November 2004, Qn 1.

It is said that school uniform gives pupils a sense of identity and encourages good discipline. Do you agree?

Not fully. School uniforms are put in place as what most teachers would say, to maintain discipline and uniformity, as well as to make sure that each student feels he or she belongs to a certain institution. However, in this day and age, where modern technology has taken over the world and the teenagers or even children that have started schooling are not those innocent young beings we percieve them to be. This exposure that they have had will change much of the way they think and also would adversely affect having uniforms as a way to maintain good discipline.

Uniforms, I feel, curbs one's creativity, because what is so creative about getting up every morning and wearing the same boring uniform everyday? The Singapore government has constantly been talking about Singaporeans not having enough creativity, that we only know how to do what has directly been assigned to us, and that we do not think out of the box. Has it ever occured to you that wearing uniforms also curbs that creativeness in us? Donning that same uniform everyday for four, six or sometimes even ten years would make them bored of the uniform, which does not lead to what teachers say as maintaining discipline, but the exact opposite of it.

The creativity flows from teenagers when they start getting bored with what they have, and want to spice things up a little. Therein lies the problem, where uniforms are supposed to maintain uniformity, schools are having a hard time getting their students to wear the uniform properly. Yes, some may say "every fruit cake has some nuts" and every school has some students who are purposely defiant, who just want to bend the rules. The thing is, if rules like having a school uniform was abolished, students would not have the chance to be defiant, because they can choose exactly what they would like to wear. Agreed, this might cause more problems like students might come to school inappropriately dressed, but boundaries could be set up. Giving students more freedom of wearing what they do want to wear would be telling them that the school trusts them, and the number of problematic cases, i feel will decrease significantly.

Another thing good about not having uniforms and allowing students to wear whatever they like would also allow the school to further understand the child. When teenagers dress a certain way, deductions can be made about their background, about themselves and this would allow teaching to be carried out more to fit the students. For example, if a student is always dressed in black and red, perhaps something could be troubling him or her and that way, the school could better understand a child and maybe be able to figure out the reason he or she might not be performing in school, afterall, schools should bring out the best in students.

Even though school uniforms might give some students a sense of identity, before we can establish this sense of identity, I think it is important that students find their own identity first. The media has boggled their minds and teenagers lose sense of identity, they have been influenced to conform to the social norms of our society and this leads to them asking themselves, "why on earth am i here for?" or "what is the use of studying?" or even "why should i follow the rules?". After helping the student establish their identity, however, students will have a goal in life, which in turn, I think would contribute to their eventual discipline that they put themselves to.

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oh em gee, that essay sucks! haha, i should stick to personal recounts or like, narratives right! urgh, haha. oh well, i tried. okay, back to AMATH! or actually i'm gonna do history, make sure i know every single detail on Hitler :) even though i said i hate history, i'm gonna try my best to love it and do well for it! Nothing can be that bad, i'm just a student afterall :D tata guys, and study hard all of you!