Uniforms, The Weapons of Conformity

There is a question that has plagued catholic schools since their origin, a question that has rocked the foundation of modern society, a question that brings the very beliefs of society into question. Should students have the choice to wear school uniforms? I believe that every student should be able to decide for themselves as to whether or not they want to wear uniforms. Also if indeed they were to wear the uniforms they should be granted permission to modify the uniforms to fit their comfort and styles in fashion.

Students should be able to wear anything they want instead of being forced into wearing a uniform. My first reason for students having the choice to wear what they want to school is that they must express their personality ad style.Teenagers express their self by wearing different clothes
and applying them to different styles which reflect their personality. This is important because it helps students to make choices for themselves, developing their freedom of expression so that they learn to speak up for what they believe in. Uniforms are a weapon of conformity and conformity is something that the catholic church demands from its worshippers, ironically this form of social control is the same thing causing them to lose their followers. Conformity can be a thing to be desired but it should be so that a greater good can prevail not just for some rules so that a feeling of power can be accomplished. The catholic church started by someone defying the rules set in place at the time and we all know who that someone was, Jesus Christ. He knew that there needed to be a change in the way people were living their lives so he went against the norms of society and began to question the world he was living in. If he would’ve just conformed and accepted the current policies and traditions of his time we never would’ve known of our saviour.

I understand there must be limitations to what students wear as to not offend anyone or create an atmosphere of fear. Simple, but necessary rules should be put into place such as no vulgar language, no promotion of violence or racism, no nudity and a policy on the measurements of clothes because we can’t have muscular men such as myself walking around showing off my six pack, it would make the other male students feel inferior and possibly arouse them. As for head wear it is out of respect that hats should be taken off in the class room, lunch tables and when inside church. Gym class should require students to dress in a manner that makes them capable of performing physical activities and I am not talking about tight yellow spandex, though wolverine seemed to manage. The female portion of the student body (no pun intended) should have the option of not wearing any clothing at all. This would help fight the disease of a negative body image that young girls develop causing them to resort to under eating, throwing up and starvation. The negative image would be cast aside because they would be see that some girls are very comfortable with their body and that boys are very appreciative of the natural female form. I understand my idea might be a little too extreme but I think in the spirit of Catholicism it may be just what we need, a back to basics approach to clothing. I am only considering the plight of the young teenage girl and her every day struggle to keep a positive self image, I am trying to carry on where Mother Teresa left off in terms of helping humanity.