My Reflection on "Two Cities" and "I Would Rather Be Fat" - Persuasive Essay

The Use of Uniforms- Good or Bad?  

We have all felt the stress of dealing with what to wear on a free dress day at school.  The night before you go through your entire closet, picking out the perfect things to wear.  What if you had to live like this everyday?  Wouldn’t you get tired of it?  Uniforms have been present in religious and private schools, particularly in the United States, for generations and have even begun being used in public schools.  This subject is controversial; there are parents and their children who are strongly for it, as well as others who are strongly against it.  As of the 2007-2008 school year, 16.5% of all public schools in the United States used uniforms and 54% used a strict dress code.  My opinion is that the pros for the use of uniforms in public schools outweigh the cons. 

Those who are against uniforms will insist that they can’t express themselves if they aren’t wearing their own choice of clothes.  There is a bit of a lack of individuality because you are wearing the same clothes as your peers, but this can also be seen as a good thing.  As it turns out, however, there are other ways to express yourself than through your clothes.  My brother works in an underprivileged school in San Antonio, Texas where, due to the use of uniforms, the students use their hair to express themselves and show their individuality.  Hair is just one of the many ways to be unique and show who you are and what you believe in- without doing it through your own clothing.  These people who do not believe in uniforms also say that there is less personal freedom and that this is an undemocratic way of running a school.  These statements are indeed correct, but the pros defending the use of uniforms overpower these.  Uniforms are an egalitarian way of running a school and are not a distraction.  They also reduce stress, not only on the students who must decide on what to wear each day, but also to their parents who have to worry about the cost of buying the latest fashions for their children to wear to school.  The school also does not have to worry about a strict dress code, because everyone will be wearing school-approved clothing. 

There are social, economic, and emotional benefits to the use of uniforms in public schools.  Socially, uniforms create a more equal environment where the wealthier students don’t make those less affluent feel inferior.  There is less stress on students, parents, teachers, and school administration with the use of uniforms as well.  To all teachers and faculty members at public schools which don’t require uniforms, wouldn’t it be so much easier than having to continuously tell kids that they are not dressed appropriately?  And to all those public school students, not having to worry so much about how you look everyday would make your life so much easier!  As well as not having to worry as much, people could judge you by your personality and how you are as a human being rather than how you dress and how much you spend on clothing.  Who wouldn’t rather be judged by what they believe in and what they like and dislike, rather than how much they spent at the mall this weekend?  Emotionally they would be less self-conscious at school if they wore the same clothes as everyone else.  Feeling more equal to their peers, students would have more confidence in themselves, allowing them to have an overall better self-esteem, which is already very low for teenagers.  Finally, the economic benefits are appealing to both parents and their children.  Not having to buy as many clothes results in happier parents, and for those students who must pay for their own clothing, happier kids!  Saving money, improving one’s self-esteem, and being equal with one’s peers are just a few of the major benefits of being in a uniform school.  I think that if more public schools enacted this policy, everyone would be happier.  

To me, uniforms are a benefit to everyone in society.  So, would you rather attend a school that is more egalitarian, or go back to feeling self-conscious about your clothes and hoping that no one will know that your mother bought them for you at K-Mart?  The choice is yours.  

My Reflection on "Why Don't We Complain" by William F. Buckley Jr. and "On Compassion" by Barbara Lazear Ascher

In class, we read the non-fiction pieces, "Why Don't We Complain" and "On Compassion."  I found these to be very different essays, though there is one similarity in particular that I found effective.  This similarity was a very strong part of each essay: the use of real-life examples.  In "Why Don't We Complain", the temperature on the train, the tray table in the airplane, and the movie theater were instances that I could relate to, especially because I have a father who does complain during these situations.  Barbara Lazear Ascher uses similar examples when she describes situations with the homeless people (the woman offering the homeless man money and the French bakery owner giving the other homeless man food), which we have all seen firsthand.  As far as the differences between these two pieces of writing, the main difference is the way that each is written.  The author of "Why Don't We Complain" was trying to be more persuasive, while the author of "On Compassion" wrote a more contemplative piece that questioned how we react to the homeless in society.  I personally found "Why Don't We Complain" to be a stronger piece of writing because of this persuasiveness and the way the author integrates politics to highlight his point, but "On Compassion" to be more relatable.  We have all thought about whether we give money to the homeless because of fear or because we pity them and even if we should give money at all, but the politics that William F. Buckley Jr. uses in his piece are more distant for most of us.  The style in which each of these pieces was written was also different.  "On Compassion" used many metaphors, similes, examples of imagery, and rhetorical questions to showcase the meaning of the text which "Why Don't We Complain" did not have.  I think that this effective language made the essay more interesting to read, but the main point was not as clear.  Overall, I enjoyed both pieces as they left me thinking after I read them, but they did have different styles and different purposes.