School Uniforms Gain Popularity In The Face Of Criticism
             Nationally, there is a rise in the number of public school districts are requiring their students to wear uniforms or abide by a strict dress code. As more and more public schools start using uniforms, debate over uniform usage, the reasoning behind it, and uniforms' overall effectiveness continues. One public school system, Long Beach Unified School District in California, has lead the way by becoming the first urban school system to require students to wear uniforms (Spatt 52). Uniform supporters including former President Clinton have used the Long Beach system as proof that uniforms work (King 33). These supporters have started a wave of uniform adoption across the nation, which over the past five years has only grown stronger (Wingert 72). The Long Beach system is not without its opponents and as uniforms gain in popularity so does the number of people who oppose them. The American Civil Liberties Union contends that uniforms not only restrict freedom of exp!
             ression, but that they are a trivial non-constructive attempts to solve much more serious problems (King 34). Critics of school uniforms and the Long Beach system from all around the country, including Philadelphia, New York City, and Kansas, argue that not enough research has been done to prove Long Beach's success is directly related to uniform usage (King 33).
             Most Education experts agree the Long Beach Unified School District was the first public urban school district of its size to successfully implement mandatory school uniforms (King 33). When the movement first began in Long Beach each principle was given the option of having his school switch to uniforms or remain with the current school dress code. The next issue pro-uniform principles faced was how traditional each school uniform would be. Once each school put its uniform policy into practice, those who did swit...