What Mark Mathabane talks about in his article “Appearances are Destructive” is how students should be required to wear uniforms in public schools because uniforms encourage students to focus on education. Mathabane draws from her experience when her South African sisters went to school in the United States. One of the points he makes is that the United States is the only country that allows an open dress code in schools. He also talks about how students are more concerned with their appearance rather than their education. Mathabane also states that “in schools Nike, Calvin Klein, Adidas, Reebok and Gucci are names more familiar to students than Zora Neale Hurston, Shakespeare and Faulkner”. Furthermore, he says that if students don't dress in designer clothes they may be ridiculed by others. The author's final opinion is that "It is time for Americans to realize that the benefits of safe and effective schools far outweigh any perceived limitations on free expression caused by dress codes." Many educators and even former President Bill Clinton, in his State of the Union Address, have publicly supported the use of uniforms in schools. Larry Wilder Ed. D of the Fresno Pacific University School of Education is one such advocate. The reason he agrees with uniforms is because “they lead to a safer educational environment that increases students' ability to learn, increases gender equality and increases tolerance between ethnic and social groups. " There is much debate among educators about whether or not public school students should wear uniforms or have a dress code. There are many positives and several negatives to uniforms in school. It doesn't matter which side you're on , there is a conflicting set of data regarding the… center of the paper… users found that when schools switched to uniforms was that school fights decreased by 36%, and student fights have decreased by 51%. Additionally, sexual crimes have decreased by 74%. However, research has been mixed regarding academic achievement a dress code or requiring uniforms in schools, there are no studies that definitively prove that one way is better than the other. On the one hand, school uniforms have been shown to reduce school violence, make the school environment more safe and help in the academic process. In contrast, a school dress code has been shown to have no significant impact on attendance or behavior and has not been shown to be more effective than not having one. Whatever happens, uniforms will always be a social issue that will always be a subject of debate as to their effectiveness.