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This qualitative investigation explores the responses of 22 U.S. urban public high school students when confronted with their newly imposed school uniform policy. Specifically, the study assessed students' appraisals of the policy along with compliance and academic performance. Guided by ecological human development perspectives and grounded in theory-based qualitative analysis, the study elucidated the themes that emerged in relevant student narratives. Findings indicated that the overwhelming majority of students were opposed to and non-compliant with the school uniform policy, and that these responses were unrelated to school performance. Students developed oppositional strategies designed to undermine the policy and to retain some semblance of freedom and dignity. Suggestions for further research and policy are provided.
THE NATIONAL CONTEXT
The re-emergence of school uniforms as a policy in many U.S. public school districts has seemed timely. In the wake of media saturated with teenage horror stories such as news coverage and commentary of the 1999 Columbine tragedy and what these tragedies might represent in terms of adolescent individualism and alienation run amok, school uniforms appear to represent an ideal solution for creating homogeneity and, possibly, harmony in student populations. Such a unified body of youth would presumably be free to emerge without the otherwise obvious divisive markers of wealth, status, or gang affiliation. One might expect that the homogeneity provided by a uniform would especially ameliorate the urgent sense of needing to fit in with one's peers-particularly during the transition to high school, when so many developmental tasks need balancing by these youth (Rubinstein, 1995). But how might one reconcile this attempt to enforce such uniformity in the paramount American institution of socialization, when the American ideal elsewhere espouses a creed of individuality and freedom at all costs? For teenagers, the astute readers of fashion as social texts (Brumberg, 1997), what might a standardized dress policy come to represent, and what are their experiences in confronting such policy?
Perhaps these questions are especially salient in urban contexts, which have served as epicenters for these public policy practices and debates, due to the need for innovative, pervasive reforms in these school districts. Many urban, minority youth are particularly in need of creative interventions for helping them negotiate their unique developmental challenges. Policies that are focused solely on...