Requiring school uniforms can become dehumanizing. Asking a student to wear a uniform is like asking a student to be someone else. Uniforms remove students' identity, and in many cases uniforms make students uncomfortable. Public schools should not require students to wear a school uniform. Before we can explore this topic further, we need to define some key terms. Dress codes are: “Rules established by school districts or individual schools to prescribe the attire of students” (Chittom 1). Public schools are: “Schools that are openly available to the general public at minimal cost and that have no entry requirements based on prior knowledge or skill” (Chittom 1). Many public schools require school uniforms in an effort to improve students' academic performance. Some public schools have achieved positive results, but many others have a different point of view. This leads to the first point of this essay. Mandating public school uniforms asks teachers to punish students for clothing decisions. Young children should not be excluded from school breaks or trips because of their parents' clothing decisions. Some schools are adopting uniform violations to the point where students are being removed from a regular classroom to an alternative classroom. Requiring a school uniform is an invasion of parents' rights and duties. It is the parents' duty to control what their children wear to school, not the schools. Parents are upset that schools are disciplining their children for wearing clothes that they choose for children to wear (McConville). “Teachers have complained that school uniform policies are a distraction from teaching and learning, and parents' rights groups strenuously oppose being told how to dress their children... in the center of the card......: School uniforms. 2009:1. Reference center Points of view. Network. March 23, 2011.Forster, Matt and Denise Geier. “The High Cost of School Uniforms.” Points of view: school uniforms. 2009:2. Reference center Points of view. Network. March 23, 2011.McConville, Jim. “Parents fight over school uniforms.” Asbury Park Press. 22 February 2011. SIRS Researcher. Network. March 23, 2011.Solomon, Lois K. "Schools Beautify Without Uniforms." Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale, FL). June 30, 2004: 1A+. SIRS researcher. Network. March 23, 2011."Uniform rule: This fall, dress codes will be an increasingly popular remedy for everything that's wrong with America's public schools. Do they respond?" Newsweek October 4, 1999: 72. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Network. March 23, 2011.Viadero, Debra. "Uniform Effects". Education Week vol. 24, no. 18. January 12, 2005: 27-29. SIRS researcher. Network. March 23 2011.