That's a

question to which you may answer, with matching fervor,

Yes and No and Maybe.

Let's talk about the pros

and cons.

First, the Yeses. Georgia

Department of Education figures indicate that discipline

problems decline by 40 percent in schools that have

uniform dress codes. Now, there's some ambiguity in what

constitutes a reportable discipline problem and whether

all such problems are reported consistently. But that's

still a remarkable statistic.

If you had 10 problems this

year with Tommy Hilfiger and Nike and surfer and Goth and

various assorted clique "uniforms," then with a

standard uniform for all students, next year you will

have only six problems. Pretty amazing.

And there's the presumed

cost savings. Buy four or five pairs of khaki pants or

skirts and the same number of white shirts or blouses and

one pair of nondescript shoes for each kid, and parents

will have saved a lot of money, compared to what the kids

are demanding in multiple expensive brands otherwise.

And there's the idea of

less class-conscious consumer excess in favor of

increased esprit d'corps of a uniformed troop. (If only

that could extend to the cars the kids drive!)

Now, the negatives.

Regimentation. Oppressing their creative spirits.

Overreaction to multiple societal problems with no

definitive cause-and-effect linkage. Individual rights.

Personal tastes ("I hate khaki!").

We lean toward the Maybes.

Maybe strict dress codes

would cut down the competitive one-upmanship nature of

many kids, fostered by class-conscious parents, who

strive to prove that having expensive clothes makes them

better persons. (We've heard tales of Fayette elementary

school children arguing in class about whose homes had

the most square footage.)

Maybe the extreme

cliquishness of middle and high school students could be

curbed by a uniform exterior. Youth tends to

differentiate itself by its self-defined dress codes of

body rings and specialized clothing. Maybe that youthful

energy could be channeled from outrageous (and mostly

useless) externals into more productive adventures.

Maybe uniforms are a start

to teaching kids that politeness, as expressed in dress,

is a good thing, not something to be shunned and rebelled

against.

Maybe we've worried too

much about students' "rights" and not enough

about their "responsibilities." Maybe it's time

to change that.

We applaud the parents and

staff and leaders of Brooks Elementary School, who, after

a poll of parents, decided to institute voluntary

uniforms next school year.

And we applaud the openness

of the Fayette County Board of Education and

Superintendent John DeCotis to these ideas and their

willingness to consider this proposal by setting up a

task force to study the issue of school uniforms.

Let the study begin.

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