Author: Yasmine

The use of school uniforms used to be restricted to private “Catholic” schools. It is only in recent years that the issue of students wearing school uniform in public schools has come up as a concern. I strongly believe that school uniforms have a positive impact on academic performance. But, what do people really think of school uniforms? Some people think that school uniforms prevent a student’s ability to express themselves. Many people would argue that school uniforms have no impact on school performance or attendance but that assumption is far from the truth.

Without uniforms kids can wear whatever they want, which is all good but there is a lot of judgement. A lot of kids will criticise others because of what they are wearing. For example, girls whose skirts are cut lower have a higher chance of getting bullied or judged than girls who wear short skirts since it is more fashionable. But with uniforms all of this is taken away, because everyone will be wearing the same thing. I know that your first question will be: “But, where is the individuality?” But it can still be there. Kids need individuality. Uniforms just give them a larger margin for it. Of course a lot of you will say it in fact that gives them a SHORTER margin. But again, that’s wrong. By giving them uniforms, that gives them opportunities to express themselves and their individuality in other ways: boys who fold their collars or roll their sleeves up differently or who tuck their shirts in or leave them out. There is a lot of factors to keep in mind.

Furthermore, kids don’t need to wear whatever they want to express themselves or to be different. There are other ways, this could be evident through the quality of their coursework, attitude, drawings or writings. Moreover, school uniforms improve attendance because students don’t have to worry about what to wear or the bullying that comes along with wearing cloths that are not “cool” or popular. This in turn improves academic performance because students are able to go to school and study in a environment free of teasing or bulling. Uniforms are also a way of ensuring school safety because students are not able to carry weapons in the school uniforms like they could do in over sized cloths.

On the other hand, you might say or think that this is teaching them conformity (that everyone has to be the same), but is it really? No, it’s not. It’s teaching them respect and to a certain degree discipline, because when students obey the rules that comes with the wearing of uniforms, the discipline achieved helps them in future aims. Kids who wear whatever they want tend to think that they can get away with more because their teachers or school staff aren’t as strict. However, by making them wear uniforms and enforcing it you are showing them that that’s not the case. Additionally, by wearing a uniform you are given respect for being part of a reputable school. Also, school uniforms promote unity among students because of the sense of pride that comes along with it.

On the other hand, you might think that school uniforms shouldn’t be established because it is a financially difficult responsibility for poor families, but the situation is actually the opposite. School uniforms are less expensive than clothes and can be used throughout the year. For example, if you buy five pairs of jeans and five pairs of T-shirts for your son or daughter, that will not be enough for him to use them through the year because his outfits will become repetitious and he will be a target for teasing or bullying for other students. To prevent that though, the family will keep buying clothes on top of the ones he already has. However, this would not happen if those five pair of clothes were school uniforms in the first place, because this way students can wear the same pair of uniforms throughout the year without being noticed by their schoolmates and this actually saves families some money.

Finally,  Long Beach California enforced school uniforms in 1995, and some of the results are the followings; there was approximately a 90% drop in school suspensions, sex offenses were reduced by 96% and incidents of vandalism went down by 69%. The overall crime rate by students dropped by 91%. Having stated this,  it is clear that school uniforms, if enforced, have a positive impact on our education system and make schools better.

So, can you see why uniforms are the best course of actions now?

I saw her face. She had attractive natural eyebrows, bright and powerful almond eyes, and a button nose followed by thin made up lips. Her hair was dark as the shadows of twilight. She had on her heart designed small face a broody expression. I saw myself.

******

11th of March 2015, Madrid. The first day of my holidays started a Saturday morning with the sun shining in the kitchen like it never did before.  My mum and I started making breakfast and, just like usual, my dad woke up later on to join us. The power of the sun made every single one of us amused and excited to do something different, like spending the day out together, as a family. We made our plans and decided to go to ‘El Corte Ingles’ something that we had planned but had never eventuated.

Loud music, favourite songs, sunshine, family and a bit of great banter, I mean, what could be better? As we reached there, Dad left us in front of the main door so we would’t have walk there since the parking was full and hard to find a place. As soon as I got off the car, all I could see were eyes analysing my outfit. I was wearing an abaya, a robe-like dress, and my usual black hijab. As soon as I walked in, an instantaneous insecurity entered my body from the scandalous looks I was receiving. I was lost in thought, what’s so weird about me!? Am I doing something wrong?

“Yallah! (Come on)” Dad screamed at me as I was walking behind them unconsciously. I started commenting my feeling to my mum when she interrupted me.

“What!?” She said. “Habibty your sister is crying so much, why don’t you stop being so emotional and help me with her, uh? Is it hot here, shall I take her jacket off?”

“Yeah” I answered and hung my head like a dying flower. “Am I over thinking about this?” I said to myself “look around you, everyone’s wearing shorts and short dresses. They’re probably curious about my culture or religion”.

“Do you like this skirt?” Mum asked me and we started a conversation about clothes and stuff we need to buy over the holidays.As the hours passed by, everyone seemed to adore the family shopping day.

“No queremos terroristas en nuestro pais!” (We don’t want terrorists in our country!) said a women to another as they glanced at us and then continued their conversation. My mum uncounted me with a collapsed look upon her face but we both ignored it like if nothing was said.Nothing was said but I felt my hands slowly slide into my pockets hoping that I could calm down my breathing.

Suddenly, I had the urge to go to the toilet so I kindly asked one of the staff that was near me where I could find one.
“There’s no toilets in ‘El Corte Ingles’” she answered back reluctantly.
“Really? I’ve never seen such a vast company with no toilets, but okay then!” I replied furiously.
Ten minutes later, I found another staff member.
“Sorry, is there toilets here?” I asked him.
“Yes of course, just go to reception and ask for it there, they’ll kindly guide you how to get to the toilet” he answered with with a big smile on his face.

I entered the toilet expecting to find loads of people waiting on a queue. Instead, I found nothing. Nothing but white walls with no people to paint with sleepy expressions. Meanwhile I was in the toilet, I heard voices getting louder as the door opened.
“…And she was wearing a big black dress with a scarf on her head, God knows what’s inside there, I mean there could be guns or bombs or whatever so I told her that there was no toilets and she got mad LOL”.

“I personally think that that was the best thing you did, it’s been a year since the train bombings, you can never know when they’re preparing a second attack…” Her mate answered her as they left the toilet.

I opened the door and stood in front of the mirror, I saw myself. This time a single tear trickled down my cheek.

Take the position of a character in the original poem and write a dramatic monologue from that point of view.

Concentrate on developing a narrative structure (a storyline) that suits your plan. Most of the source texts lack a ‘narrative’ element, so this will be for you to develop yourself.

Dear Isabelle Karr,

I partly agree with some of your points of your article “Twerking, Selfie and unlike ? Young people don’t speak like that – I should know”. Slang words can be very formal, inappropriate but also metaphorical, and are likely to be  evanescent as the spoken language changes from one generation to another. An example of this is the word ‘fugly’ a slang term used during the 1970s. This word has now been replaced by the word ‘clapped’. I would say that language is a living thing. It grows and changes. Slang changes because certain expressions become over used over after a certain time. Also, slang is sometimes used as a code between people and it is only good for a determined time before other people understand it’s meaning. In addition, people are always looking for more interesting and colorful ways to express themselves.

The fact that the Oxford Dictionaries Online want to include a new range of slang words is appalling since these “words” are not words, they’re acronyms.I am not stating that there’s not acronyms in the dictionary but they are significant and useful such as “RADAR-Radio Detection and Ranging” or “LASER-Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation” which have been used for a long time. Nevertheless, “OMG-Oh My God” or “BRB-Be Right Back” are neither important nor educational to be accepted by most the population. However, the aim of a dictionary is still to describe and explain what a word means and since these slangs are being used by most of the population the best thing is to actually add them to their online collection. Yet, I personally think slang words have no place in the printed Oxford Dictionary. I hugely respect it and this way we are just converting ‘abstract’ words into  valuable ones that are going to disappear in a short time since they are, like you said, a ‘fashion trend that come and go’.

In contrast of what you said, Shakespeare created hundreds of slang for his plays to help make it modern for his audience. Most of them are still being used at the moment such as “swag” which was first created in the 1590s for one of his plays. Besides, the word ‘twere’ is a hybrid from two exiting words made by Shakespeare himself which stands for ‘it were’; lol.

On the other hand, slang are used by many youth groups and friends but not with people they do not know or trust enough. Besides, people do not use slang in an interview or abbreviations in an important  letter since they want to give a good impression.Also, slang can be helpful to identify from which area a person is coming from  because, for example, East London uses different slang than West London.

Finally, I do not agree with you with the fact that slang words represent a bad and ‘unhealthy culture’ on young people; firstly, not all young people speak slang, therefore you cannot say that it reflects a whole generation. Secondly, not all slang words refer to image, reputation and sex. For example, the slang “to chill out” simply means to relax or “cool” which means ‘great’ or ‘fantastic’.

In my opinion, since we are in a digital era, abbreviations can be very handy. We spend most of our time on social media or texting so using slang just makes life easier and quicker. For example, if I am in a rush and I want to tell someone that I am in my way I just type in ‘OMW’ and the person immediately knows what I mean without having to make the effort writing the expression. There are positives and negatives in using slang and there is really no need to feel ’embarrassed and ashamed’ for the way we share our life style with the rest of the world. Just enjoy the advantages!!