<p>I went to a private high school that had uniforms. For my own purposes I didnt mind at all; I got to spend very little on clothes and nobody could accuse me of wearing the same thing every day. What did frustrate me is that all the girls had to wear the same thing every day. I would have enjoyed high school more had they been given more freedom ove rtheir choice of apparel.</p>
<p>But I think the whole concept is absurd. Spending 4 years at a high school that promoted uniforms, corporal punishment, religious intolerance, blind obedience to all staff workers, etc has helped shaped me into the anti-authoritarian I am today.</p>
<p>I wore uniforms all through school and for the most part, I liked them. It was very easy to get dressed in the morning, I wore the same blazer, skirts and grey slacks for at least a couple of years at a time, and we even had school issued socks! Yes, we all tried to have the coolest shoes, handbags, etc. but basically it was kind of a non-issue. Strangely enough, I kind of have a uniform now. Unless I’m going somewhere special I pretty much wear jeans and long sleeved t’shirts in the winter with maybe a sweater or fleece on cold days (think LLBean) and shorts and tank tops (think LLBean) in the summer. I have a decent figure and just don’t want to fuss about clothes. I have other things to do. Maybe it was all of the uniforms, but I could care less about fancy jewelry, handbags etc. My sisters in the midwest are WAY better dressed than I am, it’s kind of funny, really.</p>
<p>Hisgrace-
No offense taken- I guess its just hard to express dry humor over the internet-I’ll try to remember to put a “jk” in there too.
And as for weapons, yes, anyone so inclined will find a way, but some kids were putting <em>rifles</em> down their baggy pants. Thats just too much extra room!! what were those super baggy overpriced jeans called - jnco’s or somenting like that?</p>
<p>I don’t know what they’re called, but…I dunno. I guess other than that I just don’t see the point, and I think they could be spending that time and money on more important things.</p>
<p>HGFM-
If we started a thread on the ridiculous things teens waste their money on, the thread would be longer than the SA thread or the famous “or” thread!!!</p>
<p>Oh, I meant the school. XD I think there are more important things the school could be doing with their time and money than making sure we’re wearing the right clothes.</p>
<p>I went to a Catholic K-8 school with uniforms, and it was a lot less strict than your school’s policy. (Or at least it was until I graduated- my brother got a couple detentions for wearing sneakers or forgetting a belt…) Now that I’m in public school with a very lax dress code, I almost wish we had uniforms, or at least a stricter dress code. The only things not allowed are tube tops/halter tops and hats/hoods. I’m so sick of seeing skanky girls in miniskirts show off their underpants to everyone below them on the stairs, and if I see another boy wearing his pants around his knees, I’m going to scream.</p>
<p>I completely understand your unhappiness about the dress code- it’s incredibly harsh for a public school (no headbands? what’s with that? I love headbands, especially when I don’t have time to wash my hair). But I personally am in favor of well-enforced dress codes or even uniforms. The private co-ed high school nearby has uniforms: dress pants (any color- a friend of mine has pink pinstriped pants- wicked cool) and a school polo shirt, which comes in tons of colors, like black, red, pink, white, blue, etc. Girls can also wear skirts that are no shorter than two inches above the knee. I think a dress code/uniform policy similar to that is perfectly acceptable, and I’d personally love it if my school implemented a similar policy.</p>
<p>^I would LOVE a policy like that. But ours is just so darned restrictive (and they don’t really enforce the headbands, girls still wear them all the time. ^_^)…it’s awful. I would almost rather have a policy like the one you described, because that’s way more lax than ours. <em>sigh</em> just doesn’t seem right.</p>
<p>Jeans. The jeans are the biggest thing. And it’s so hard to find khakis here that fit me well (let’s just say I’m not skinny by anyone’s standards), that look decent and are comfortable…not to mention long-lasting. That’s the only thing that REALLY bothers me.</p>
<p>Yesss, nothing better than worn in and fresh out of the dryer jeans. :)</p>
<p>I’m hangin’. </p>
<p>heh. I actually cheated the system this year and bought khaki-colored jeans, but it’s just not the same. There’s something about those good old blue jeans.</p>
<p>Well, if it makes you feel any better, HGFM, my s’s used to have to wear these ugly grey flannel pants. They finally moved to khakis (which used to be the senior uniform), but all the khakis have to come from the same company, bought at this one uniform store. You can always spot the kids at social events who have to buy their uniforms from this store (a few of the private schools use it)- they all have the brand name emblasoned on their back pants pocket!</p>
<p>One of our responsibilities as parents and teachers is to help our (collective) children to learn to live in the adult world. Part of that is teaching them how to dress – clothes make the man and all that. School is the work of children and teens and they should dress appropriately for that event. The result is young adults who are able to dress appropriately and comfortably for any occasion.</p>
<p>I’ve observed boys that were required to wear jacket and tie daily to class being oh-so-comfortable in that uniform when it’s the appropriate thing to wear other places – such as a funeral. I’ve also observed young people with a complete lack of understanding about appropriate dress for work and fighting a uniform of store tee shirt plus khakis or jeans and closed shoes (this is a very simple basic dress code for a retail pet shop) because no one ever insisted on a dress code for anything.</p>
<p>^But I think there’s a difference between that and being as restrictive as my school is being. I mean we’re a public high school for God’s sake…if we wanted to wear a uniform every day we could go to private school.</p>
<p>Plus, I think many of us do summer programs/extracurriculars that do that. In choir, for example, for every concert/performance (unless otherwise specified by our teacher) we have to wear this floor-length black dress and a short-sleeved jacket over it. </p>
<p>And every summer program I’ve been to has had a dress code. Now I realize not everyone does stuff like this, and that’s where having a school dress code comes in…and I think we had a perfectly good one before they decided to ruin it with a uniform policy.</p>