Should school uniforms be mandatory?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should school uniforms be mandatory?
Position‹2 of 2: No, they should not be mandatory
Argument‹5 of 10›: Students don't like school uniforms

Students don't want to wear school uniforms. So they shouldn't have to.

The argument

Students don't like school uniforms. They are often highly restrictive and make them feel uncomfortable. Studies consistently show that over 80% of students would prefer to wear their own clothes to school. If students don't want to wear them, in the interest of student comfort and student happiness, they shouldn't be forced to do something they don't want to do.

Context

We want our children and teenagers to be comfortable and happy at school. If they are comfortable, they are better able to learn and retain information and perform better in exams.

Premises

[P1]School uniforms are often restrictive and make students uncomfortable. [P2] Studies consistently show that over 80% of students would prefer to wear their own clothes. [P3] In the interest of student comfort and happiness, they should not be forced to wear something they dislike. [C] Therefore, because students don't like them, school uniforms should not be mandatory.

Counter-arguments

Children don't like cleaning their teeth either or eating vegetables, but we make them do these things for the benefits they bring. Wearing school uniforms brings a host of benefits. It is worth making children do something they don't want to do for the sake of these benefits.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] We make children do things they don't want to do for their own benefit.