School Uniforms - Mandatory or not?

[A_Pensive _Mind]

Uniforms are definately a good idea. i had to wear one right up until i finished secondary school and have only managed to get out of wearing uniform now because i'm in a college. In my opinion, uniforms give conformity, cut down on truancy (it's a lot harder to bunk school if u're wearing a uniform, unless u just replace ur bag of books with a change of clothes like i did ), and it helps to convey an impression of equality. People are not divided bu manner of dress like they are at my college where all the townies/chavs stick to themselves and the goths/metallers to theirselves. All schools in my area wore a uniform and no one really complained.... well we signed a petition once but the headteacher just laughed at us

 

[lovermuffin]

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?

I've heard stories of parents getting outright enraged over this topic. And I'm talking about siding in favor of no uniforms.

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'm not sure about shoes. I'll have to ask around...

I'm soon to be a senior in my high school, one of the top public magnet schools in america, and in the world for its IB program. We have a mixed population, as most magnet schools I think are. I don't think that a uniform would be appropriate for our school. Instead we have tight restrictions on what we can wear, which includes shorts and skirts to the knee, along with pants which have to have a belt and absolutely no writing on the shirt, no midriff at all showing and no spaghetti straps. All the administrators patrol the school at all times to enforce the dress code, and a violation means an in-school suspension for that entire day, and worse punishment if the violations continue.
Though some people in my school have found the rules too restricting, it does offer some freedom that a lot of others have taken advantage of. Having a uniform in my school would not be tolerated by the intellectual know-it-alls in my school, and would cause more problems and upheavals than solve a problem we really don't have.

 

[lovermuffin]

Oh, and as for shoes, I think only open-backed shoes are not allowed (to prevent injury while walking in a packed hallway) and stilletto heels ( they get stuck in the doormats)

 

[Robert]

School Uniforms are a great idea. I know parents that shell out small fortunes on cloths so their children could keep up with trends. Uniforms would also help prevent injuries or deaths that we've seen in the news when kids are robbed of their expensive clothing.

 

[Renee]

My big issue with uniforms is having to pay for two sets of clothes and having to do double the laundry. Otherwise I'm in favor of uniforms.

Kids from families that are better off can't rag on other students for not having the hottest fashions. Girls can't go to school dressed overtly provocative. Boys can't walk around with their pants hanging around their knees. School is for learning, not demonstrating your individual sense of style. There are dozens of other ways in which kids can demonstrate who and what they are - through art, music, photography, sports, volunteer work, theater, etc etc etc.

Let's also not forget that many employers require all their staff to adhere to a dress code; meaning you cannot wear all your piercings, you can't spike your hair, you can't wear goth make-up, you can't wear spiked collars or wrist bands, you can't wear your favorite worn jeans or tennis shoes, etc. Having kids wear uniforms is in no way an infringement of their rights.

I might be willing to revisit this issue when it's determined that wearing uniforms when working at Mc Donalds is an infringement of a person's right, or when having to dress business or even business casual is considered an infringemnt of a person's rights.

 

[Kookamoor]

Though some people in my school have found the rules too restricting, it does offer some freedom that a lot of others have taken advantage of. Having a uniform in my school would not be tolerated by the intellectual know-it-alls in my school, and would cause more problems and upheavals than solve a problem we really don't have.

I agree that transition to a uniform would be difficult when there is already a free-dress policy in place. Do you think you're the only one who would have a problem with this? Is there a broad economic background at your school? Are there any kids who are singled out for their choice of dress?

People are not divided bu manner of dress like they are at my college where all the townies/chavs stick to themselves and the goths/metallers to theirselves.

When I started at university suddenly the fickle playground mentality of caring what people wore disappeared. It was great! You could dress up to the 9s or basically roll out of bed and bung on a pair of jeans. Either way no one really cared. It was a huge leap forward in maturity because everyone was accepted for the person they were rather than the person they looked like.

 

[Ronny]

I attended public and private schools growing up and I liked having the uniforms(we had skirt, white blouse, blazer and/or sweater, knee socks) way more than wearing my own clothes. I don't like having to pick something out in the mornings and trying to match everything up. So I liked knowing what to wear everyday, that my hair would be braided as always, and mainly no jewelry. It was fun to when you made friends going to their house and seeing what they wore in everday life, plus the public school boys seemed to like our unifirms (there was even a Red Hot Chilli Peppers song about us at the time) , my hubby still likes me to break it out now and then. As for cost, you could always get second hand and no one really knew if it had been cared for well.

 

[cajunmama]

Schools that make the switch to uniforms usually see significant increases in attendance and test scores and decrease in fights. My children wear uniforms to school, and I am all in favor of it. Our school actually gives the children a limited choice. While their shirts and pants/shorts/skirts must be of a certain style, they can pick one of two colors for each, navy blue or hunter green for the shirt, Khaki or navy for the pants/shorts/skirts. Fridays are "spirit day", meaning regular blue jeans and a school "spirit" t-shirt (we have several colors and decorations to choose from) are acceptable. As far as limiting self expression and all that junk, as far as my children are concerned, the constitution stops at my front door. I am one half of a benevolent dictatorship, and while my children's opinions are heard, my vote is one of the only two that count.

For the record, I wish I had to wear a uniform when I was in school. My mother has horrible taste and would buy awful clothes that my sisters and I were forced to wear to school. Oh, the humiliation!!! Uniforms would have been a blessing.

Rennee- Actually, you don't have to buy as many clothes, just a few sets of the uni, and you can cut down on the regular clothes as well.

 

[tarablythe]

I wore a uniform in 4th and 5th grade when I went to a private school, but it never really bothered me. I always knew what I had to wear so I never spent the hour deciding what to wear like I did in high school. However, I still won't wear white polo shirts and blue pants/skirts, won't do it at all. But it didn't really hurt me, I just tend to stay away from those kinds of clothes.

 

[lovermuffin]

I agree that transition to a uniform would be difficult when there is already a free-dress policy in place. Do you think you're the only one who would have a problem with this? Is there a broad economic background at your school? Are there any kids who are singled out for their choice of dress?

I can see some benefit to getting uniforms, I usually only wear a t-shirt and jeans anyway, but my friend wears vintage skirts and peticoats, so she would feel suffocated and depressed if there was a mandatory uniform.
There is huge economic variety at my school, ranging from millionaire kids to the local *mostly* black kids who live in motorhomes. Most of these local kids are enrolled in a separate magnet program from the richer kids, and share no classes with them, so the major defining element happens to be skin color and not dress, unfortunately.
There are the nerds and the preps and the in-betweens, but I think that people mostly get singled out for how they act towards others and not how they may dress.

 

[mehastings]

My big issue with uniforms is having to pay for two sets of clothes and having to do double the laundry.

I can comiserate. Everyone in my house wears a uniform to work (heavy BDU pants and a shirt, or at night a jumpsuit). Two pairs of clothes a day per person makes for a LOT of laundry. Thankfully I have a "he who does the laundry" and a "he who does his own laundry" in my house.

 

[Umbrella]

School uniform are a big kick against visual individualism. As for the bullying and such, kids look for things to bully about and they choose to bully, if it's not someones shoes or clothes it will be their nose or the way the speak or walk, things that can't be hidden behind a school uniform. And it might sound terrible, but it surely must be better to be picked on because of something "obvious" like your not-so-trendy jacket or whatever, than to be picked on because of some part of your personality or because of who you are, although kids get bullied for that no matter what clothes the wear. But it's a difficult topic, because it all depends on the situation and the general environment in the school. I think that it could work okay if the youngest children had to wear uniforms, mainly because many of them aren't so interested in what they wear, but it can still cause someone to be frozen out if they look too different. But when you get older and start finding out who you really are and what you like, you don't want some ugly and boring (they normally are) school uniform to make you into just "any student" so that you'll disappear in the crowd. You want people to get an impression of who you are, at least that's my personal opinion, as the not-uniform-wearing-and-very-happy-about-it student that I am. In retroperspective I'm not sure if anything major would have changed if I had worn a uniform to school as a child, except maybe if I was the only one who did. That would be sort of freaky. And by the way, since I am norwegian, I must say that I honestly don't know if there are any schools in this country where you have to wear a uniform. Probably not. I think.

 

[clueless]

I understand what you say, umbrella, but the point is many students wear a uniform, even when the schools does not have one. The latest trainers, fashions, your clothes must be by this and that designer.

Most kids do not go for individuality, but they do feel peel pressure to conform and only students with strong personality will oppose that and be themselves. So, if most of them are going to dress in the same type of clothes anyway, why not do it in a way where children with less money, whose parents cannot buy all that designer stuff, can look the same as the others? Uniforms are a lot cheaper and don't change from one season to the next.

 

[Kookamoor]

What Umbrella said is sort of what I expected to hear, and clueless answered pretty much what I wanted to say in response.

I think that it could work okay if the youngest children had to wear uniforms, mainly because many of them aren't so interested in what they wear, but it can still cause someone to be frozen out if they look too different. But when you get older and start finding out who you really are and what you like, you don't want some ugly and boring (they normally are) school uniform to make you into just "any student" so that you'll disappear in the crowd. You want people to get an impression of who you are, at least that's my personal opinion, as the not-uniform-wearing-and-very-happy-about-it student that I am.

Again, I say that if you need clothes and materialistic things to stand out from the crowd, then there's a problem. I agree that ones appearance is a form of expression, but I don't think it's necessary in the playground. In school you should be 'expressing' yourself through your personality, your academic acheivements and extra curricular activities. Having the option to wear your new GAP shirt and Gucci skirt/red cocktail dress and fishnets/cargo pants around the knees/Tshirt bearing slogan and Levis/etc doesn't really give people "an impression of who you are", and shouldn't be used as a proxy for such when teenagers are growing into their personalities.

 

[Renee]

Rennee- Actually, you don't have to buy as many clothes, just a few sets of the uni, and you can cut down on the regular clothes as well.

I can't imagine young people want to wear their school uniforms once home from school. I wouldn't want to take my child to church, shopping, the movies, holiday/family gatherings, etc with them wearing their school uniform.

I can comiserate. Everyone in my house wears a uniform to work (heavy BDU pants and a shirt, or at night a jumpsuit). Two pairs of clothes a day per person makes for a LOT of laundry. Thankfully I have a "he who does the laundry" and a "he who does his own laundry" in my house.

I have had jobs that require uniforms and it's a huge pain in the rump, especially if you have a job in which you get really dirty of the uniforms bleed colors.

You are so lucky to have someone else doing laundry.

 

[mehastings]

You are so lucky to have someone else doing laundry.

Yea, it's pretty much cause I refuse to do it. I'm horrible at housekeeping and such. I pretty much cook, grocery shop and sometimes wash dishes. Otherwise I'm awful at getting chores done.

 

[Kookamoor]

I can't imagine young people want to wear their school uniforms once home from school. I wouldn't want to take my child to church, shopping, the movies, holiday/family gatherings, etc with them wearing their school uniform.

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'!

 

[Umbrella]

What Umbrella said is sort of what I expected to hear, and clueless answered pretty much what I wanted to say in response.


Again, I say that if you need clothes and materialistic things to stand out from the crowd, then there's a problem. I agree that ones appearance is a form of expression, but I don't think it's necessary in the playground. In school you should be 'expressing' yourself through your personality, your academic acheivements and extra curricular activities. Having the option to wear your new GAP shirt and Gucci skirt/red cocktail dress and fishnets/cargo pants around the knees/Tshirt bearing slogan and Levis/etc doesn't really give people "an impression of who you are", and shouldn't be used as a proxy for such when teenagers are growing into their personalities.

I agree somewhat in what you're saying. But I did say that school uniforms could be a good idea for the younger children, though not for the older ones such as myself. Personally, clothes is what I spend the least of my money on, most of my clothes are bought on sale and then I usually change them with paint, safety pins (no, I'm not a punk), or sewing them in another way. However, there are a big amout of teenages who need to look a certain way so that they'll fit in with the right people. At my school there was this little group of people who only wore black, I suppose it gave them a sense of belonging. Some would have guessed that they only listened to heavy metal and that they were all "gothic" and stuff, and that was probably what they wanted people to think. But really, they weren't all that. Ones appearance always gives people an impression of who you are, even though it's not always the right one. Besides, I do think that despite the "fashion pressure" and such, parents should teach their children that materialistic things and expensive labels really aren't as important as the commerzial market and certain magazines gives the impression of, teaching this to teenages who already are in the middle of the whole trying-to-fit-in and such and such, is often quite impossible though, I suppose. But at least they don't have to accept buying all this designer shit, or give their kids money to do so. But if there should be school uniforms or not is so individual to what fits to each school. Not all schools have pressure to wear certain labels, and if there is such pressure then it isn't only at school. It's outside the school too, at the mall, and in your group of friends even. School uniforms will not fix everything, perhaps it'll make it better for some, and perhaps it'll make it worse for some. There is no perfect answer.

 

[cajunmama]

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'!

Yeah, what she said!

My kids change as soon as they get home from school, and if the uni is still relatively clean, it gets worn the next day.

And it makes shopping for school clothes sooooo much simpler. No arguing about the style or color, or "i don't like this" or "so-and-so has one like that".

 

[Motokid]

And it makes shopping for school clothes sooooo much simpler.

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.

You can't have 3 sets of "school clothes" that are not uniforms, because then you would get teased for wearing the same crap every third day.

The uniform would cut down on a majority of peoples clothing costs....I know it would be cheaper for me.