Do Clothes Make the Student?

Four years ago, baggy, low-rider jeans, tight halter tops and designer labels all but disappeared from a high school in Hamburg. Instead, students -- all of them -- came to class in blue sweaters or sweat shirts, T-shirts in the summer, and blue jeans. The school had introduced a dress code and mandated a uniform of sorts.

According to students and teachers there, the change worked wonders, putting the focus on study and team work while getting rid of a good deal of jealousy and competition over who has the trendiest top or the most expensive pair of designer jeans.

"We found that when students wear uniforms, or standardized outfits, clothing as a status measuring stick becomes less important," said Oliver Dickhäuser, a researcher at the University of Giessen who helped conduct a study last year on the Hamburg clothes experiment. "It can also lead to more social cohesion."

While schools in Britain and -- to a lesser extent -- private schools in the US have long traditions of mandating uniforms for pupils, the great majority of German schools allow students free reign when it comes to deciding what to put on in the morning. According to researcher Dickhäuser, only three schools in Germany have mandated all their students wear some kind of uniform.

Interest is growing

But the results of the Giessen study are encouraging several other school administrations to consider paring down their students' wardrobe choices in the hopes of improving the overall classroom atmosphere.

"We hope it will improve some of the deficits that we see in schools, like discipline, teamwork and a sense of togetherness, things that in today's society are on the decline," said Kai Gersch, head of the Free Democratic Party in the local council of Spandau, a district of Berlin.

There, two schools will likely make the switch to uniforms toward the end of the year, if students, parents and faculty agree on the plan.

That might be a difficult agreement to reach. Whether uniforms actually make a difference in the classroom is still hotly debated in Germany and even experts are split on the issue.

Those in favor argue that besides doing away with the "brand envy" and reduce the chances of children from poorer families being ostracized because they cannot afford the latest fashions.

Advocates say a uniform can help students identify and even have pride in their school. And although it's less of an issue in Germany than in the US, standardized clothing, it is argued, can help improve security at school by lessening the chances that a student will be robbed, sometimes violently, of his €200 ($265) sneakers.

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Crass conformity

But uniforms are by no means supported by everyone. Critics reject the idea of a uniform as a panacea that will cure all that is ailing Germany's school system, saying administrators should be focusing on lack of books, deteriorating facilities and unmotivated teachers.

They argue uniforms are an encroachment on individual expression, and that mandating what students have to wear on school days deprives them of the opportunity to learn how to be responsible for their own clothing choices. In other words, the nanny state invades the closet.

"If it were a part of our culture and tradition, fine, but it isn't," said Ingrid Stahmer, formerly Berlin's senator for school, youth and sports. "Anyway, kids wearing uniforms are still going to figure out ways to differentiate themselves, be it through mobile phones or purses. We have to address the problems in the classroom in other ways."

She added that while a few schools across the country have adopted some kind of uniform or standard clothing rules, making it a widespread regulation would be difficult, because it would likely run into opposition from parents, many of whom are uncomfortable with the idea.

It reminds some of the youth organizations of the Third Reich -- the Hitler Youth and the German Girls League -- whose members were forced to wear uniforms.

According to Dickhäuser, some immigrants to Germany who have school-age children would also likely have bad memories.

"I have had discussions with people from former Eastern Bloc countries, for example, a woman from Romania who said, 'I definitely do not want by child forced to wear a uniform. I went through that long enough'," Dickhäuser said.

De facto uniforms

Proponents counter that the uniforms under discussion in Germany are not the plaid skirts and breeches of an English boarding school, but rather outfits that the students themselves would vote on and which correspond to current styles -- at least the ones adults find acceptable. Besides, said FDP politician Gersch, standardized clothing is nothing new to today's kids.

"Looking at students today, they're already in uniforms of a sort," he said. "If (clothing designer Wolfang) Joop is in, Joop has to be worn by everybody, or they're not cool. And if that's the only criterion for individuality, then our society really has a problem."

The principal of a primary school in Potsdam about to introduce uniforms actually approached Wolfgang Joop, a local resident, about designing a uniform. The designer turned the school down, claiming a lack of time. Now the school is putting students to work, who will create a series of designs that will be passed on to a professional designer.

"Well, school uniforms have to be timeless," said Gudrun Wurzler, the principal. "They should be stylish, too."