I voted "yes" for school uniforms. But not because I think it will help with bullying. I think that uniforms will help teach our kids to look presentable when it is time to look presentable. It will teach them that clothes don't make the person. I think it will make mornings less stressful for the kids and the parents because it takes the decision making away.
As for the bullying, I believe it is the responsibility of the parents to recognize and teach their kids about bullying. How to not be a bully and how to not be bullied.
I went to a school for a while (public school, not private) that required that we wear uniforms and trust me it does not make the student realize that there are times to look presentable. Esp. with the boys if they did wear the ties, they never tied them correctly (either the knot was never done right or if done "right" it was never knotted to their neck). Also, alot of the boys you could tell they never tucked their shirts in correctly, as you could see them bunched up under the sweaters we had to wear and it was worse when it got warmer. Most of the girls were better, but some not by much. Of course girls (this was in the 80's) had wacky hair and make up.
I think it cost more to wear uniforms as obviously not only do you have to buy school uniforms and the P.E school uniforms (or at least we had P.E school uniforms of blue shorts and a white shirt with the school name on it, well schools here too make you wear stuff like too, or at least Northern H.S did when I went from 89-92), you still need to buy regular clothes for when they are not in school. So for a growing kid, esp. younger than lets say 13 (esp. for a boy, then it is in most cases could be older), then it is 2 sets of clothes someone needs to buy and depending if the school makes you buy "real" shoes, not sneakers, it is more money). I realize alot of Catholic schools or other private schools this is not a new thing I mentioned, but for "regular" schools, alot of parents might not realize that.
I do agree that uniforms won't cut down on bullying (like others have mentioned). Trust me, when I had to wear uniforms, people still found a way to pick on me and other students for not having a cool haircut, wearing glasses, not wearing cool shoes, being fat/too thin, having an odd name, etc.
