Believing and Doubting Game

Schools should require students to wear uniforms.

I believe that schools should require students to wear uniforms because of the many advantages it would have for not only the school, but the students and perhaps the parents as well. Requiring students to wear uniforms would make the school appear more "clean-cut", suburban, and "uniform."Also, if everyone were required to wear uniforms everyday then that would reduce the amount of dress code violations, which would be good for both the individual students' discipline records as well as the school's record. Another advantage would be that students would not get teased based on the clothes they choose to wear. For example, usually in public schools, where students are mostly free to wear whatever they want as long as it's within certain guidelines, some students would get picked on for wearing non name-brand clothes or dressing like a goth, nerd, punk, etc. Since everyone would be wearing the same thing, then students would not be teased as much. Lastly, another advantage would be that less-fortunate kids who do not have a lot of clothes to wear would not feel embarrassed of having to wear the same things over and over again because everyone else would be doing that too and nobody would really notice.

I think requiring every student to wear uniforms every day to school is asking too much from not only the students, but their parents or guardians as well. There are disadvantages that would come into play if such a requirement was set. First of all, students perform better when they are comfortable which is why it is stressed that students get a full night's sleep and a good breakfast in the morning before taking a standardized test. I am sure that some students would not feel as comfortable in uniforms and so they might perform a little less well not only on tests, but on their daily in-class assignments. Also, students should be free to express themselves in the way that they dress as long as they keep it within the school's dress code. I think that forcing them to wear uniforms would make it seem like they are all the same when really they are all diverse and they should be able to display that. Maybe uniforms is the school's way to make sure there is equality for all students, but equality can exist with diversity also. More importantly, requiring students to wear uniforms would force parents to come out of their pockets once again to purchase them, and since the student would have to wear it daily, parents would have to buy more than one set of the uniform. This may be a burden for them because not only do they have to come up with the money to provide the uniforms, but they might feel like money has been wasted since their child would never be able to wear to school the clothes they already purchased.

Although requiring students to wear uniforms might be advantageous to the school and its students, requiring uniforms might obscure the schools' diversity and deny the students their right of self expression in the way that they dress as well as cause financial burdens for their parents.

Introductory Letter

My name is Monique Johnson and I am originally from Bronx, New York, but I have been living in Missouri City, TX for about 10 years. I am a freshman here at University of Houston. I just graduated from Elkins High School this past May.
As far as my writing experience, I have always had an interest in writing ever since I was little. I loved to write short stories, poems, and music lyrics.
My writing experience in high school was kind of tough for me. Two of my four English classes were Honors/AP courses so they really expected a lot from us. Usually we had to write papers ranging from 5 to 8 pages over novels we read. We also had to write ICE's or In Class Essays either arguing against, agreeing with, or qualifying a certain thesis in preparation for the AP test. Sophomore year I usually made B's and C's for the most part on my papers. Junior year I made A's and B's on my papers but I hardly ever made higher than a B on the ICE's.
Like I said, when I was little I enjoyed writing poetry but back then I was focused on the rhyme and now I'm more focused on the meaning even though I still sometimes employ rhyming in them. I had to write poetry for almost every English class that I have been in since middle school. I also had to write poetry for my AP Spanish classes.
I feel confident about my writing when I can truly express in words how I feel about the topic well enough so that people can read it and fully understand it. When I write poetry, I think I feel relieved because most of the time I write when I'm emotional whether it be sad, angry, happy, nervous,etc.
Writing can be fun for me when it's a topic that I am interested in, but it's not always easy for me to put my thoughts into sentences. I think I am an okay or good writer, but sometimes I still make mistakes with the basic things like punctuation or grammar. My personal opinion on writing is it is a good way to express yourself and it can sometimes be a stress- reliever when you're writing poetry or writing in a diary.
In this course I hope to become just an overall better writer and be able to express my ideas more clearly without as many mechanical mistakes suck as punctuation.
I can't really think of anything you need to know to be able to teach me better except that I'm still not sure about semicolons.
Finally, something interesting about me is that it is a lot easier for me to express my feelings on paper than orally because I am a very shy and passive person. I'm working on getting rid of that shyness and passiveness, but It's still easier for me to write which is why I usually prefer emailing my teachers over calling them. Also another thing that's interesting about me is that I have family from all over the world: Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Suadi Arabia, The Phillipines, Malaysia, India, Germany, England, and Canada.

The Night Before

"I can't believe I'm in college...I can't believe I'm in college...I can't believe I'm in college..."