My school overlooked the opinions of its students.

Dear Mr. President,

I know you can't very well do anything about this, I'm just mad at my school and its decisions without listening to the opinions of its very own students. See, the Board of Education decided it would be a good idea to give us uniforms. They had no provocation for wanting to give us uniforms, they simply just wanted to put them on us.

A neighboring town had given their students uniforms due to gang violence and various shootings in their school. After that, a couple of other towns had done the same. And now my town, a very small, quiet town, has decided to put uniforms on the students of our public high school, but for what reason?

I have heard every excuse that my school has given us for why they want us to have uniforms. Firstly, they believe that bullying (which is very minimal in my school of maybe, 600 kids? 400 in the high school specifically..) will diminish if uniforms are placed on the students. It's extremely difficult to think that they believe uniforms will help bullying, considering there is still bullying out in the "adult" world moreso than it is in the adolescent world. With kids my age, we are far more accepting of people's flaws and sexual orientation than most adults are. And whether that is or isn't true, uniforms will not help bullying. A bully is a bully, no matter what clothes they are wearing. A victim is a victim, no matter what clothes they are wearing.

Another aspect that I've heard is that teachers get "distracted" by provocative clothing. Is it just me who believes that if a person wants to become a teacher, they should be able to think professionally? Doctors see the true anatomy of every human being, and they think of it as nothing but medical. It makes me uncomfortable thinking that my teachers cannot think of the anatomy of children half their age as anything less than "distracting". Also, the girls who dress provocatively in my school... don't really dress provocatively. My school, my public school has rules against having bra straps being shown, having a strap that is less than two fingers wide (however, completely strapless is perfectly acceptable), shorts that are anything shorter than mid-thigh (however, skirts that cover no part of the thigh are completely acceptable, even when worn by female teachers -cough-), and rules against wearing backless shoes (which I understand).

However, a private school that is about 20 minutes away from mine allows their students to wear anything. I said it, anything they desire. They can wear shorts as short as they can get it, strapless shirts that only cover 20% of their upper body, backless shoes or spikey high heel shoes, pretty much everything my school doesn't allow us to wear. What bothers me though, is not only is this a private school that allows this, while my public school does not, but because the students who are allowed to wear anything their heart desires take regular courses equivalent to those of my school's AP courses. Their intelligence level is far more advanced than the level of my school's students. The students who are given the freedom to do what they please end up breaking the rules less, and are more comfortable in their educational environment, and do better.

The last reason that my school wants uniforms is because, they believe it will "save money". Basically, they think that if we buy uniforms to wear at school, that we will suddenly no longer need casual clothing for outside of school. They think that the students who will only be wearing this uniform for one year (next year's senior class), will be saving money? That is an outrageous lie. My family is just barely being able to make necessary payments on our house, we need to have money to help my brother pay for his wedding this November, and we need money to pay for my college fund. The college of my dream is $50,000 per year. I don't even have the money to GO to school, why would I have the money to pay for a uniform I will only wear for ONE year?

I wish that you could come to my school and just get rid of this new policy. It's taking place for my senior year of high school, and it is simply not fair. Students in my school have tried multiple times to gather signatures for petitions against the uniforms. The people running the Board of Education turned their heads the other way. They did not listen to the opinions of the parents or the students against the uniform idea, only the opinions they held inside their heads. It is vastly unfair.

And they try to back themselves up by saying "We had given a survey to the students and they all said they want uniforms" however, the "survey" they gave us did not directly ask whether we want uniforms or not. That same survey was also given to a class of pranksters, who all said they loved the idea of having a uniform, simply because they knew they would never be forced to wear it.

My school is facing a great injustice. It's stressing me out much more than it should stress out any normal person. I battle with depression, on my own, and I'm very certain I have anxiety as well. I always put my education before anything else, and I've worked so hard all my life to achieve the 3.9 GPA that I currently have. However, I fear that uniforms will throw all my work out into the trash, for I will feel uncomfortable, restricted, and like I have no choice in a country that is supposed to give me all the choices. It's a public school, and they're treating us like a Catholic school.

Meanwhile, my principal told us he wants to install televisions in the cafeteria, get a ping pong table for a "senior lounge" he wants to install as well, and allow us to use smart phones in class for "educational resources".

They stripped all the spirit out of the school, and I'm entirely sick of it. Sometimes I dream that you came to the school and fixed everything for us.

Sincerely,
Concerned