Misdirection

School uniforms has popped-up as a popular issue once again in our community and the WayneWho investigative team is on the case. This has been an ongoing discussion in our school system for some time, but only seems to show up as an important issue when our school system runs into a wall of bad media coverage, and the result is always the same. The other bad press goes away and the debate on school uniforms becomes the headline for a couple of months until the debate finally just stops and nothing changes. This is what many in the political arena call "changing the subject" or the "art of misdirection."

Just as in a magic trick, the art of misdirection is the ability of the magician to change the focus of the audience to any point other than the one the magician needs to perform a trick or slight of hand maneuver. The debate over school uniforms is a great example of the art of misdirection. Recalled beef still in freezers that originally did not exist, problem audits, mystery enrollment numbers, out-of-control spending, fire safety issues in the school buildings that house our children, inability to meet the basic government requirements put forward by our federal government, rising school violence and now the media, and possibly the public, drops all of the real issues for one of uniform fashion. A perfect example of how people always love a good magic trick because we love to be fooled.

The discussion on school uniforms and the press coverage it has received is almost sad because of the lack of research on anyone's part as to the validity of the claims. There is almost no data that supports that school uniforms improve students, or more importantly the school systems, where they are used. As a matter of fact, a paper from The Journal of Education Research (Volume 92, Number 1, Sept./Oct. 1998, pp. 53-62) by David L. Brunsma from the University of Alabama and Kerry A. Rockquemore of Notre Dame showed that uniforms did not lead to an improvement in attendance, behavior, drug use, or academic achievement. The study also showed that contrary to current discussions, the authors (of the study) found a negative effect of uniforms on student academic achievement. They also pointed out that uniform policies may only slightly help by indirectly affecting school environments and student outcomes by providing a visible and public symbol of commitment to school improvement and reform. Simply stated, there might be some small short term gains in the public's perception of how the schools are doing but that there would be no real improvements in the quality of education. In other words, misdirection made things seem better that what they really were.

We would point out to our readers that this is an election year and that the art of misdirection will be in full swing. School uniforms, central parks, budget cuts, and other terms will be thrown out to keep people from talking about the real issues that face our community. Now is the time to stop being fooled by simple parlor tricks performed by those with no idea on how to fix the problems at hand and make the decision that will improve our community for generations to come.