A Uniform Stance on Excess in School Dress

Forget the Esprit shirts and the Guess jeans. Forget all that before-school fretting over the perfect outfit. In the fall, hundreds of students in four city public schools will voluntarily be trading fashion and anxiety for look-alike uniforms.

Officials at three elementary schools and one middle school will ask parents to buy uniforms for their children to wear to classes. The voluntary program is an effort to dampen children’s enthusiasm for trendy clothes that tax family budgets and to discourage interest in gang attire.

School officials are also hoping that a new, tidy look will raise students’ self-esteem and create an environment more conducive to learning.

“We act the way we dress,” said Karen Goodman, principal at Kettering Elementary School, where teams of parents and school officials will select varied uniform options. Other participating Long Beach schools are Washington Middle School and Emerson and Newcomb elementary schools.

A switch to uniforms is also being considered by a handful of other city schools--a decision that rests with each school’s administrators.

Each school will decide how many outfits will be offered, including shorts, trousers, plain or pleated skirts and jumpers. The uniforms will reflect each school’s colors, and styles will vary from school to school.

Goodman acknowledges that many students will be reluctant to forgo label jeans, and some students interviewed at the schools confirmed her suspicions.

“I don’t like (the uniforms.) What if they’re itchy?” Washington student Sarah Landis asked.

Other students at the middle school said they want to retain the right to choose their own garments without pressure from teachers or parents to conform.

“I don’t think we should wear them, because what we wear (reflects) what we want to be,” said sixth-grader Mary Gregory, who wore jeans and a T-shirt.

She also questioned the dress-for-success concept: “We’re just kids. It’s just a middle school.”

Other Washington youths said they favor uniforms, calling them “cute” and practical. Several girls said the jumpers, plaid skirts and blouses will save them time each morning trying to decide what to wear.

“My mom will probably make me do it, because I spend too much time picking out my clothes,” Amy Abatay said. “She just wants me to go!”

Seventh-grader Jackie Aguilar said she spent nearly an hour one day matching a short, pink skirt with a black-and-white top. “Some clothes are in style and some are not, and it’s difficult to match,” she said.

The Long Beach schools and an elementary school in South Gate are joining a trend that is taking hold in large urban U.S. school districts. In Miami, Washington and Baltimore, officials are also offering simple, color-coordinated outfits that ignore the latest fashion fads. The uniforms, which are also optional in those cities, are worn mainly in elementary schools.

A group of Long Beach administrators came up with the idea after a visit to Baltimore, where 40% of the public schools offer uniforms. In South Gate, a group of parents at Bryson Avenue Elementary School suggested uniforms.

Administrators at several of the local schools that plan to experiment with uniforms said they aim to narrow the visible gap between poorer children and those from well-to-do families. In most schools reverting to uniforms, the student population is at least 50% minority, generally from working-class families.

If all students wore the same $15 trousers or $26 skirts, it would erase the visible differences between the haves and the have-nots, they said.

“So many students enroll late because they don’t have the clothes they think are proper,” said Sherryl Johnson, principal at Washington Middle School. “It eases the burden of having the proper thing to wear.”

Goodman, Kettering’s principal, cited her own youth as an example of clothing concerns: “My memories are of going to a very wealthy high school and not having the money to keep up with the others. That made me feel bad.”

But just as buying designer clothes can get expensive, the uniforms themselves may be too expensive for some parents. Several students at Washington Middle School said they doubt that their families can afford the outfit.

An official at Washington Middle School said some parents also raised that concern. At Kettering, the PTA is talking about creating a uniform exchange program in which used uniforms can be passed on to other children.

But some parents said they would welcome the switch to uniforms. “If you wear the wrong colors here, you can have problems with gangs,” said Diana Shabaza, mother of a sixth-grader at Washington.

Bobbi Coppenger, a parent who helped pick the outfits at Newcomb, said that most of the time, her older sons’ outfits consist of shorts and T-shirts.

And yet, even for what she called “play clothes,” there is pressure to wear certain styles and brands: “I don’t like the way young children are forced to go along with the crowd when it comes to clothing.”

Principals said some parents have complained that their children’s individuality would be stifled, but “most parents are happy,” Newcomb Principal John Frangesch said.

Kettering Principal Goodman is making a special effort to win over her students. She wears a uniform every day.