Do clothes really make the man or the does the man only emerge when the clothes cease to have the power to control the man? Does our outward appearance define who we are or do our actions and intellect distinguish us as thinking individuals apart from the masses? Can we imagine a high achieving school free from gangs and random violence that honors cultural diversity and individualism while eliminating class distinctions based upon socioeconomic principles? Which do we honor more: robotic safe schools or individual expression? It is time for us to decide.
             Implementing uniform dress within public schools increasingly emerges as a controversial topic in many communities across the United States as parents seek high achieving safe schools for their children. The debate between the student's right to freedom of personal expression through dress versus the value of eliminating distracters to education and safety rages on without any easy answers. The difficulty of the answer lies in the complexity of the question. What do we value? And do we have different values at different times in our lives? Students, parents, and educators frequently voice different answers to this issue of uniform dress in America's public schools. Students fight for their right to self-expression through personal styles of dress, hair, and body adornment; they demand their First Amendment right to freedom of expression. Youths want to choose what they wear. Parents want their kids to be safe while receiving a good education while teachers and administrators want what they feel is best for the overall learning of the students. All in all, however, the school boards have the final say in the matter of school dress codes, and they will decide what they think is best.
             Both sides of this issue offer strong arguments to support their viewpoint, making it difficult to reach a consensus of opinion. One major reason school teachers and their administrative staffs cite...