It is a well-known fact that Asian children outscore American children in both math and reading, making me wonder if the lack of school uniforms in American schools contributes to such an intellectual gap.

I recently attended a talk by Jhumpa Lahiri on her life and journey as an author and a child of immigrants. Her latest book, “The Clothing of Books,” explores how book covers distract from a book’s content. She starts off the book with a story on how she dreaded the process of dressing herself in a different outfit everyday for school, and how much thought, time, and energy went into each look, wishing that she could wear the same thing everyday as her cousins did in India.

From 1997-1999, Deborah Elder, a former researcher with Albuquerque Public Schools (APS), conducted a study with two middle schools (Truman and John Adams) on the impact of school uniforms on changes in students’ discipline and educational achievements. The results showed a decrease in discipline referrals and an increase in perceptions regarding school safety, climate, and focus among parents and staff. Most importantly, the survey showed an increase in the number of honor roll students after the school uniform policy was implemented.

The percentage of students who earned honor roll status at John Adams increased in both the first and second quarters of ’97-’98 (31.4% and 28%) compared to the same quarters in ’98-’99 (43.3% and 37.3%). However, Truman’s second quarters for both years showed a drop in the number of students attaining honor roll status, from 33.3% and 34.4% in the first quarters to 32.7% and 29.2% in the second quarters. This drop could have been due to an increased focus in academics, potentially resulting in higher expectations from teachers and then a decrease in grades.

Even with the decrease in honor roll earners at Truman, an average of 70% of parents and 84% of staff over the course of the two years believed that “school uniforms help students focus on their education.” While I couldn’t find any studies within the last decade on the impact of school uniforms in American schools, Elder’s study persists throughout the years, highlighting the increased academic benefits students gain when they can shift their focus from clothing to studying. Apart from educational benefits, the implementation of school uniforms levels the playing field for all students, discouraging the formation of groups based on clothing brands, and instead possibly encouraging students to observe their peers’ personalities.

The usage of school uniforms has been in practice for decades in Asian schools, reinforcing the idea that when students are not wasting time deciding what to wear to an educational institution, they can focus on their studies more. It is not to say that the attention once paid to clothing shifts only to studying, but the opportunity arises for students to focus on schoolwork instead, signifying the prospect of increased scores.

It’s important to acknowledge that both culture and school structures also contribute to the intellectual gap between American and Asian students. Malcolm Gladwell suggests that the Chinese are better at math because of the structure of their language. The process of getting into higher education in America versus India (and most likely other Asian countries) suggests that because American colleges look at extra-curricular activities while Indian colleges look only at grades, American students are ‘distracted’ by trying to be well-rounded rather than focusing solely on schoolwork. But perhaps the wide usage of school uniforms in Asian schools also contributes, even if barely, to the difference in scores.

As Lahiri proposes to tear down the barrier between book covers and their content inside, she shifts the reader’s focus from the superficial aspects of the book to the story inside. School uniforms do the same for students, potentially decreasing the intellectual gap between American students and their counterparts around the world.