<p>Um…forgive me if I’m mistaken, but most teachers don’t just get up and head for the bathroom in the middle of class.</p>
<p>And we don’t use hall passes at my school…so at least for my school, that’s moot anyway… XD Well, we do, but then we kinda don’t and they don’t enforce it. It’s hard to explain.</p>
<p>“In what middle school, in what galaxy, ARE they given a fair chance?”</p>
<p>So let’s increase the torment by forcing them to wear clothes they’re not comfortable in (physically or emotionally). Good thinking. Really pound that self-esteem out of 'em.</p>
<p>My son’s school does not allow students to carry book bags to class. They are kept in your locker with your jackets/coats. No logo shirts are allowed. They can wear school tee shirts, which do not have to be tucked in.
If you don’t wear the school tee shirt, then you wear the uniform shirt, tucked in.</p>
<p>That, IMO, would do a much better job of reducing bullying/caste systems/etc.</p>
<p>However, I do still feel that kids can ALWAYS find something to pick on another kid about. No matter how silly. Whether it’s their weight, their hair, their braces…they can ALWAYS find something. </p>
<p>PS…sorry if I sound rude. This is a very touchy subject for the kids at my school, as it is a public school and we’re not given an option to opt out.</p>
<p>It also seems a little ridiculous that my school claims it will save parents money. Especially since now we have to have one set of clothes to go to school in and a whole other set to “hang out” in after school/on weekends.</p>
<p>We’re going to have to learn to work with distractions eventually, why not now?</p>
<p>Honestly, what bothers me the most is that the teachers lose valuable time that is supposed to be spent teaching because they’re checking to make sure that our shoelaces are the right color for 20 minutes every day (hyperbole for dramatic effect, but it does sometimes feel like they’ll start dictating what color shoelaces have to be soon).</p>
<p>The Cleveland public schools have a dress code rather than a uniform. The kids look great and the report is that test scores have gone up and behavior problems have gone down. Here’s the link:
[CLEVELAND</a> METROPOLITAN SCHOOL DISTRICT - Dress Code](<a href=“http://www.cmsdnet.net/uniform_dresscode.htm]CLEVELAND”>http://www.cmsdnet.net/uniform_dresscode.htm)
It is close to just requiring
that your shirt have a collar and no logo - any solid color is fine
that you are not wearing denim jeans or jean shorts - long shorts or capris are fine and any solid color is fine</p>
<p>Much more flexibility allowed than a “uniform” but everyone looks neat and very nice, and you can certainly buy soft khaki’s or khaki shorts that are as comfy as jeans. </p>
<p>I know my teenagers would not be crazy about it - my son would not like the “tuck-your-shirt-in rule” - but I would not mind if they implemented a policy like this at our suburban high school.</p>
<p>I really don’t like not being able to wear jeans. That’s what EVERYONE here wears year round, and they can look nice if they’re not super wrinkled or baggy.</p>
<p>I don’t think it saves money, no. In fact, I once thought it was too expensive trying to keep 2 wardrobes going, (school and not in school clothes), but as my son has grown older, I like it more. It’s been worth it to me. It’s one less thing I have had to worry about regarding my boy.</p>
<p>“forgive me if I’m mistaken, but most teachers don’t just get up and head for the bathroom in the middle of class.”</p>
<p>Sure, but when they’re out of class they can go where they like without permission. Can fourth graders? Maybe at some schools, but not mine.</p>
<p>“So let’s increase the torment by forcing them to wear clothes they’re not comfortable in (physically or emotionally).”</p>
<p>Speaking as a former tormented 8th grader, clothes had nothing to do with my physical and emotional discomfort one way or the other. If you’ll look at my original post, you’ll see that bullying has nothing to do with the reason I support uniforms, anyway.</p>
<p>“Sure, but when they’re out of class they can go where they like without permission. Can fourth graders? Maybe at some schools, but not mine.”</p>
<p>Schools also aren’t held quite as accountable (or as liable) for their staff as they are for their students. </p>
<p>I can actually see a purpose to hall passes and/or trying to keep track of where your students are at all times. But uniforms to me are just unnecessary.</p>
<p>“Speaking as a former tormented 8th grader, clothes had nothing to do with my physical and emotional discomfort one way or the other. If you’ll look at my original post, you’ll see that bullying has nothing to do with the reason I support uniforms, anyway.”</p>
<p>I was speaking more of self-image. I’m a former tormented middle schooler as well. And do you really think you’re going to stand up for yourself if you don’t like the way you look, because of the clothes your school is forcing you to wear? I doubt it.</p>
<p>Whoops…meant to edit that into my first post, not add a second. My bad.</p>
<p>I was a girl who stood up for classmates who were picked on for wearing the “wrong” clothes. A tiring job. Just call me Supergirl without the uniform back then. There is a place for uniforms and I wish that place was high school, but alas, I will have to make sure that my son does not wear the wrong colors too often, or the wrong labels too often, or the wrong shoes too often, because he just might be mistaken for a gang member or opposing gang member. These are the things that uniforms provided me respite from.</p>
<p>“if you don’t like the way you look, because of the clothes your school is forcing you to wear?”</p>
<p>This is the part that’s implausible to me – that uniforms are a source or cause of negative self-image in middle schoolers. I don’t buy that wearing a uniform vs. random clothes is going to affect the overdeveloped girl’s/fat boy’s self-image. They dislike their bodies, period. I would’ve felt ugly no matter what I wore.</p>
<p>Now, allowing people to undress for gym class in private? THAT might actually make the fat kid’s life easier. But I just don’t see the uniform as playing much of a role.</p>
<p>uniforms unify the student body, this is particularly important for city schools where various students neighborhood groups can prevent an active formation of the student body.</p>
<p>I taught in an inner-city public K-8 school that tried to address the middle school issues by creating one dress code/uniform for the entire school. They required black or navy pants, belt, and white shirt for boys; black or navy pants, skirt or jumper with white blouse for girls. </p>
<p>Leather shoes were required for all (no sneakers).</p>
<p>It meant a lot to the parents and principal.</p>
<p>As a teacher, it was hard to see l5 minutes devoted to watching First Graders painstakingly changing from winter snow boots to leather shoes to sneakers (carried in bookbags on Gym days). Just remembering which was the gym day was difficult for them. Nearly all were too poor to own two sets of sneakers as their sizes kept changing, so they couldn’;t keep them in their desks. They needed them for home wear. </p>
<p>If students forgot any aspect of the daily uniform, we had to send reminder notes home; log how many we sent; send students down to the school secretary.</p>
<p>All of this meant missing lessons in class. Plus they couldn’t go alone, so another student had to go with them.</p>
<p>The administrative side of it was a waste of time that caused them to lose lessons. </p>
<p>Friday was “black-and-white” day when the faculty, too, wore only black and white to demonstrate support of their students. On those days, the boys had to wear ties. I brought in some of my H’s ties just to put them on for inspection, because I couldn’t abide seeing 6 year old boys missing fundamental lessons to go report in to the school secretary for “No Tie Today.”</p>
<p>I loved wearing a uniform to school (I went to Catholic school from 3rd through 12th grades). No decisions to make (other than the color of the sweater in high school).</p>
<p>We could earn dress down days by participating in the yearly fundraiser – we actually complained about not having enough to wear as the dress downs could last for more than a week (and when you’re dressing down, you can’t wear the same outfit more than once).</p>
<p>I think that, if nothing else, there should be a strong dress code in public schools, but I really liked wearing my uniform and kind of wish it had carried into college.</p>
<p>As a mother of a daughter, I would like to see her in a uniform. Maybe that would lessen the number of clothes on the floor that are discarded because they don’t look ‘right’ today.</p>
<p>PS. I just realized this morning that our Seniors (ie me) are not required to wear uniform the last week of school (ie this week). So I am DONE with uniforms!!! W00T.</p>
There is a place for uniforms and I wish that place was high school, but alas, I will have to make sure that my son does not wear the wrong colors too often, or the wrong labels too often, or the wrong shoes too often, because he just might be mistaken for a gang member or opposing gang member. These are the things that uniforms provided me respite from.</p>