Persuasive.Tania

“This is the time to be more than a name of face in the crowd.” In this song, Time of My Life, David Cook refers to breaking away from the group and really standing out, as well as being unique. Implementing a school uniform policy as the board suggested would prevent students from reaching their full potential. Even if it did decrease the violence and discipline issues, is it worth sacrificing teenagers’ ability to express themselves? Uniforms are a horrendous and almost horrific idea because the chance of any problem being solved is exceedingly slim, students’ personalities would become indistinguishable, and the board would be financing a program that has nearly no success, and in these economic times, this is quite foolhardy. Enforcing uniforms may change who they are and what they look like on the outside, but nothing will alter whom they are inside. Being teenagers, we tend to have resolute and unwavering opinions, no matter how unreasonable they may be and have no doubt, every student will have a very, very strong opinions. In short, they will either love it or hate it. Those who detest it will make every effort to rally the student body, and they have much more influence among their peers, than even the most well liked and accepted teacher. So, should they succeed on any front, no matter how small, they will only cause more of the very problems the policy was meant to resolve. Basically, the indignation of the students would only promote insubordinance and wanton violence. By and large, this uniform policy will cause countless more problems than it will solve, if it solves any at all. If everyone wears uniforms, no one will be able between the students’ exclusive personalities, and so in the process, you are greatly oppressing the students as people and as future leaders. Teenagers, despite having heard the timeless adage, “Don’t judge a book by its cover,” an infinite number of times, we stubbornly persist in our defiance of priceless wisdom, retaining our age old habit of judging based solely on misleading first impressions, which stem mainly from the said person’s appearance. Imposing unjust regulations like uniforms, would take away students’ valueless ability to judge whether someone is a person who could be a priceless or a terrible influence. All teenagers also use their clothing as a canvass, something with which to express that which they words, almost like an artist might. Should they for any reason be depressed, they would dress in all black, in a very somber fashion, thereby allowing teachers to pick up on the fact that something is amiss. Uniforms are the takers of all but the students’ pride, but many will have this damaged as well as they must wear the same thing as everyone else, but predominantly, they will be stripped of their creativity, individualism, and individuality. But perhaps the most devastating loss would be that of an environment that encourages learning and the development of less orthodox skills, like how to formulate creative solutions to intricate conundrums. All in all, to necessitate uniforms would be to steal an artist’s only paintbrush, leaving the painter angry and disgruntled; so before robbing them of their treasured right to express themselves and make note of the fact that you would not only be forcing uniforms upon the students but enforcing conformity and teens are troubled enough, and have no need to be burdened further. This unnecessary and detrimental program would not only be hurtful to the students, but to the board, whose idea this was. Essentially, you would create a black hole of sorts, in which all the money goes, valuable taxpayer dollars, but nothing comes out, and no one reaps any benefits. The opposition would be tremendous, as this decision came with no forewarning, and the retaliation would not come only from students, but from their parents as well. The students’ adamant hatred would cause many headaches for the members of the school board. The board would most likely lose much of its probably already minimal support in light of the inevitable heavy resistance. The program would not only incense the student body but their parents as well, for such a program in our current, dire economic situation, would be quite rash and undoubtedly be met with fierce defiance. In essence, I am very strongly opposed to the ludicrous idea of instituting uniforms in our schools due to the chance of success is far lower than the optimal level, the inescapability of students’ personas becoming unidentifiable, and having said the chance of improvement is so slender, investing in such a program would be a foolish endeavor leading to any investors seriously regretting their decision. Students have immense authority among their peers, so they have a very good chance of persuading them to switch to their perspective, assuming there are any who don’t share it already. Such oppression, as would be caused by the uniform policy would, instead of allowing teenagers to open up as they should, would force themselves even farther within themselves. In the very likely event that this program will make the captain of the Titanic look like he won the lottery compared to the board, the board will have dug themselves into a hole that will take them years to get themselves out of, having wasted money on something that could have been put to good use. No one knows teenagers better than a teen, and I am positive that the school uniforms would cause fury, frustration, and resentment among the entire student body.