Sophia Pathways for College Credit – English Composition II TOUCHSTONE 3.1

Sophia Pathways for College Credit – English Composition II TOUCHSTONE 3.1 English Composition The first article is “School Dress Codes and Uniform Policies”. It was written by Anderson, Wendell in the year 2002 for the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. The research was sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement. The author takes a sensible approach to the usefulness of dress codes and school-uniform policies. He acknowledges that there is not a one size fits all solution and every school and community may have different needs and that those needs should be carefully considered and discussed before implementing a dress code policy. The second article written by Deane, Samantha in 2015 for the Ohio Valley Philosophy of Education Society is named “Dressing Diversity: Politics of Difference and the Case of School Uniforms”. This piece is full of pseudo-intellectual jargon that does not amount to much. There is a heavy underlying theme accusing dress codes and school uniforms as being oppressive. The argument could be made that perhaps in some situations school uniforms are oppressive, but the author seems to blanket all dress codes as oppressive. A standard dress code that forces to teens to have some semblance of professionalism seems to be a bad thing in the authors eyes. This will be Rogerian argument will be somewhat difficult to compose due to the vast difference in the way both arguments are presented. One is measured and reasonable and is arguably already a middle of the ground answer. While the latter is a painfully difficult piece to read and pretends to have a dress code is a grave injustice. Due to the nature of Rogerian arguments one is pigeon-holed into pretending one of these arguments is legitimate. Thus, to propose a proper milk toast argument would be to suggest the following: restricting children to Sophia Pathways for College Credit – English Composition II TOUCHSTONE 3.1 appropriate clothing, such as banning all potentially gang related material and anything deemed too “provocative”. To account for differences between schools these measures should be closely discussed between the school and parents to form a coherent and cohesive policy. School’s should be designed around the idea that their student will grow up and be plunged into a competitive work force, which we know that they will. School dress codes are an excellent way to remind children there are ways to dress when they are in a professional space (a school can certainly be considered a professional workspace) and ways to dress on their own time. To, say that Samantha’s conclusion is completely wrong would be disingenuous. She states, “schools ought to be places where children learn to confront the humanity and difference of others, and I am concerned with how children are taught to do so.” I agree with this sentence, she then proceeds to discuss “theories of social justice” in the very next sentence and complains that school uniforms fail to teach children to deal with human difference. She is more concerned with the difference of appearance than she is with thought. It is easy to agree that schools do fail to teach our children how to confront difference, that difference being of opinion, they are all taught to conform in thought. One cohesive hive mind that casts out any discerning opinions. Schools are ultimately places that are supposed to prepare children for the real world, and their dress codes should partially reflect that. Arguing that all schools implement the classic prep school uniform requirement is clearly nonsensical in a lot of cases. However, in some cases it may be very beneficial to the students. Uniforms are hardly detrimental to