School Uniforms - Mandatory or not?

[SFG75]

The school that I work at doesn't have a uniform policy, though we do have a strict dress code. Every fall, we battle plunging neck lines, low-rise jeans, and tummy-bearing shirts(if you can call them that) I guess that I'm of the mindset that they should wear whatever they want, I guess that I don't really see it as a problem. Once you hit the lights and give a powerpoint presentation or turn the kids loose on a computer project, that kind of stuff just really doesn't matter. However, since I don't make the rules, I enforce the ones we have. In this increasingly litigious society, I just e-mail names for the principal to deal with, I don't make comments regarding clothing to kids.

 

[Renee]

I don't think that's what cajunmama meant. I think she meant that you buy the 2 or 3 uniforms instead of constantly buying new clothes. Most uniforms I ever had were made of far tougher material to allow for many washings and hard wearing.

And when the kids are home from school, they can change out of their uniforms and put on whatever... but surely you wouldn't wash clothes that had only been on for a few hours? The kids can fold them up and wear them again - it's not like it's underwear. I subscribe to the Bill-Murray-in-Ghostbusters theory of clothing dirtiness - there are degrees of 'clean'!

I guess having grown up with four very messy brothers I see things from a different perspective. Their clothes were never clean at the end of the day. Even had they worn uniforms for school, at the end of the day they would have each dirtied a set of clothing. My mother still would have had to buy just as many clothes for wearing at home. The uniforms would have been an extra expense and added work to launder. And as I have never been a girly girl, she would have fared no better with me. I drove my mother nuts with all the grass stains I would get on my clothes.

 

[Renee]

And that's just it in a nut shell. Uniform or not....most kids have "school clothes" and "non-school clothes", and some have "church clothes" too.

I've never known anyone that had a set of school clothes and a set of non-school clothes. Whatever we put on in the morning was what came off at the end of the day - for everyone I have ever known.

 

[geneviv]

School unforms are mandatory in the state of Louisiana for public and private schools. Every kid you see is wearing khaki pants and a navy blue shirt. I use to work in a fabric store in Lake Charles. Sometimes parents would complain about it. Apparently there are a bunch of rules and it causes a hassle to get it right.

If I had to wear a uniform I would prefer something cuter like plaid. But I never did.

I'm not from here originally. Cajunmama, do you know why they legislated to make uniforms required?

 

[SFG75]

Apparently there are a bunch of rules and it causes a hassle to get it right.

This wouldn't surprise me. I don't know about the given situation at hand, but I would surmise that a lot of kids do "passive-aggressive" things to get around the rules. Perhaps unrolling the collar, letting one side hang-out, using a bright colored belt, or some other trick to make it stand-out. I don't know, no matter what you try and do-kids will find a way around it and new troubles will overtake the older ones.

It's amazing to me that in this nation, we have 18 year olds who can carry a rifle and vote, but who can't dress themselves(according to administrators and state legislators) in many states.

 

[sung]

Where are all our students?????

There has to be somebody here who thinks a uniform will in some way restrict who they are, and their ability to express that?

Most of what I've heard about would involve some kind of kaiki (spelling?) "Docker" type pant and a collared, polo type shirt of some standard color. Not sure if the girls would be required to wear skirts or dresses or if they too could wear the pants? Girls in America are very much not into skirts for the most part, at least in my area.

i am a student and i have to wear a uniform to MY school!

the uniforms are alright at our school, the administration gives us pretty free reign compared to other private schools in our area. we can wear red or white polo shirts, khaki or blue pants, and pants, khaki skorts, or blue skirts for the girls.

but i still dont think uniforms are necessary. as hard as u try to stop inappropriate outfits being worn, IT WILL HAPPEN ANYWAY. almost every single girl who owns a skirt (and most of them do) rolls it OVER 3/4 of the way up her leg! (it draws stares, let me assure u!)

so, i think that uniforms are not needed, for even the strictly clean clothing sold by lands end can be tampered with. with that said, i will now finish off my long and annoying arguement:

instead of uniforms, perhaps a strict dress code, dictating what sort of clothes the students are or are not allowed to wear.

 

[cajunmama]

School unforms are mandatory in the state of Louisiana for public and private schools. Every kid you see is wearing khaki pants and a navy blue shirt. I use to work in a fabric store in Lake Charles. Sometimes parents would complain about it. Apparently there are a bunch of rules and it causes a hassle to get it right.

If I had to wear a uniform I would prefer something cuter like plaid. But I never did.

I'm not from here originally. Cajunmama, do you know why they legislated to make uniforms required?

I don't know why, so I'll just share my point of veiw. Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the nation and the area where I live is rural and has quite a few people I know are living way under the poverty line. A kid whose family can't afford many sets of clothes can get away with wearing the same uniform to school every day, whereas if there was no uniform policy, that same kid would be harrassed constantly about wearing the same outfit every other day. I have seen, with my own eyes, kids playing outside during the summer in their school uniforms because that's just about all they have.

Some of you have said a kid will get picked on about something no matter what, but this way, its one less thing.

 

[Kookamoor]

but i still dont think uniforms are necessary. as hard as u try to stop inappropriate outfits being worn, IT WILL HAPPEN ANYWAY. almost every single girl who owns a skirt (and most of them do) rolls it OVER 3/4 of the way up her leg! (it draws stares, let me assure u!)

so, i think that uniforms are not needed, for even the strictly clean clothing sold by lands end can be tampered with. with that said, i will now finish off my long and annoying arguement:

instead of uniforms, perhaps a strict dress code, dictating what sort of clothes the students are or are not allowed to wear.

If the school was prepared to be strict about dress, why aren't they strict about the uniforms the girls presently have? The dresses at my school had to be knee length, and if you were caught hitching them up or whatever you would be asked to let it down. Being outside the school and wearing the uniform inappropriately was also not allowed and if seen you would be called into the office the following day If you did it repeatedly you would have a detention or face suspension for multiple offenses. The reasoning for this is more due to disrespect than for the physical act of being out of uniform. I don't recall seeing any girl with her skirt hitched up at my school, though. It wasn't a trend because the school was strict enough about the dress code to not let it become one.

 

[Aoide]

I am a middle school teacher (ages 11-14) and the students at my public school have to wear uniforms. They can wear black or blue pants (like dockers), skirts or shorts and each grade level has a certain color shirt that they can wear. White for 6th, Red for 7th and Blue for 8th. The shirt is polo style, must have a collar and can have no logos.

I feel like the school is much calmer when the students are in uniforms. It is much easier for us to see if someone is not where they are supposed to be because of the colors. And of course the students can't really out do each other in terms of wardrobe because every one is wearing the same thing. I think this is a good thing especially since a large number of my students have very little money. Sometimes the students earn a chance to come out of uniform and the whole atmosphere in the school is different. When the students go up to high school they no longer have to wear uniforms, but they do have a dress code they have to follow.

 

[MonkeyCatcher]

Almost all schools in New Zealand have uniforms - it is actually considered quite backwards here if you do not have a uniform (kinda ironic huh - NZers considering other people backward ) My school uniform is a kilt and blue polo shirt with the school logo in winter or a dress in summer. All jerseys and jeckts have the school logo, and scarfs are striped in school colours (green and yellow).

I think that uniforms are much better than wearing mufti because you don't have to worry about what you are going to wear. Being judged every day by what you wear would be absolutely horrible.. I love just being able to chuck on my school uniform and not have to worry what other people think of what I'm wearing.

 

[Jennifer]

I've worn a uniform for the last 13 years. At high school it was shirt, tie, green blazer, grey v-neck jumper, grey skirt, black tights, SENSIBLE shoes... the works. Now in the sixth form I have to wear a suit. I'm absolutely fine with this - we're a private school and there are millionaires, and there are scholarship kids, and it levels things out. Even if it's Gucci, a suit's a suit. (The blazers cost a bomb though). And then there's individuality. My individuality is expressed by virtue of actually being an individual - I don't have to wear a particular t-shirt.

Having said that, uniforms are normal in the UK. If I was in an American school with no uniform, and someone suggested it, I'd be the first in the picket line campaigning for my freedom to wear a sack if I damn well wanted. So I understand the controversy.

I still think uniforms are good though. If you care that much about your bloody clothes, you're probably not looking for a fabulous academic career - so go to a school that lets you wear what you want, rather than the one that will teach you most effectively. I'd rather suffer under a strict dress code than go to the nearby sixth form college that has no dress code, but wouldn't get me through my exams. (This is obviously only applicable where I live, and I'm not attacking schools without uniforms.)

 

[Aoide]

Jennifer, may I ask? What is sixth form?

 

[Jennifer]

Jennifer, may I ask? What is sixth form?

Sorry, I should've clarified. It's the two years between GSCEs and A levels, ages 16 to 18 - your last two years of school. Sixth form because it's your sixth (and seventh) year at high school. Don't ask me why it's not seventh form...
So basically you're almost an adult, and generally set apart from the rest of the school. Traditionally all the jobs the teachers don't want are given to the sixth form, like lunch duties.

 

[Aoide]

Thanks! I love to hear about the way different education systems are set up.