School Uniforms and Their Effect on Education Attending public schools all my life, I have heard the gossip about "fashion" and "who wears what", practically every day; at least in the four years of high school where it seemed like looks mattered most. As people grow, how they present themselves becomes more and more important. Leaving a good grade in high school means a lot to some people, and some are ready to do anything to get that grade, whether it's putting someone down for their clothes or being an individual and not caring what others think about you or what you wear. Having friends from middle school who have branched out and gone the alternative route; private schools, one of the first things that came back to me from them was how much easier it was to have a uniform to wear to school. Going to a school where uniforms are strictly enforced can help create a better learning environment. Having a uniform would mean far fewer distractions in class, there would be much more time for homework, and there wouldn't be as many problems related to wearing inappropriate clothing taking away from school time. A quote from the essay “The Achievement of Desire” by Richard Rodriguez fits particularly well into this essay. “Get as much education as you can, with education you can do anything.” This no longer seems like the main idea for many kids and I think uniforms would help bring this thought back into our heads. I know the idea of ​​wearing a uniform is repulsive to many people, but when you break it down, school uniforms really seem like the way to go. If it were a requirement to wear a uniform to school, there would be many more children paying attention to classes. Looking at what other children are wearing in class is a great way to make time fly. If everyone wore the same things, the distraction of different clothing would be eliminated. Many people fear that uniforms take away children's opportunity to be who they are or who they want to be, but I feel like wearing uniforms would simply force children to show their individualism in ways outside of fashion and appearance. Looking at an Opinion Board on the Internet I came across the idea that visually uniforms result in more equal and adult treatment of students, eliminating any idea that a student I... middle of paper... Yles and keeping up with fashion, does it really seem worth the risk to simply get an “ok” education? Where are the priorities of school work and studying for a test when you're out shopping at the mall? In the end it really makes more sense to just suck up the idea of ​​wearing the same thing as every other girl or boy at your school and walk away with a better education and a better sense of seeing people for what and who they really are; not what they wear or don't wear. Imagine the idea of ​​a school where you don't have to worry about what kids will say about their clothes, whether or not what they wear is appropriate for the schoolyard, or going to the mall after school to buy that new sweater that they saw the A&F catalog (which means sweeping away that secession of tutoring they had to help improve their math grades), it seems so far from reality and everything I knew in high school, but at the same time it seems the way ideal for spending those four important years of high school, those four years where all your hard work pays off and gets you accepted into the number one college of your choice. It seems like the perfect four years of high school to me.