Should students wear uniforms to school or should they be able to dress as they please? Many good reasons on both sides of the debate.

Starter jackets, Air Jordans and designer clothes are some of the most popular things to steal from school lockers. What would happen if these items were kept out of schools because kids wore uniforms?

Children's Express wanted to find out if uniforms are a good idea in public elementary schools. We interviewed Marsha Foley, principal of School 44, who checked into uniforms for her school and rejected the idea.

We also interviewed Maxine Carter, principal of Cold Springs Academy, and teachers from Cold Springs, where everyone wears matching shirts and pants.

The debate about uniforms has been around for a while. Those who favor uniforms say they eliminate the need for expensive designer clothes.

Karen Sails, a second-grade teacher at Cold Springs, says she likes wearing a uniform.

"It's the best thing that's ever happened to me," she said. "I just feel like you can do so much more. I think I've done some activities I wouldn't have touched this year because I have a uniform, and all I have to do is throw it in the washer."

"I think it's just great to come and look alike," Principal Carter agreed. "As a child, I would have enjoyed being in a school environment where they wear a very casual, practical uniform and teachers are involved in it, too. I mean to dress like your teacher, to me as a child, would be great."

Even Foley, who opposed uniforms for School 44, saw some advantages to them.

"They don't worry so much about having $150 tennis shoes or a $200 jacket because they're all wearing the same clothes," she said. "So it seemed to put a little bit less pressure on the children for trying to dress in a certain manner."

She also pointed out, however, that uniforms could cause more problems than they would solve.

"I think we have other things we need to spend our time doing, and if I were principal of a school where there were 600 children wearing uniforms, I'd probably spend a good part of my day asking children why they weren't wearing their uniforms. And I really don't have the time in my day to worry about that particular issue."

Sometimes, kids like to wear what they want. Their teachers realize that and, at Cold Springs, they try to make concessions.

Mary White, a kindergarten teacher at Cold Springs, said, "I think that you can have your individuality through personality, through hair styles, through your jewelry, through your accessories, and the days that we don't have to wear a uniform _ dress-up days or dress-down days _ make it kind of a special time."

"At the beginning," Sails said, "some of my girls like to wear dresses. But with the kind of activities we do, the uniforms were practical."

There seem to be as many good reasons for wearing uniforms as there are for not wearing them. Uniforms may cut down on the competition among students, but they may take away some individuality.

That's probably why the question of uniforms is left up to the individual schools.