What do you think about all schools wearing uniforms?
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Sneki95 (
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March 28th, 2017
I think it would be way more practical and cooler. What do you think?
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It’s a good idea. I always wore uniforms to school and it was easier to avoid the silly status conflicts kids get into, and I now read about at non-uniform schools, faster and easier to get dressed every morning, and easier on my parents, especially my mother, who did the laundry.
^ I had the same thought.
I wonder why did they ban them, such a pity.
^^The 60’s and 70’s were all about freedom of expression and choice—and anti-militarism in reaction to WWII. Uniforms prevented choice and expression, and uniforms by their nature alone were reminiscent of militarism. I suppose that generation of children carried these sentiments with them when they had children ten and twenty years later in the 70’s and 80’s and uniforms fell out of favor by popular demand.
^ Well, that sucks.
I never thought of uniforms as militaristic, though.
I have always liked and promoted this idea. It is often less expensive as well as less distracting.
@Sneki95 Most aren’t. Mine weren’t. White collar shirt, dark blue tie, dark blue slacks, dark blue socks, black shoes, light blue sweater or dark blue blazer with the school emblem on the chest pocket. The girls wore plaid skirts and white blouses. But the fact that we all dressed the same as one unit was enough to remind everyone of the uniformity of the military.
Yeah, at an age when kids are trying to express and find themselves I think uniforms are a bit stifling. I would not have wanted to wear one unless I was allowed to put iron maiden patches all over it.
I like the idea. Less bullying over what kids can and cannot afford to wear.
One of the advantages of school uniforms is that they help level the playing field for students. Kids who come from less money don’t have to worry about coming to school in clothes that advertise that fact, when everyone wears the same uniform.
@ARE_you_kidding_me You can express yourself in all other ways, you don’t need to show that with your clothes.
and all those “unique” kids are all boringly same anyways.
@ARE_you_kidding_me: The kids are only in uniform for about 40 hours a week, so there is lots of time o express themselves out of school.
Teenagers sure like to do that and I think we need to let them. Simply wearing uniforms is not hiding any social status. It’s usually known especially in smaller communities. I think it’s a bit silly to be honest. I agree with dress codes but not uniforms. Kids creativity is beaten down in school enough already.
@Sneki95 that’s true, but clothing also tends to be a pretty important part of kids’ self expression when they’re 12–18 years old, so a lot of kids that age won’t like or appreciate the imposition of school uniforms.
Kids get used to the uniforms very quickly. It stops being an issue within a month. Lots of dramatic bitching, then ho hum.
I imagine prison is like that.
We had a couple of casual dress days when we could come to school dressed as we wished. It was a big deal. LOL. Yeah. Office casual you might call it. No blue jeans. Girls couldn’t wear slacks. They were pretty strict about the dress code, especially with the girls. I think it bothered the girls more than the boys.
Well, that’s just silly. Have you ever dealt with this issue in a practical way, @ARE_you_kidding_me ? Working with school boards maybe? Or introducing the idea to the kids in a discussion forum? I have. The parents bitched more than the kids, everybody adjusted quickly, it was ultimately less expensive for the families, performance improved measurably in the first three months, and, oh yeah, nobody died.
Yeah, I was being a little overly dramatic there. I can remember feeling very confined in high school. I felt so ready to spread my wings but that constant beating down of self expression and creativity was smothering. It’s a pretty critical age for kids to find themselves and their talents. Schools make it hard enough as it is. This certainly does not help. Many kids have very little personal freedom outside of their dress and perhaps their musical tastes. Why take that from them? Just because it is practical does not make it right.
My children wore a “uniform,” a school t-shirt, in intermediate school. I thought it was a good idea. I have no opinion on it for other grades. Intermediate school is a time of great transition for children, so it was one less thing to worry about.
High school did feel a bit like prison to me lol.
The school made arrangements with one clothing store in our town to vend our uniforms exclusively. The school made quality demands and there was a bidding process to get that contract. It was a desired contract for a store to land. The store, because of the volume of the orders, was able to command low whole sale prices for high quality goods and the kids were dressed in high quality clothing at a lower cost than the public school kids. It was easier on the parents.
Grades 10–12 weren’t so bad for me, but grades 4–9 definitely felt like prison. The first high school I went to even kind of looked like a prison.
I think making a school wear a uniform could be problematic.
It would have to undress for exterior maintenance, such as painting.
How would students get through the main entrance- unzip the fly? ;-o
Many U.S. public school systems have uniforms, more commonly in high-poverty areas. They tend to be simple and unisex, usually khakis topped with long- or short-sleeved shirts.
Uniforms weren’t some draconian edict imposed to mold children or destroy individuality and self-expression. Parents wanted uniforms and advocated for them.
There will always be kids who can’t afford to buy the uniform, even at wholesale prices.
Everyone will know the kid who’s wearing last year’s uniform from the charity bin.
That said, if it is going to be done at all, the uniform must be gender inclusive.
Well kids sure don’t want them. That I dare say is universal.
A great idea. (The Japanese do it.) They should also separate girls from boys in classes in junior high or middle school.
Perhaps if a majority of the students voted to have them, and if those who can’t afford them didn’t have to pay the full price.
I went to public school in Ottawa, Canada and the Los Angeles area of the US during the 50’s and 60’s. We didn’t have unis and I don’t remember anyone being hassled for what they wore.
@ARE_you_kidding_me I always wanted one as a kid. I wouldn’t mind it even now, at college.
@Seek But what if, somehow, we assume that the school would provide the students with uniforms? When you graduate, you return it, and someone else wears it. That way, everyone would have to wear the last year uniform. Or, return it, and the material could be reused to make a new one. Or simply the state/school makes uniforms for all the students for free.
I’m for it. When I was in High School (grade 10) I had a growth spurt and didn’t have a t-shirt that fit and one week month in the spring, I wore my winter jacket in class without any shirt. The teacher and school couldn’t care less.
I like the idea. It takes away competitiveness relating to fashion. Everyone wears the same uniform. Kids shouldn’t have to worry about whether their clothes are acceptable to their friends at school. I think it can be good for parents too. If they can buy a good quality uniform that will last for a while (or buy good second-hand items). It can help reduce tension about what your child is wearing and at least you know how much you’re going to have to spend.
I don’t like uniforms. It always cost extra money for nothing. At the beginning of every school year people had to pay money for several school things, and one of them was uniform. It only added more money pressure to financially disadvantaged children. Not to mention that the uniforms weren’t suitable for all situation. Sometimes uniforms became an unnecessary hindrance to activities. And in the end the clothes ran out of usefulness once you got out of school.
And they failed at their own purpose of making everyone equal too. The rich kids always found their own way to show off, and the poor kids struggled with a uniform that had been worn for weeks. You could tell with just a glance who was richer than who.
I’m so glad that I could choose my own clothes in college. More choice, more freedom, and no extra money.
It’s just another brick in the wall.
I spent time in both types of schools, and came away thinking the issue secondary to much more pressing issues around schooling in our country. There are 2 negative aspects to regulation uniforms worthy of note. The first is the matter of confining girls to skirts, and the second is the obvious negatives associated with regimenting cookie cutter kids conditioned to disparage individuality.
I don’t think all schools should be the same, in that or in other ways. So there’s that.
As others have said, there are a couple of practical advantages to uniforms, in that it simplifies school wardrobe shopping and any clothing contests or issues. But as
@stanleybmanly just pointed out, it also constrains individual expression, and often kids don’t like having to wear the uniforms. It adds more dubious rules, restrictions and (as he also just wrote) regimentation.
I think most schools generally already do much more than they should in terms of rule-mongering and regimenting and crushing individuality and freedom.
I also think that if a school is having a problem with kids wearing their own types of clothes, that the school has bigger problems and that’s just a symptom, in which case looking to uniforms as a solution might at best mask the problem but wouldn’t address those bigger problems.
It is not enough to have kids come and leave school at the same time, be given homework assignments and be subject to an endless battery of standardized tests. We should mandate that they wear identical outfits. Can we be more procrustean? How about feeding them identical lunches?
@LostInParadise I don’t see any problem with any of that. I miss having the identical timing I had in highschool. Now I have classes at different time every day, and it’s actually quite stressful to deal with it. Having classes at the same time every day would help me organize myself better.
Identical lunches aren’t a bad idea wither. If they’re healthy and well balanced, what’s the problem?
As it is right now, school uniforms are bought at department stores.
I know, growing up, I sometimes got one new outfit at the beginning of a school year. All other clothes were hand downs.
My parents would not have been the ones buying 5–10 full outfits at the beginning of the year.
That’s not to mention gym uniforms, which is another expense.
168 hours in a week.
Around 63 hours spent sleeping.
About 40 hours spent in school.
Around 65 waking hours left for not wearing the uniform.
Talk to middle and high school teachers about how much time in school is wasted on distraction caused by the way students dress. It’s eye-opening.
In the real world we are all subject to various kinds of restrictions in order to better function within social parameters.
People who strenuously object to these things have other options, homeschooling being one, but really, the uniform is freeing rather than restricting.
It’s the norm in the UK. I like it for my kids. They don;t have to worry about fashion or the latest must-have. The uniform is very cheap – cheap as regular clothes or cheaper and you can buy it in supermarkets or department shops. The uniform policies of school are fairly liberal – you have to buy a certain colour (usually black, grey, or navy) but the style is up to you. Schools often have second hand sales run by parents where uniform is donated after the child grown out of it or leaves and the money is donated to the school for extras. It works fairly well. I think it is a good idea. it looks smart too.
Here is a 12 minute video by Ken Robinson on the problems of our educational systems. I particularly like the analogy of schools to factories turning out uniform products. School uniforms fit in perfectly with that model.
I wore a school uniform as did my two kids. It made sense to me, it saved arguments about what to wear and it was not expensive. I think it’s a good idea.
Uniforms might make sense at West Point, considering the business its students are in, but a 9 year old in a blazer and regimental tie kinda gives me the creeps.
@stanleybmanly I think they mean slacks and a polo type shirt. No blazer and tie. At least that is what all the catholic schools in my area have the kids wear.
The blazer and tie thing must surely be passee nowadays even at elite private schools. But here’s one for you. The Catholic grade school I attended required the girls alone to wear uniforms- green jumpers white blouses and green beanies to attend the daily mass every morning before school. The jumpers had a big four inch high white shield emblazoned with the letters SBS positioned approximately where you would expect the girl’s heart to be. My sisters would take great delight in answering folks inquiring about the SBS “O it means shit baby shit”
I would never say what all anything or anyone should do. This is something for each district or even each school to decide. I think uniforms are a good idea in many respects. But, it’s a local issue to be decided locally.
When uniforms are used in gang infested areas, they are a very good thing!
Not every school had the same uniform. In our diocese there were about six high schools with their associated grammar and middle school. Each of the six wore different uniform. You could tell a kid from St. John’s from a kid from St. Cecelia’s from a block away. I imagine it was a bit of a pain in the ass for parents budget when a kid switched schools, but that happened very seldom.
School uniforms are very common in the UK and don’t have the military connotations they seem to have for Americans.
^^I’m not sure they do anymore, but forty years ago they certainly did. With the trouble and chaos you find in many American schools today, I believe a lot of parents would welcome the semblance of regimentation. But it’s only a semblance of order, so uniforms really won’t help with this problem. Order comes through teaching the importance of good behaviour, the value of the individual in society and the importance of working toward a society where individuals can thrive—in thought and action.
LOL. Short of boarding schools isolated in the country, the kind of discipline we were taught in private school, and extreme vetting, I don’t know what will help the behaviour in American schools.
One thing is for sure, these little mutherfuckers who I read about in inner city schools wouldn’t want me for their headmaster.
We wore uniforms only in the seniors/comprehensive school, my kids wore uniform throughout their entire school years. You’re meant to be representing your school even when out & about away from the place.
I bloody hated mine, black blazer emblazoned with dodgy school crest, black trousers & black red & silver striped tie.
I chose to rebel in the one weak spot in the system, wore my Doc Martin boots high complete with red laces & D rings jangling from the pull loop round back…fook yeah!!
I note a number of comments about public-school uniforms being something pricey that parents need to buy. The truth is, many, if not most, school systems distributes uniforms free of charge, much like textbooks. In some areas, only the first set of uniforms is provided; but, the system buys in massive bulk and sells additional uniforms at cost. In other areas, schools provide several changes and even toss-in shoes, socks, and P.E. clothes.
What a great benefit for struggling parents.
If parents need financial help, wouldn’t it make more sense to allow them to all order from a common catalog? There would be the same bulk saving and the parents would have a choice of more than one option. Additionally, the clothing could be used outside of school.
As @Stinley says, even when I was in the UK, most state/public schools had moved to very affordable, simple uniforms. A navy (or grey/black/green) skirt, white shirt and jumper type thing. And you could buy clothes from ordinary stores rather than uniform shops.
In Australia, kids attending public/state schools may have formal uniforms with dresses and skirts/pants etc., but many kids just wear their sports uniform which is a pair of black microfibre shorts and a polo shirt with the school’s emblem on it. You can buy the shorts from Target. The shirts through the school or a local store and they’re cheaper than fashion clothing you’d buy from stores. They last for years. They’re hard wearing.
Kids attending private schools will usually have to wear a more formal (and expensive) uniform that might include blazers etc.
It would be interesting to hear where people are from. I’m seeing most people from the UK/Australia where uniforms for school are the norm seem to be supportive and in the US, where perhaps it’s not necessarily the norm (I’m not sure of this), people are opposed.
I was thinking some more about this and I think that if you wear a uniform, you do get to like the sense of identity and belonging it gives you. I help at a swimming club and we recently got polo shirts for the adults. The kids were really jealous of them and asked if they could get them or hoodies too. They all bought the swimming cap with the club logo on it. They also asked about team swimming costumes.
I don’t think it’s a good idea
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Uniforms are useful if you’re in the business of regimentation.
They are useful if you want to level the playing field so you don’t have kids wearing really expensive clothes along side kids that are a little more than rags. It’s not perfect but it helps.
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