DRAFTS


 * Post your groups paragraphs here. Make sure to put down the names of your group members and if you are pro or con for school uniforms.

Group: Max, Nah young, Brittany, Victoria Cons to School uniforms**

We assert that school uniforms are detrimental to an educational society for 3 reasons we will outline below. The first reason that we believe that implementation of school uniforms is not in the best interest of schools is that they are too expensive. Families attending school in poorer neighborhoods may not be able to afford them, and school uniforms may be forced into an institution to equalize students. This is counterintuitive, as uniforms fail to address the problems because of the unlikelihood of everyone having the resources to buy them. Another reason that school uniforms are unfavorable choices for our educational institutions is that they undermine the ability of students to express themselves as unique individuals by wearing clothes that they choose. Uniforms show that the school is resorting to forcing students to conform to a tyrannical standard and promoting a community in which there is no diversity whatsoever. School uniforms have no use outside of school. Taxpayers will be spending their money on a resource that inhibits students’ individuality in school. Students with school uniforms will have wasted their money on something that will not have any value away from school. There are three reasons that an opposing body would argue for school uniforms. 1.  Families would save time in the morning because they wouldn’t have to pick out clothes. This argument is invalid because a time problem is easily resolved. Many groups have been pushing for later school starts anyway. 2.  Uniforms would help distinguish students and faculty from outsiders. Most faculty and students in schools are required to carry identification with them. If an institution is so obsessed with the safety of their students, then they should require that residents of the school community show identification. 3.  School uniforms help students feel equal. Instead of equality, schools with uniforms are exercising that students have no individuality and are not allowed to be the people that they could have been had they had a choice in being themselves. Schools with uniforms assume that no students are special and all have the same shortcomings and strengths as others.

Pro-Uniforms
 * Group: Cindy, Winnie, Josh, Manon

Operative Clauses:** 1 1. **__Discouraging__** uniformed student bodies, 2 2. **__Encouraging__** uniforms to be mandatory within working bodies, 3 3. **__Urges__** all schools to start requiring school uniforms due to the amount of time students 4 spent in the morning clothing, 5 4. **__Seeks__** the reduction in time used dressing for daily events, 6 5. **__Recommends__** school spirit to be strengthened by the use of uniforms, 7 6. **__Calls for__** those who favors school uniform to express their belief in merits of school 8 uniforms 9 7. **__Hoping for__** support from school staff toward the use of uniforms.

Group: Willy, Mengxin, Hannah, Meg

__Cons to School Uniforms__


 * Con Statement**: We feel that forcing students to obey a school uniform policy denies the students right to freedom of expression.


 * 4 Reasons**:
 * School uniforms deny a student’s right to freedom of expression.
 * It’s an extra cost for people that pay taxes for a free education.
 * Students with school uniforms may be bullied by other students from other schools without uniforms.
 * Some uniforms are ridiculously complicated, ugly, and stupid (eg. Dulwich, BISS)

Pro Statement: The devil’s advocate feels a school uniform policy can unite the school and make it a safer community.


 * 3 Reasons**:
 * Students wouldn’t have to succumb to peer pressure and buy expensive brands (eg. Abercrombie, Juicy Couture).
 * School uniforms can diminish the amount of bullying and other social issues.
 * School uniforms can create a sense of unity in the community.


 * Debate Against Pro Reasons**:
 * Peer pressure happens in many different situations, not only clothes. So the students who can’t afford those expensive brands can go to cheaper places such as K-Mart or Wal-Mart.
 * Bullying also doesn’t happen just because of clothes. Even if it does happen, it builds character!
 * Uniforms and looking alike don’t really create a real sense unity, only a very thin and unreal unity. Students become a unified community through actions, opportunities to work together, and other chances to bond.