Delegation Resource Manual: Month by Month Implementation Guide
Page
52
YMCA PA Youth & Government Program
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
School Uniforms
August 30, 2000 Northeast Times, Philadelphia, PA
No school uniforms!
Many parents of the Joseph J. Greenberg School in Bustleton are extremely upset and concerned
about a requirement of school uniforms starting this September, for the following reasons:
The Home & School Association conducted a survey of school parents and held a general meeting
concerning school uniforms. More than half of the respondents and participants were against school
uniforms.
Shorts, skirt, and jumper hemlines are required to fall "below the knee." Manufacturers simply don't
make them that way for girls. Therefore, if female students are to stay within the uniform guidelines,
they will not be able to wear shorts or skirts at all. Since Greenberg is not air-conditioned, this will
create an extreme hardship on hot days. As for boys, any parent must agree that below-the-knee
shorts tend to look baggy, oversized, unattractive, and not at all neat or streamlined, even on slender
or average boys.
Requiring uniforms on the basis of creating a "positive learning environment" at Greenberg is, at
best, unnecessary and redundant. Greenberg already ranks among the top elementary schools in
Philadelphia.
Greenberg does not have a severe security problem that would be remedied by requiring school
uniforms. Greenberg is located in a quiet residential neighborhood only a scant few blocks inside the
city limits which separate it from upscale Montgomery County. Greenberg’s dedicated staff already
adequately supervises its children.
Sneakers have been banned except on gym days. However, sneakers are more easily fitted, less
expensive, more durable, and much more comfortable than oxford-type shoes or loafers, especially
for activities such as the twice-daily outdoor recess currently scheduled for the K-to-fifth grade
Greenberg students. They are also safer, with thick rubber soles designed to guard against slipping
or skidding.
School uniforms will not eliminate envy among students toward those who possess designer-label
clothes, shoes, or other items of apparel. Some children will show up in school in prestigious brand-
name khakis and polo shirts, while others will be wearing similar clothes but without logos or
designer labels. Greenberg historically has had very few, if any, issues relating to teasing or envy
among its students on the basis of daily apparel.
Some parents are very concerned that the teachers and other school staff will be spending significant
portions of their day in checking students' uniform appearance, reporting children who lack all or a
portion of the required uniform on any given day, and admonishing children to "tuck in your shirt,"
"unroll your sleeves," etc.
Parents do not wish their children's teachers to be distracted from the requirements of teaching by
having to enforce the requirements of an already unnecessary school uniform.
Many parents object to the required khaki pants on the basis that they wear out easily (especially on
boys) and readily show dirt and grime, making khaki an extremely impractical everyday clothing
choice for active elementary- and middle-school-age children.
