On 10 December 2007 the Akron City School Board – following the
precedent set by many school systems across the United States and the
world – instituted a policy of mandatory school uniforms for all students in
grades K–8. The measure was met with mixed reviews. While many parents
supported the measure, a small group of parents from a selective,
arts-focussed, middle school (grades 4–8) objected to the policy. It was
their contention that children attending this particular school should be
exempt from the policy since their children were particularly creative, and
the new policy constituted an unjust infringement of their child’s freedom
of expression. In this article I argue that the actions of the school board,
while antithetical to freedom of expression in general, do not violate the
children’s freedom of expression since such a right cannot properly be said
to apply to the majority of children within this age group. In arguing this
position, I draw on two primary ideas. The first is based on the idea that
children’s rights exist on a continuum from rights that protect their
interests to those that protect their choices. Since the majority of children at
the age specified by the policy fall on the interest side of the rights
spectrum, restricting their liberty with respect to dress is not morally
problematic. Secondly, I draw upon the idea of the distinction between
mere expression as opposed to substantive expression to argue that most
children, particularly those in the pre-teen years, lack the cognitive ability
to exercise the latter.