Dress code has promise

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August 27, 2010

Anonymous Tribune managing editor The Kokomo Tribune Fri Aug 27, 2010, 01:14 AM EDT

Kokomo — Some see school uniforms as a threat to individual freedom, an effort to create a bunch of clones who all look and act alike.

Supporters, though, see them as a way to remind students that the classroom isn’t a playground, that they’re in school to learn and they should dress for the occasion.

There is no scientific study backing the argument that dressing kids in something of a uniform will result in better academic performance, and at least one study carried out in 1998 by sociologists at the University of Notre Dame concluded that student uniforms had “no direct effect on substance abuse, behavioral problems or attendance.”

Nevertheless, Principal Chris Hess believes a pilot program launched last year at Logansport’s Fairview Elementary School has helped to even the playing field for students from different socioeconomic backgrounds, and she says the school saw fewer reports of bullying and better student morale.

She points out that her school won the Cass County Battle of the Books competition for the first time last year and that it placed first in its category at a spell bowl. Hess said Fairview students also showed improvement in their ISTEP scores.

Critics will say the school likely changed more than just the dress code last year. They note that such changes tend to be part of an overall effort to improve the learning environment, and they say the other changes likely have as much or more to do with any improvements than the changes in the way students dress.

They might have a point.

One fact, though, is inescapable. Lots of people associated with Fairview Elementary School have seen a change in the way the students carry themselves.

One teacher said the dress code seemed to give students a whole new attitude about themselves. They sit up straighter in their seats. They pay attention to what the teacher is saying.

Of course, there are no magic bullets. There will always be challenges in education, and no single rule change will make them go away.

Still, the pilot program at Fairview seems to be working. Other school districts would do well to consider a dress code, as well.

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