BAY AREA: Studies divided on effects of school uniform { Tigger-free zones}

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 3/27/7 | Demian Bulwa

[SmithL]

When a Napa seventh-grader was cited for wearing Winnie the Pooh-themed socks in class and struck back with a lawsuit, it marked an odd but not unprecedented clash in the decadelong spread of dress codes and uniform policies at public schools.

The seventh-grader and five other students at Redwood Middle School, along with their parents, say the school's dress code is so strict that it amounts to a uniform policy. California law allows parents to opt out of dressing children in uniforms -- a choice that Redwood Middle School doesn't offer.

The case, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, highlights the push and pull between parents who feel uniforms have squeezed their kids' right to free expression and school officials who say rules on clothing can contribute to safer, more productive campuses.

The officials say uniforms eliminate gang symbols, identify intruders, remove fashion as a distraction and foster unity. Critics say schools haven't demonstrated that they work.

Although California law has allowed uniform or dress-code policies since 1983, the issue didn't receive a strong push until 1996, when former President Bill Clinton, in his State of the Union address, decried instances of teenagers "killing each other over designer jackets."

A decade later, experts say up to a quarter of elementary and middle schools require pupils to wear uniforms. In San Francisco, 40 of 86 elementary and middle schools have them. Schools in Antioch, among other places, are considering them.

But studies have revealed mixed results. And many Bay Area school officials acknowledged in interviews that they have never tried to measure whether the uniforms are working.

A study last year by Virginia Draa, an assistant professor of human ecology at Youngstown State University, concluded that Ohio high schools that introduced uniforms in 1997 achieved improvements in graduation and attendance

[Hegemony Cricket]

"Bounced again!"

[Dilbert San Diego]

Back in the old days, schools had dress codes, and people followed them without filing a lawsuit.

I would love to know if these parents are loony liberals to file a lawsuit on behalf of their kid over wearing Winnie the Pooh socks. This stuff is clogging our courts?

[Condor 63]

It may not be "demonstrated" but IMO it is just common sense. Every single little thing does not need be reproduced in a lab and put on a pie chart to be worthwhile.

School (in theory) is supposed to prepare you for the workforce and neither school or the workforce is the place for free expression. There is plenty of time after hours for that.

If Tigger is against the rules, then he is against the rules. End of story.

[Malesherbes]

The real dress code demands low-riding jeans and tank-tops. Any deviation is severely punished by the peer group. Funny the ACLU has not yet gotten onto the case.

[sweetcynic]

"The real dress code demands low-riding jeans and tank-tops. Any deviation is severely punished by the peer group. Funny the ACLU has not yet gotten onto the case."

So true! If the parents have a problem with the dress code, they should find another school for their children, not encourage them to break the rules(though I don't get why the school would be required to allow exemptions except for rare medical/religious reasons). I personally love my 13 year old daughter's middle school's uniform policy. It has reduced her whining for inappropriate clothing by 90%.

[sweetcynic]

Oh, and I saw this interesting tidbit here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/03/21/MNGRUOOVAD1

"Toni Kay, now an eighth-grade honors student, said Tuesday that she's been cited more than a dozen times in the last 1 1/2 years"

This is not some isolated incident of her wearing tigger socks.

Even better, her mom's comment:

"Her mother, Donnell Scott, said, "I think my children should be able to, within guidelines, express themselves. This is a public school. [b]It's my job to decide what's appropriate for them.[/b] It's (the school's) job to educate.''"

Um, during those 6 hours a day your kid is in school, it is the school's job. I suspect the parents told her to break dress code just so they could file this silly lawsuit.