History
Parochial and private schools have a long history of using school uniforms (look-alike clothes) to project an atmosphere of uniformity, pride, loyalty, and equality among the studentpopulation.
1894: At the opening of Winthrop Normal and Industrial College, the governor of South Carolina announced that All distinctions of wealth will be done away with. Every pupil in the schoolwill be required to wear uniform.
1932: The principal of Muncie, Indiana high school proposed uniforms as a way to eliminate class distinctions in high school and place the poor on an equal footingwith the rich.
1980s: An effort to thwart growing gang activity in schools led school officials to reexamine their schools’ policies requiring uniforms.
1987: Cherry Hill Elementary inBaltimore, Maryland, implemented the first publicized uniform policy.
1994: Long Beach (CA) Unified School District (LBUSD) was the first school district to adopt a district wide uniform dress codepolicy.
1996: The idea of dress codes and uniforms gained official sanction when President Clinton endorsed the idea of public-school uniforms in his State of the Union Address.
2000: ThePhiladelphia School Board unanimously adopted a district wide policy requiring some type of uniform.
By 2000:
• In Miami, 60% of the public school required uniform; in Chicago 80%
• 30% of thepublic schools in San Francisco, 50% of the schools in Cincinnati, 65% in Boston, 85% in Cleveland, and 95 percent in New Orleans had school-uniform programs.
• 37 state legislatures,including those in Califormia, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia, had enacted legislation empowering local districts to ser their own uniform policies.References
Anderson, W. (2002). School dress codes and uniform policies. Policy Report, 4 ERIC ED-99-CO-0011.
http://www.bwhitman.com/local/educational/schools/uniforms/uniforms.htm