School Uniforms

[author_by_night]

What do you guys think of school uniforms?

I used to be very much against them, perhaps partly because I went to private school and was forced to spend winter shivering in my skirt because leggings didn't do one thing to warm me up. However, I do wonder if I would have minded had we been allowed to wear pants more often.

Now I'm very conflicted.

-: It might inhibit self expression.

+: Of course, I speak as someone who rarely wore nice clothing to school until college. Meanwhile, a close friend of mine who was one of those people who'd shop at the same store for hours missed wearing a uniform and not having to worry about what she was going to wear. (Maybe she would have gotten better grades? Seriously, maybe she would have.)

+: School is a place where you're supposed to be learning.

-: School is also a place where you learn to interact with your peers, and that includes peers who might be wearing clothing you find distracting, that's more expensive or less expensive than your own clothing, or outfits that express beliefs and/or ideas you disagree with.

-: Skirts make for cold legs in the winter.

+: Schools wouldn't have to require skirts. 

Where do you guys stand? 

Comments

[kelleypen.livejournal.com]

Uniforms at my school are solid color polo or oxford shirts and dockers. That's it. It really is simple. What's nice is you can't tell the rich kids from the poor kids, the goths from the geeks, nor the rehabs from the righteously bubble-wrapped. It makes it a better atmosphere for study. It also gives school a professional feeling and elevates the seriousness of what we do. It breaks down cliques and levels the playing field. It keeps the distractions whether from immodesty or outrageousness to a minimum.

The uniforms I grew up with were plaid wool skirts, red cardigans and white blouses. I hated them and thought I hated uniforms. Now I just see I hated plaid wool skirts. Stupid itchy pleats.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

What's nice is you can't tell the rich kids from the poor kids, the goths from the geeks, nor the rehabs from the righteously bubble-wrapped.

I guess I just feel there'd still be ways for kids like that to show who they are, even with everyone wearing the same clothes.


The uniforms I grew up with were plaid wool skirts, red cardigans and white blouses. I hated them and thought I hated uniforms. Now I just see I hated plaid wool skirts. Stupid itchy pleats.

I can see that, and wonder if that's how it is with me. I mean, we were sometimes technically allowed to wear pants, but everyone knew they wanted us to wear skirts. We absolutely had to wear them for assembly.

[kelleypen.livejournal.com]

They don't really show the differences until they get to know each other. And by then, they don't matter. They have to have their hair normal colors--none that don't occur in nature; have no body piercings but ears, etc... so that hides a lot.

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

I loved having a uniform.

When I went to hippy school it was the thing I missed the most. You never had to worry about what you were wearing, it was decided for you, and we could all bond over hating various parts of it. I once debated a chap at university who posited that school uniforms were nothing more than badges of class and status, my rebuttal that was that schools which signified status all had scholarships, which could be not be spotted at a distance, while his alternative would see students delineated by both taste and the expense of their clothing labels.

A friend and I were talking today about how wonderfully ghastly it was having to make sure you had your gloves and the right hat, and even sports bloomers when we were little ... happy days! (And we had thick wool tights, on cold days you could wear two pairs. Now they can often just wear trousers, lucky young women!)

uniform

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

Me too.

Although I was able to identify the poorer kids because their white dress shirts are not as crisply white as mine (I have half a dozen new shirts each year. They probably only had two or three.)

It was so nice to not worry about what to wear (except to make sure I'm wearing the right-colored ties and skirts on the right days). Saturday afternoons my cousin and I would give ourselves manicures and wear pretty clothes for that day and Sunday. With matching jewelry, shoes/sandals, handbags/backpacks, etc.

Once I moved to the U.S. for college, I quickly lost all motivations to wear pretty clothes. Because I have to make clothes decision every. single. day.
(Plus people are really sloppy/laid back about their appearance in this particular city.)

[padrejose.livejournal.com]

I taught at a school that had uniforms, they were khaki pants and then whatever color polo shirt the school store sold.

I'm on the fence about uniforms. I think that they take away distraction and discrimination against the students, but I also think that it takes away their individualism. I think I would have liked wearing uniforms to school because then I wouldn't have had to make any decisions about what to wear and worry about "impressing" others at the school. But definitely no skirts. Skirt uniforms are so outdated and need to be gone.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I think that they take away distraction and discrimination against the students, but I also think that it takes away their individualism.

That's one of my concerns. It's so important to teenagers to explore who they are, and for many clothing is one way they do so. :/

[kelleypen.livejournal.com]

Kids in uniforms show their individuality with their ideas and their personalities. That's much better than showing it in how they dress. Besides, they can still choose what colors to wear, whether to wear Mickey Mouse socks or rainbow toe socks, whether to wear their earrings that have a knife on one ear and a fork on the other, what color to paint their nails, what jewelry to wear, which purse to bring, etc.

[padrejose.livejournal.com]

a big thing at the private school I taught at was to wear fun socks or belts. That was how students showed their individuality. But sometimes they would concentrate so much on their socks and belts and show them off during class. It was a little annoying.

[aggiebell90]

So, we're in one of the two local public school districts. Luke and (as of the 23rd) Tyler (and Mags, next year) go to a school with "uniforms" although they call it "standardized dress" instead. They have to wear denim, khaki, or navy/black bottoms (shorts/pants/skirts) and a red, white, or blue (navy or royal) solid shirt. The shirt can be any style (polo, button-down, t-shirt, whatever), but when they say solid, they mean there can't be logos on the shirt (not even the little polo horse/alligator/whatever symbol), although on Fridays, they can either wear the school shirt or the high school shirt. They're supposed to have their shirts tucked in and be wearing a belt, unless they're a girl and they're wearing a shirt that's designed to be worn untucked.

Our biggest battle is the tucking in and the belt, at least it has been with Luke. I understand why they want the belt, but my kids HATE them, so it's a PITA.
Well, that and the fact that the administration/teachers are really inconsistent about the whole shirt-tucked-in-with-a-belt thing. They'll be really strict about it for a month, and then relax so the kids don't think they have to do it and then suddenly start enforcing the belt thing again and then go lax 2 months later and then some time later crack down again and OMG, it causes some major backlash with Luke, every time.

Luke has worn a white T-shirt and either jeans or shorts to school every day since kindergarten. I don't know what Ty will do yet--he probably will still wear t-shirts (my boys all hate collared shirts & buttoned shirts of any kind), but I'm betting he'll wear colors. Maggie's going to definitely wear colors, but she's going to be very sad she can't wear pink.

In our school--it's not a district-wide policy--we've got standardized dress because it makes it harder to tell the kids with money from the kids without. It also saves parents a lot of money, which, in a school which has a population that's 90%+ that has over 85% of its students on free or reduced lunch, that's a very good thing. (I just realized what I originally typed was...yeah. Not good. I'm going to blame lack of sleep and go hide in a corner now.)

I think our standardized dress is the best of both worlds. It's flexible enough to allow for some sort of self-expression--you can wear different styles of shirts and different colors (although only three) and you can choose the pants/shorts/skirt you wear. There's no restriction on shoes (except that they encourage tennis shoes because of recess and PE and don't allow flip-flops at all), but everyone pretty much ends up looking about the same. And from a parent's perspective, it's WAY cheaper, especially if your children only ever wear T-shirts.

None of the middle school and high schools in the district have standardized dress, so they'll get their freedom back when they go to 6th grade.

[aggiebell90]

And knowing what you're going to wear everyday means less time fussing over clothes in the morning.

OMG, yes. This is a HUGE advantage for us, even with a kid who isn't all that fussy about what he wears. I think it'll be really really wonderful when Maggie gets to that point.

[lilian-cho.livejournal.com]

If a uniform is capable of that that then I'm sorry to say, I don't think the kid had much creative self-expression in them.

Heh, agreed.

In my high school girls who were in this gang/clique set themselves different by rolling up the sleeves of their oversized shirts. The senior girls tied their tie short instead of long. You can identify the first years/new transfers because their uniforms actually fit X-D (Mine was three sizes too large, IIRC.)

[secondmezzanine.livejournal.com]

I never had to wear a uniform, so you might say my opinion isn't as informed... but I am PRO-uniform. I wish that I'd been made to wear them. (My friend wore a uniform of black or white polos and khakis, or you could wear a khaki skirt, and that's the way I'd want it. Forcing girls to only wear skirts is archaic.) It would've saved me time, money, and frustration throughout school. It would've made me a lot less self-conscious. And most importantly it would've made it less likely for kids around me and myself to consciously or unconsciously judge less-fortunate kids. I was totally over judging people when I was old enough, but when I was very young, I recognize now how judgmental I could be, in my naive ignorance. I didn't outwardly make fun of people (though I'm sure I probably said things in secret to my friends about others) but I know I would've just judged less if we were all wearing the same thing.

[moonreviews]

Schools in the Netherlands don't have uniforms, but my school in Japan did. I thought it was nice that I didn't have to worry about what I should wear to school, but I did not like that there were specific days for changing into 'winter uniform' or 'summer uniform' and things inbetween without looking at the weather!
From the Japanese exchange student who came to the Netherlands, she said that at first she liked that she could wear her own clothes to school. But after a few months she said, "I wish there were uniforms here too", because she also had trouble deciding what to wear every day XD
People still express themselves even though they have uniforms, I noticed. They wear it in a different way, put things on their school bag so it differs from other school bags (our school uniform included a school bag) and they can do things with their hair and necklaces and stuff.

[r-a-black.livejournal.com]

I only wore a uniform for middle school, and while everyone hated this fact, I do think it's great to have during that time in one's life. Everyone's so self-conscious as it is, it was relieving for me to be told what to wear so that I wouldn't have to wonder if my clothes were "cool" or "sexy" or whatever. We weren't made to wear skirts though, I wouldn't have been able to tolerate that, I think.

[kakeochi-umai.livejournal.com]

Heh, my winter uniform for high school was absolutely vile (gym slip and tights, which were a pain in the ass because I had to hand wash them every day) but it still beat the hell out of having people judge me for not wearing cool stuff (as happened at previous schools. God, preteens can be little shits.) We were allowed to wear our own clothes in our final year, which was nice because by then everyone had outgrown that kind of pettiness, so it was all the pleasure with none of the pressure.

[white-serpent.livejournal.com]

We didn't have uniforms, and, as a child, I was horrified at the very concept of wearing uniforms. That said, most people essentially did wear uniforms in elementary school-- almost everyone I went to school with wore jeans, t-shirts, and high tops every day.

In high school, different groups had set ways they dressed, and those didn't vary very much.

Most people I work with essentially wear a uniform, though there's no dress code at work. Women tend to wear soft cotton shirts and khaki pants; Men wear button-down shirts and khaki pants.

And then there's me.

I guess I could describe myself best as "not a joiner" or "pathologically contrary." Perhaps the latter is more accurate. I love clothing. I love unique and strange clothing. I always have.

I've actually made several attempts over time to blend in with my clothing. I can do it for awhile, but not very well. After a short period of time, I'm craving weird shoes, bright colors, leather coats, heavy embroidery, large jewelry, etc., etc. If I try to let myself indulge just a little (a plain but brightly colored shirt and khaki pants, say), it's still not enough to keep me from going stir-crazy.

This is generally true of my personality. For example, I try to persuade myself to buy sensible cars, and I just can't do it. Life without muscle cars doesn't feel worth living.

So, my general opinion is that most people could tolerate uniforms with no problems. In many ways, I think they're a good thing-- less distraction, less time worrying about clothing, and so on. That said, I wouldn't have been able to tolerate one as a child, and I couldn't do it now.

[tdu000.livejournal.com]

I'm English and live in Sydney, Australia now, so I've always lived where all the kids have uniforms. I didn't like having to wear a tie and would have preferred trousers but never minded wearing a uniform, just the one I had! Now, anti-discrimination laws mean that if trousers are on the school uniform list for boys, it's illegal to force girls to wear a skirt in co-ed schools, so that's an improvement. Of course, all the high schools round my area are single sex (private and state) so that doesn't really work.

As a mother, I'm absolutely delighted about school uniforms. It makes life so much easier. No arguments about clothing, jewellery and make up for those parents of girls who care about such things. And as a mother of a teenage girl with Asperger's, I don't have to worry about her being bullied because of her weird dress sense or try to make her wear clothes and would enable her to fit in better.

[ahigheroctave.livejournal.com]

For me, I don't like them. Mostly, this is coming from me hating my work uniform more than anything, since I went to public school and was allowed to wear what I wanted, but I really, really hate them.

I'm not for kids being judged on how much wealth and therefore ability to keep up with the trends they have, but people are going to hate on them either way. If it doesn't happen about clothes, kids will still have nicer phones or Daddy will buy them a new car, etc. And therefore, I would like to at least be able to wear what I'm comfortable while this is going on.

In addition: Plaid was never really my thing, nor were jackets in general (I prefer sweaters) let alone button-up shirts. And I quite hate the khakis, bright orange shirt, and visor I have to wear to work now.

[jncar.livejournal.com]

I chose to send my kids to a charter school for several reasons, but uniforms were high on the list. I love not having to worry about what they will wear everyday, and I actually save money, too, because our "uniforms" are very casual--blue, khaki, or black pants/skirts/shorts, and shirts with collars and buttons in navy, light blue, white or pink.

The kids still find plenty of ways to express themselves with shoes, hair and jewelry--not to mention the occasional "dress-down" days.

I love that uniforms help eliminate cliques and level the social playing field. I also know it cuts down on distractions and pre-mature sexualization(a friend with kids at a non-uniform school complains to me about how the 11 year old girls are all obsessed with sexy clothes and boys, and don't spend much time doing healthy things like sports and imagination games).

[victorialupin.livejournal.com]

As a kid, I hated the idea of uniforms. Actually, I'm still pretty opposed to them but I suppose I'm more rational about it. (When I was a child I used to say that I'd deliberately misbehave in class if my school decided to have uniforms; I was probably bluffing but I definitely would have resented my teachers and school and I'm sure it would have affected my school life. Maybe not academically, since I didn't work particularly hard anyway, but I admit that I was a bratty kid and I would have probably acted out in some passive-aggressive way.)

Anyway, as an adult I still really don't like uniforms. I feel like every positive attribute about uniforms doesn't really apply to most kids. A lot of people say things like "It'll prevent bullying because kids won't make fun of each other's clothing." But honestly, a kid who is a bully will just find some other trait to latch onto. People also say that uniforms will mean students won't have to worry about what to wear each morning, but in my experience plenty of students didn't worry about what regular clothes to wear and those who did were the type who would find something else to spend their time on, whether it's hair or make-up.

I've also heard the theory that uniforms will make students behavior better (through conformity? idk), but that's never made sense to me. For every student who feels more "professional" and hard-working while in a uniform, there's probably one who feels stiffled and uncomfortable. But I have to admit my own bias here: like I said, I was kind of a bratty child and while I had no problem following logical rules, I would have had an enormous problem with uniforms because, as somebody who actually never got a detention and almost never got in trouble, I would be pretty angry at being told that I had to wear a uniform just because other, poorly-behaved students had to. Even if I understand the theory in retrospect, it just would have made me resentful as a kid. (I remember how angry I was in grade five when my teacher told me that I had too many stickers on my agenda; apparently one or two, like my on my friends' agendas, was fine, but anymore than that was excessive. As a kid, it just didn't make sense to me that I wasn't allowed to decide how to decorate something that belonged to me and that didn't affect anybody else).

... *sigh* Sorry for the rambling. Anyway, I understand that other people like uniforms quite a bit and that's fine, but I suppose it bothers me when they're proposed as a solution to a problem. Ultimately, they seem like a temporary "band-aid" fix for much larger issues (bullying, poor behavior, etc).

(Side note: We had a debate on school uniforms in elementary school and my team won because I made the argument that it would make students who had to wear certain clothing for religious reasons feel isolated from others.)

[rdprice29.livejournal.com]

I wore uniforms in high school...at first I was sure I'd hate them, but I very quickly came to appreciate the "I don't need to figure out what to wear outside of 3 or 4 shirt/sweater/socks/tights combos, depending on the season).

Although I am very, very glad it was brown and yellow that was ruined for me for life, instead of colors I like, like blue, green or black. ;P

And even with it being a "uniform", we still had class lines drawn from the clothing worn...because the sweaters (either yellow or dark brown...the boys could wear plaid sports coats and or pants...it was very unfair, lol!) could be from Land's End/LLBean (expensive) or from somewhere else, not so much...and the leather shoes we were required to wear could be Bucks or Timberlands or PennyLoafers (dear GAWD, I'm dating myself! ;P But again, expensive) or the cheaper versions sold at wal-mart or wherever.

But our winter (girl's) girl's uniform was a tweed, knee-length skirt and we could wear wool/cotton dark brown tights, and since there was no waiting for a bus, it wasn't so bad. And they've since changed the uniform since I was there, and I think that the girls are allowed to wear pants (hopefully NOT brown tweed) now in the winter.

Basically, I ended up being glad for my uniform (pretty quickly too). It did take a lot of the pressure off having the majority of the clothing pressure negated in high school. I currently send my son to a private school, and I'm rather annoyed that the principal is anti-uniform (though there is a dress code), because I'd love for the kids to be in uniforms.

There are pros/cons to both sides, but when 3/4' of your wardrobe is already decided for you, it is much easier to just focus on boys and school, especially in high school. ;P

[vifetoile.livejournal.com]

I went to Catholic school for four years, always with very strict dress codes - what color socks we could wear and how long they were, what our shirts and skirts looked like, all were quite tightly regulated. I never worried about self-expression with my uniform, because I had enough of that to do with my words. Now, are twelve years of uniforms the reason my fashion sense nowadays is so hopelessly banal?

... Maybe.

But I definitely am in favor of uniforms. I definitely miss that ability to wake up in the morning and pick out a set of things that will all match, no matter what. I mean, I *still* wear a uniform, only now it's called "jeans, dinky tee-shirt, dinky jacket, shoes." Done.
And I always did like the look of solidarity that came of being one in a class of uniformed girls. I was proud of the skirt and blazer, and the Senior Sweater was a badge of honor to be worn proudly (even on boiling hot days in September - WE EARNED IT!) Hell, if I could do it over again now I'd wear my skirt *more* often than I did.

[vifetoile.livejournal.com]

sorry, did I say four years? I meant THIRTEEN YEARS. THIRTEEN LONG YEARS OF UNIFORMS. That's the way to do it.

[chocolatepot.livejournal.com]

My school didn't have uniforms, but I wished that they did. I went through an awkward phase from about 7th - 10th grades where I didn't like shopping and so wore horrendous clothes that didn't fit properly. Also liked high ponytails for a while, emphasizing my huge forehead and breaking so many of the hairs on the top of my head (due to the weight) that I had a sort of halo.

I think that either way, the kids are going to turn out fine (in most cases), and it just depends which pros and which cons are more important to the school. I'm pretty sure the rich and poor kids would still be obvious from other factors - hair, teeth, make-up, etc. - but at least the teachers wouldn't have to be policing the dress code anymore. (Tank top strap width, skirt length, t-shirts with writing, all that.)

[baranduyn.livejournal.com]

I grew up on the other end of the spectrum but I also had relatives who went to schools that did require uniforms. I knew even as a kid that uniforms only slightly levelled the playing field. The kids who had brand new uniforms rather looked down on kids with used or handed down uniforms.

I do like the notion of uniforms if only because it takes a lot of the morning crap out of the day. You're gonna wear what you can wear, stop tearing your closet apart.

[scionofgrace.livejournal.com]

Never had to wear a uniform, and I'm for them. And not just because I got teased about my clothes. (My parents valued savings accounts and having my mother at home over stylish clothes, go figure. *g*)

Uniforms are a part of life. I work somewhere with a relaxed dress code, on account of working via phones and internet, but even so our clothes must be cared-for and "nice". Everywhere from McDonald's to Wall Street has its dress code, formalized or not. So getting kids used to the idea seems reasonable to me

And there is more than enough to worry about in childhood without throwing fashion into the mix. Kids can still wear their "individualized" clothes outside of school, can't they?

[adrian-the-dork.livejournal.com]

Pretty much all schools in Australia have a school uniform. Some of them are really stupid (for instance there was a girls catholic school near us that had ankle length kilts) but overall it all tends to be pretty sensible. Also doesnt get that cold here...

I dunno. I think it was a good thing. I liked not having to think about what I was going to wear. It was really weird going to uni and suddenly having to wear something different every day.
school uniforms were a pain in the arse at the time (DETENTION IF YOU DIDNT WEAR YOUR BLAZER! OMG) but I think it made things a hell of a lot more equal between people and you could actually spend your time getting to know people based on the conversations you had with them, rather than what kind of shoes they were wearing.