mind processes daily I can analyze other writing patterns used by other writers, and adapt the style into my own “custom style of writing”. When I write, I let my imagination run loose through the depths of the most descriptive word, to vibrant words that enlighten one with a complicated, yet fascinating word, that’s why I’ve been called “complicated” numerous times throughout my life. I realized that when extensive research is conducted, one must persistent and intelligent to strive for sources that will support an excellent research paper. I felt complete when I came to this realization, because I finally found a challenge to my level of standards; I love these types of activities that place my brain to work hard, as opposed to rotting all day in a classroom.

Works Cited
"Parents oppose school uniforms." UPI NewsTrack. United Press International. 2007. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 .

"School uniforms proposed as way to help students: Year-round classes also suggested." Columbia Daily Tribune (Columbia, MO). McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 2007. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 .

"Should kids be required to wear school uniforms?(Debate)." Junior Scholastic. Scholastic, Inc. 2006. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 .
Brokaw, Tom, and George Lewis. "School Uniforms and School Violence." Education, School. NBC Nightly News, 27 Feb. 1996. Web. 3 Oct. 2009. .

Society, Sleiggi. "Does Requiring Students to Wear Uniforms Reduce Violence in Secondary School?" Socyberty. Socyberty, 19 Dec. 2007. Web. 3 Oct. 2009. .

Wilkins, Julia. "School Uniforms - not clear that school uniforms will reduce violence." Editorial. Findarticles. bnet, 1 Mar. 1999. Web. 3 Oct. 2009. .

WILKINS, JULIA. "School Uniforms.(not clear that school uniforms will reduce violence)." The Humanist. American Humanist Association. 1999. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 .

Cited: "Parents oppose school uniforms." UPI NewsTrack. United Press International. 2007. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 . "School uniforms proposed as way to help students: Year-round classes also suggested." Columbia Daily Tribune (Columbia, MO). McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. 2007. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 . "Should kids be required to wear school uniforms?(Debate)." Junior Scholastic. Scholastic, Inc. 2006. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 . Brokaw, Tom, and George Lewis. "School Uniforms and School Violence." Education, School. NBC Nightly News, 27 Feb. 1996. Web. 3 Oct. 2009. . Society, Sleiggi. "Does Requiring Students to Wear Uniforms Reduce Violence in Secondary School?" Socyberty. Socyberty, 19 Dec. 2007. Web. 3 Oct. 2009. . Wilkins, Julia. "School Uniforms - not clear that school uniforms will reduce violence." Editorial. Findarticles. bnet, 1 Mar. 1999. Web. 3 Oct. 2009. . WILKINS, JULIA. "School Uniforms.(not clear that school uniforms will reduce violence)." The Humanist. American Humanist Association. 1999. AccessMyLibrary. 6 Oct. 2009 .