1st affirmative (government) Topic : This House Believes That School Uniforms Should Be Abolished.

a very good morning madam chairman, honourable judges the accurate timekeeper, the opposition team and members of the floor. I, and my two ither friends from the government team would like to state our stand that we support the motion School Uniforms Should Be Abolished. Ladies and gentlemen, We the government are very firm with our stand and before we proceed with our strong evidence let me define the meaning of school uniform and the word abolish. According to the Oxford Dictionary, school uniform is an outfit or a set or standardized clothes that is worn by the students in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools in various countries. Whereby the word abolish carries the meaning of the end of existence of something or something being stopped. Therefore, the meaning of the motion School Uniform Should Be Abolished means that the uniforms that students are wearing in schools now should be stopped. Now I would like to put forward our strong points regarding the motion. Our first evidence that support the motion is wearing school uniforms is a total denial of human rights. As we realized that each and everyone of us here has the right to wear our own preferred dress code that makes us happy and comfortable. Wearing uniforms are not suitable nowadays. School uniforms surely curb the self expression of a child. Even sociologist believes that it may lead to an inappropriate ways of expression by children, such as improper use of makeup and jewelries. The wearing of uniforms too does not prevent students from expressing unpopular or inappropriate views in other ways. Students nowadays are educated enough to choose the right attire to school. They will not wear swimming trunks to school. Parents must have done their role by controlling what their children wear to school. I am very sure that if you the opposition team is... __________________________________________________________________________________________ School uniforms should be abolished because they are impractical for modern-day society. For many years, school uniforms have been worn by students in schools throughout the world. The problem of wearing school uniforms is that most school parents waste a lot of money purchasing them. Children of school age tend to grow very fast; this results in having to constantly replace uniforms. Additionally, the fabric used to make the uniforms can become quite uncomfortable and affect classroom concentration. School uniforms are not used as often as casual clothes in times like weekends, holidays and formal situations. One of the major causes of money wasting is from the purchasing of school uniforms. Uniforms cost a lot because the majority of parents have to buy a set of winter, summer and sport uniforms for their children. They also waste money when children grow older, thus making them have to buy new sets of uniforms every so often. In some cases, when a few children do not have any uniforms the right size for them, they have to get one especially made for them which makes the cost even higher. Uniforms can also be a problem when private schools purchase uniforms for their students; as a result the school may raise its fees for parents. A dilemma with uniforms is that often schools are unaware on how uncomfortable they are for students and its impact on the students health. School uniforms are pretty uncomfortable when the weather or the seasons change, causing the student to be either too hot or too cold, therefore a handful of students will lose concentration in class. Also school uniforms harm the body when they are too cold or far too hot which results in sicknesses and absences. When a small proportion of students start to dislike their uniforms, they may abuse or destroy their own uniforms.

Motion: School uniforms should be abolished in schools. GOVERNMENT- Agree to abolish school uniforms in schools. Prime Minister- Introduces the first argument that they should have a right to individuality and they could make personal choices on their own to express their personality. (Explain further) Deputy Prime Minister- Will introduces the second and third argument; that rather than school uniforms, dress codes can be used. And discuss the last argument that schools waste a lot of time trying to enforce uniform rules. Government Whip- Summarizes the arguments of the affirmative and will provide facts or examples to strengthen their arguments. Reply Speaker- Will discuss the major flashpoints of why school uniforms should be abolished and will declare why they should win the debate. OPPOSITION- Doesnt agree to abolish school uniforms. Leader of Opposition- Will say a brief summary on what did the Prime Minister has said and start to introduce their first argument that uniform is a social leveler. More emphasize on the issue about discrimination between poor and rich students. Deputy Leader of Opposition- Will adds more arguments and will introduce the second and the third arguments; that uniform is cheaper than letting children choose what they want to wear. Having also a uniform helps students and parents to resist peer pressure. Opposition Whip- The opposition whip will respond to the arguments of the negative and will provide facts and examples to strengthen their clash. Reply Speaker- Will summarize all the major flashpoints of their stand of why school uniforms shouldnt be abolished in schools. The reply speaker will also close the debate and will declare why they should win. __________________________________________________________________________________________ ARGUMENTATVE ESSAY SCHOOL UNIFORMS should not be abolished. Schools around the world would not be the same should the rules change. The gap between the rich and the poor widens as rich students will definitely put on their branded clothes to show off their wealth while the students from average-income households might feel inferior as they could not get a chance to experience the luxury. In this essay, I will demonstrate how the wearing of uniform provides us with a powerful sense of unity and gives us better self-restraint. When students are not wearing school uniforms, they may claim that their daily clothes are more comfortable then school uniforms. However not all students are as fortunate as others. Those who can afford more expensive clothing will certainly mock those who are not as rich as themselves. This will cause much discrimination against the poor students. With wearing school uniforms there is no need to figure out what to wear every day and there is more concentration on academics. Instead of competing over who is wearing what, there is more focus on the daily school work. In many cases, girls try to dress provocatively or to outdo one another. Using school uniforms takes away these distractions. Moving on to my second point, uniforms make the school more secure. Should all the students wear their own clothes, it would be much easier for a terrorist, to enter the school. If the whole school wear different clothes, sneaking into the school will be incredibly easy for a terrorist to enter. Wearing uniforms dramatically reduce the schools security risks. The guards will not have to check all the students if school uniforms are worn.

The wide array of colours and designs of clothes that students put on act as a source of distraction. Their colour combinations become topics of discussion among students that they lose concentration over their studies. Students will then become very concerned about their peers wear. I oppose the motion that School Uniform Should Be Abolished. Students are in schools for educational purposes and not to show off their outfits. Also school uniform protects the rights of the students, showing that everyone is equal. It also hence prevents students for committing crimes. This factor leads me to propose that school uniform should not be abolished. By wearing their own prefer dress code, most students are able to be confidence in themselves because they would feel great in what they choose to wear. But however this brings along some harmful effects to their peers around them. For example, if a rich student gets to wear his own prefer clothing, he will tend to choose a branded one which would cause friends around him who are poorer to be envy of him. This will in turn cause low self-esteem to them. It will also serve as a distraction in class as students may often look at the clothing wear by their friends instead of the whiteboard where the teachers write and explain the lesson on. And affects the learning of the students and deter academic success. Thus I agree that school uniform should not be abolished The wearing of own prefers dress code gives students the freedom to wear what they wish that make them feel unique and happy. However Singapore is a multi-ethnic country filled with people coming from different countries and has different beliefs. It is important for us to be sensitive to one another needs in order to maintain racial harmony. Hence the wearing of school uniform can deter racial riot and promote racial equality that is one of the most important aspect in Singapore. This is because when students are allowed to wear their choice of clothing, they may want to wear the clothing according to their races and religions. Students may unintentionally teased some other races and indirectly insult them. This causes unhappiness to arise from them as they may feel discriminated. That is the reason why I disagree that school uniform should be abolished. __________________________________________________________________________________________ In some Western countries, there is no such thing as school uniform. The students just wear whatever they like as long as appropriate to the norm to their school. But, this kind of things does not happen in our country. Why? Questions like Should school require students to wear a school uniform? have been put forward again and again. Based on what we can observe now, the Ministry of Education does not have any desire to give any changes to current system. This is because school uniform is important and it brings more pros than cons. In any country, there are people come from roots of poverty as well as roof of wealthy. If the school uniform policy is abolished, students from rich family may wear all their fancy and exotic clothes to school which those students from poor family cannot afford. In this situation, the differences of their family background are branded on the pieces of clothe they wearing. The poor students may feel self-abased when their cheap and worn-out clothes become laughingstock of other friends. Therefore, school uniform is here to standardize what should a student wear so that school will not become a place full with jealousy and humiliation. Furthermore, school uniform is the most remarkable identity of a student. Different from university and college students, one can easily distinguish a school student from the uniform. Wearing a school uniform makes one looks like a student. The uniform they wearing can always make them bear in mind that should behave like what they are suppose to be. This can makes them realise more about their responsibility as a student. Hopefully, the students can feel more inspired when they are having uniform on their body because that is the one which makes them special from others. Moreover, when all the students wear uniform, the school will seemed to be more orderly and neat. Besides that,, we should retain school uniform because it can train our students to be more disciplined. __________________________________________________________________________________________

School Uniforms Should Not Be Abolished Good morning to all my friends. Imagine if you need to choose which clothes to wear to school every morning so that you will look pleasing to everyone in the school, how will you feel? Would you feel very troublesome? Our school plans to abolish school uniforms and allows students to wear any clothes to school. This issue becomes a talking-point in our school. I am totally against the idea as I think uniforms are totally necessary to build proper school culture. Today, I am here to convince you that school uniforms should not be abolished. The reasons why school uniforms should remain are because it brings a lot of advantages to students. First, school uniforms promote a sense of belonging and create good school culture. When all the students wear the same uniform, the spirit of learning in school will be uplifted. It shows that the school expects high standards and students respond with better behavior. Wearing school uniforms also can prevent students especially girls from wearing clothes which harsh to the eye such as miniskirt, sexy dress, short pants and so on. On the other hand, boys can focus on their study if girls wear proper uniforms in school. Besides, equality among students can be maintained in school. No matter what family background are the students having, they will wear the same uniform and the difference between rich and poor is smaller. A student who comes from less fortunate family does not need to worry about being bullied or being disdained in school just because he wears older clothes. Apart from that, students can save their time in the morning to do other things like having breakfast by just simply wearing school uniforms. This is because they do not have to waste time thinking of what to wear to school and how to decorate themselves Uniform is a standard set of clothes which is worn by a group of people. But it seems that more and more people say that it may not be a must for students wearing their school uniform. People debate on this issue for many times. There are certain reasons why a student should wear uniform to go to school. School uniform is identification for students. It is a respect to the school. And also, wearing uniform can show the tidiness and discipline of the school, decrease discrimination among peers. Further more, it can save the students time on choosing what to wear to school. It is a place for study, not a place for fashion. Students should concentrate on their study but not their clothes. On the contrary, there are voices from the students saying that there will be more freedom wearing casual clothes. They also say that uniforms are expensive and ugly, and even some of them say that they feel shameful when they wearing those ugly clothes walking on the streets. Is that really so bad to wear uniform to school. Lets have a deeper look at those reasons. Firstly, a uniform represents the school. A person wearing a set of uniform represents that he/she is a student. Uniform is the symbol of students. Just as a doctor wearing his white jacket, when he puts on his jacket, it means that he is a doctor. It is the same as the police, lawyers and so on. Most of the jobs and careers required employees to wear certain kind of uniform. An office manager wears a business suit. A sailor wears a set of sailor outfit. A lawyer wears a wig and a dark gown. A garbadgeman wears is special clothes. Careers which you can think of need to wear uniform to show their professionals. Students should also wear a school uniform to indicate their identity, and also show the respect to their schools. A person wears his/her uniform well to show the respect to his/her career. Therefore, a school uniform is necessary for students. __________________________________________________________________________________________

A group of small boys and girls all warring the same colored uniforms assembled in front of a catholic school is what I imagine when thinking about school uniforms. This is probably what most people imagine. They have been attached to students of European and private schools. Such pictures of students dressing in school uniforms have led to stereotyping and a negative attitude towards schools enforcing a uniform policy. Displayed as robots without the ability to express them selves in a society that says you must express yourself and be an individual at all cost. The problem is that the cost to express yourself and be an individual is high in some cases, in Detroit, a 15-year-old boy was killed for his $86 basketball shoes (Tweeters 1997). I believe that cost is to high, it would be better to be laughed at and teased about warring a nerdy uniform, than to be shot by some gang member that did not like the color of the pants I'm warring. School uniforms have been the cause of many jokes and harassment to those who wore them. In the past, public schools considered uniforms old and out dated trends, though recently many public schools are starting to implement and enforce a uniform policy. The implementation of a school uniform policy is important if we are still striving to improve our students. The arguments against them are fading while the positive reasons are promoting school uniforms and gaining ground. Some of the possible benefits are safety, cost, uniformity and competition in academics instead of fashions. The main argument against them is the need for students to express their individual selves; this argument is losing ground compared to the benefits of the uniform policy. Today many public schools are mandating and enforcing school uniforms for their students. San Antonio School district requires all 60,000 of its students to wear uniforms; over 60% of Fort Worth's elementary schools require their students to ware uniforms (Radcliffe 1999). __________________________________________________________________________________________ Efficacy A study published in The Journal of Educational Research by David L. Brunsma, of the University of Alabama, and Kerry A. Rockquemore, of the University of Notre Dame,[1] states: "The findings indicate that student uniforms have no direct effect on substance use, behavioral problems, or attendance. A negative effect of uniforms on student academic achievement was found." In Vivian Gussin Paley's book, White Teacher, she discusses the need to embrace differences, not ignore them.[2] The cost of school uniforms can present a significant barrier to school attendance in developing nations. A randomized study by Evans et al. looked at the effect of school uniforms on Kenyan children's truancy and grades between 2001 and 2004. The project included giving school uniforms to children who could otherwise not afford one (and consequently may have suffered from various forms of stigma discouraging school attendance). The authors summarized that "giving a school uniform reduces school absenteeism by 44% for the average student, and 62% for students who did not previously own a uniform. The program also raised test scores for recipients by 0.25 standard deviations in the year after inception."[3] In Brazil, two additional arguments stand in favor of school uniforms. First, there is a non-negligible effect of diminishing feelings of social-economical barriers between children, as a standard uniform leaves minimum space for signaling economical status. A second positive effect is the immediate identification of children and teenagers, allowing easy identification by the community and increasing security, in cases like kidnapping; many students go to school by themselves.

__________________________________________________________________________________________ Laws and rulings against school uniforms In the Australian state of Queensland, Ombudsman Fred Albietz ruled in 1998 that public schools may not require uniforms.[4] In 2006, a new Education Act was passed within Queensland, Australia. This Act gives school staff within the public education system the power to assign punishment for non-compliance with school uniform dress code. According to the Act, students may not be suspended or expelled for non-compliance with the dress code. Punishment consists of one only of the following three choices for each non-compliance: 1. Detention. 2. Exclusion from any activity that is a non-essential part of the school's education program. 3. Exclusion from any activity where the student will be representing the school.[citation needed] In the Philippines, the Department of Education abolished the requirement of school uniforms in public schools per DepEd Order No. 45, s. 2008. However, a school attire was required under DepEd Order No. 46, s. 2008. The following were "suggested" as proper school attire in the latter order: Polo shirt or t-shirt with sleeves and pants for males; dresses, skirt and blouse or blouse and pants for females.[5] In England and Wales, technically a state school may not permanently exclude students for "breaching school uniform policy", under a policy promulgated by the Department for Children, Schools and Families but students not wearing the correct uniform are asked to go home and change. In Scotland, some local councils (that have responsibility for delivering state education) do not insist on students wearing a uniform as a precondition to attending and taking part in curricular activities.[6] Turkey abolished mandatory uniforms in 2010.[7] In the United States, a few states have regulations declaring that public schools must allow students to drop out of uniform policies. Although Section 83 of the Massachusetts Legislature appears to prohibit dress codes in public schools by declaring that schools may not "abridge the rights of students as to personal dress and appearance",[8] Section 86 states that "The provisions of sections eighty-three to eighty-five, inclusive, shall apply only to cities and towns which accept the same" [9] and other sections of the law allow schools to impose dress codes, and in fact many public schools in Massachusetts (mostly in the Boston area) have mandatory school uniforms.[10] In 1969, the United States Supreme Court ruling in Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District affirmed students' rights to free expression in public schools, although this related to the wearing of a black armband (not to uniforms as such). California Education Code 48907 affirms students' rights to "the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia" as well freedom of speech in student publications, subject to limited restrictions. Uniform Studies & Legislation The National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP) conducted a phone survey of 755 principals in 2000, which revealed that 21% of all public schools had a uniform policy, however, 23% had firm plans to create one.[64] However, this only accounts for those with school uniform policies, and not for standardized dress codes, which still provide for allowable student dress but are slightly more lax on certain

aspects, for instance, instead of requiring everyone to wear exactly the same shirt, or set of shirts, they may specify "any solid collared three button Polo/oxford shirt" and leave more specific details up to the parents. In fact, in 2007-2008 55% of public school principals said the schools they control enforces a strict dress code, requiring students at least wear a collared shirt and pants with an acceptable belt to school.[65] Adolfo Santos, a political science professor at the University of HoustonDowntown, stated that many Hispanic communities in the United States choose uniforms because many immigrants originate from countries with schools requiring uniforms.[66] Sylvan I. Alleyne, Velma LaPoint, Jennifer Lee and Harold W. Mitchell of The Journal of Negro Education stated that little empirical research exists regarding how effective school uniforms are in how effectively uniforms enhance academic performance and social environments, and also that little research exists regarding teachers' beliefs regarding the nature of issues related to dress codes, and especially so regarding racial and ethnic minorities.[67] In the United States, literature regarding public school student clothing and behavior cites anecdotal viewpoints from teachers, and the literature discussed opinions on faculty, staff, and other employees on how to deal with student dress issues.[68] A 2003 article of The Journal of Negro Education said that research and reports regarding the beneficial impact of school uniforms was not conclusive. Also, despite the Federal Government of the United States issuing a set of guidelines encouraging school uniform usage in American public schools, as of 2003 political support for uniforms varies.[69] In 1994, the Long Beach Unified School District, in Southern California, required school uniforms in all elementary and middle schools. This began a trend for uniforms in American elementarypublic schools, especially in urban school districts. President Clinton praised the idea in his 1996 State of the Union Address, saying that "if it means that teenagers will stop killing each other over designer jackets, then our public schools should be able to require their students to wear school uniforms."[1] The adoption of school or district-wide uniform policies (or "standardized dress codes," less rigid than school uniform requirements but allowing some leeway within set parameters) has been motivated by a need to counter "gang clothing" (or the pressure for families to purchase upscale-label clothing to avoid their children being ignored by "fashion cliques"), as well as to improve morale and school discipline.[citation needed] By 2010, the proportion of US public schools requiring uniforms had increased from 3% in 1996 to 25%. In Puerto Rico, the Puerto Rico Department of Education requires all students to wear school uniforms, with only medical exemptions.[70] Oxford - adjective

1remaining the same in all cases and at all times; unchanging in form or character:blocks of stone of

uniform size of a similar form or character to another or others:a uniform package of amenities at a choice of hotels

2denoting a garment forming part of a persons uniform:black uniform jackets