*Authors Note: This piece is to my previous school's principal asking for students to not wear uniforms.
Dear Mrs. Meleski,
Hi, my name is Bri Dettlaff, I'm in eighth grade, and I am writing this letter to you to protest against uniforms. Why is it that teachers think we will get along better by wearing the same clothes? What about freedom of expression? I personally, am highly against this decision.
In any middle school or high school you are constantly being judged for who you are and what you look like. You have cliques groups of people that you have things in common with, people that you can relate too.
Besides later in life when you go off to college and get a job, your cliques you have in grade school, don't matter anymore. Have you ever thought about your style? With uniforms style doesn't exist.
Even though you say uniforms are helpful, they're not. They don't give you any freedom. Have you ever heard the saying freedom of expression? It's when you can express your own style. In my opinion, your style, your clothes, is they way people figure out who you are. In our childhoods we started as babies and toddlers, when we could only trust that our parents had some sense of style for us. Later in life, we're finally allowed to dress our selves, what would you pick out? And would your guardians who have authority over you, allow it?
I remember my first day of school at Pewaukee Asa Clark. At first, it was quite frightening. Coming from a grade of 16 to a grade of 230+ students was overwhelming. Especially when I didn't know what it was like here. What do they wear compared to what I wear? I thought then when I got here I had to become a knew me. Maybe die my hair, change my clothes, my personality. Then I had to stop and think who am I and who do I want to be?
My sense of style, made people get to know me. I wasn’t like certain people at Asa, and they weren't like me, I guess that's just how things work out. You could definitely say there are cliques here, but in my opinion we're all floaters. We like to be friends with every one we can. I love meeting new people, no matter what they look like. Sometimes, I'm afraid to take a risk with my clothing, you could say that it's not worth it and it'd be better for everyone to be in uniforms, but that's how you find yourself.
When you think about the question "What you want to do in life,?" It also involves the questions "How will you get there?" and "What do you need to look like." If you decided to be a Punk rocker and wanted to go to Yale… people can judge you for what you look like. It's not right, but it's reality. When people say "Who are you?" think about it. Think about how your style can change people's perspective's or can change others opinions, but are you still you? You can completely change yourself any point in your life, but you rarely have people not wondering "Why did he/she change?" Maybe you weren't a big fan of her clothing so you did the opposite, or maybe you really liked it and wore the same brand. Even though uniforms is a great way to treat people equally. You don’t get to express yourself and who you are.
~ Madonna
Thank you,
Bri Dettlaff
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