Interview: Clothes-Minded

Researcher David Brunsma gives the public school uniform craze a dressing down.

If, as Mark Twain once quipped, clothes make the man (his reasoning: “Naked people have little or no influence in society”), does it follow that the right attire can help a kid do better at school? Contrary to popular belief, the answer is no, says sociologist David Brunsma. The University of Missouri assistant professor recently published The School Uniform Movement and What It Tells Us About American Education: A Symbolic Crusade , which discusses the conclusion he’s reached after almost a decade’s worth of research and analysis of new federal data: School uniforms have no impact on student achievement or social behavior.

Brunsma never wore a school uniform himself, so this isn’t a personal vendetta against polyester and the people who made him wear it. He says he was motivated to conduct a scholarly investigation into the effects of uniforms because he was concerned that schools were changing policies based on anecdotes alone. Currently, about 23 percent of public elementary schools have mandatory-uniform policies.

Teacher Magazine recently spoke with Brunsma about why the idea of dressing for success is a myth that public school officials don’t want to give up.