<p>My college son simply traded his mandatory high school uniform for a self-inflicted uniform. Yes, he can be seen sauntering down University Ave. in his non-cargo pants/shorts, a polo shirt, topsiders without socks, occasional sunglasses and baseball cap. Total uniform, as far as I’m concerned. And he thought he had escaped when he graduated high school.</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>True. But not all professions require a uniform. And if everyone knew how to dress approprietly, my favorite TV show (with Stacey and Clinton on TLC) would have never taken off!</p>
<p>Throughout HS I worked at McDonalds - wore a blue polyester uniform. I also volunteered as a Candy Striper - uniform white blouse and pin-striped jumper. I got my degree in nursing; uniform. When I quit nursing, I had no idea what I would do, but knew only that it would not have a uniform.</p>
<p>I probably know less how to dress appropriately than those who were not always told what to wear to work. I manage, but I am not confident.</p>
<p>LMAO BunsenBurner! I love that show too. 
</p>
<p>These are all great points, but I still just don’t understand what my school is trying to accomplish other than inability to conceal weapons…but even then, I don’t get what they think uniforms will accomplish that a simple dress code wouldn’t.</p>
<p>I’ve enjoyed reading this thread. Our public Junior High (7-9th grade) is in the middle of investigating requiring uniforms. Why?</p>
<p>Dress code violations: Girls: too much cleavage, too short shorts and skirts
Boys: gang clothing, and falling down pants/ underwear in full view.
The time spent trying to get kids into appropriate clothing is appalling, as is the appearance of some students: distracting verging on indecent exposure. Some would argue that we should just contact the parents or suspend students. The question is, would uniforms circumvent all that?</p>
<p>Our neighboring school implemented uniforms last year with some interesting results:
All standardized test scores for every sub group went up
Very little time spent enforcing dress code
Substitute teachers rave about the behavior of students at this school
Major decrease in behavior issues over all</p>
<p>The uniform they went with is a choice of khaki or black pants (long shorts, capris, skirts all OK too) and white or school color polo, no new rules about hair, shoes, or socks. Shirt can have a maximum of three buttons. Pants must “fit” on boys. Any brand of clothing is acceptable. If beltloops are present on pants, a belt will be worn. Shirts are tucked in at all times.</p>
<p>The kids at this school came to our PTA meeting and raved about how much they liked having uniforms:</p>
<p>Ease of getting ready in the morning
More respect from teachers and other students
Lower economic group kids happy to have appropriate clothes to wear every day
Goth/creative dressers both happy not to have to “dress up” every day
Cost: uniforms were inexpensive and/or subsidized as needed</p>
<p>Interestingly, a very articulate student said, “Now that we’re all in uniforms it’s like I can see what people are really like on the inside.”</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Well, I just spent the last hour looking over huge batch of pic.s on shutterfly. They were taken at my parents 65th anniversary party in August of 2006. The event weekend was held at my sister’s country club and at the request of my parents, we all “dressed for dinner”. Club rules specified that no jeans were allowed on the golf course of tennis courts. I have to tell you, I am sooooo glad that we listened to these rules and requests. The pictures are amazing and they are the last that were taken of my big family before my mom died six month later. There were 122 people at the party and everyone from the infants to the senior citizens was dressed beautifully. OVER 1000 photos were taken over the course of the weekend! We have several fantastic photographers in the family and had hired two pros.
Getting my family ready for that weekend event was a core, and one of my D’s & my son fought me on the “attire”. I didn’t budge and now they are both glad that I didn’t. They would have been painfully out of place in the outfits that they wanted to wear.<br>
When I was growing up, my parent were big sticklers for manners and respect for elders as well as dressing up for dinner. They had grown up on farms through the depression, and to have the money for “dress clothes” was something to be proud of. We wore dress coats and matching hats to church and jeans were not allowed in my Dad’s presence. Times have changed, my son wants to dress like a rapper, but even Diddy wore a tux to the music awards! School is a place to sit up and pay attention. I think that administrators want students to know that there is a time and place for pj’s and beach wear and that school is not the time or place.</p>
<p>riverrunner, your policy seems very thought out. Parents are still free to shop for best bargains, or use hand-me-downs. I just wonder why jeans (that fit) are considered so bad. And I personally hate polo shirts - they seem more of a “guy” shirt. A polo shirt, tucked in, with belted “trousers”, is not very flattering on many girls. In middle school, most girls have boy figures anyway, so it’s probably a non issue.</p>
<p>As far as less attention, and higher test scores, I believe it. But I wonder how much has to do with “expectations.” Do teachers spend less time policing, because they want the uniforms to “work”? If teachers spend less time policing, then it makes sense that they would spend more time teaching. Who is in charge of checking that kids have belts on? What happens if they don’t? Who counts the buttons in the shirts? In other words, is it policed as heavily as previous transgressions?</p>
<p>Is it still a novelty? Will kids begin pushing limits? Will you lose the advantage at that point, and go back to spending more class time on attire?</p>
<p>No idea; just thinking out loud.</p>
<p>“A polo shirt, tucked in, with belted “trousers”, is not very flattering on many girls.”</p>
<p>This, combined with “attention in class”…
Hmmm.</p>
<p>Maybe they have something there.
:D</p>
<p>binx,
At our kids public school, the dean of students is responsible for enforcement of the dress code. There are four deans at our school and they are always in the halls at the start of the day and during pass periods. Teachers sometimes send kids to the Dean’s office if they are offended. ( Super low rise jeans, underware that is showing and bare bellies are not allowed.) It seems like a good way to police it in my opinion.</p>
<p>riverrunner, it seems that that policy might work, but it’s just different at my school. Some kids WANT to break the uniform policy because they hate it so much, because it is SO restrictive. In fact there have been times in the passed where word was spread around that we were going to have a “uniform boycot day”…I would not have participated, but it just goes to show you how very little say we had in the matter and how much we all hate it. I also think it’s different in Junior High, because kids in junior high generally (note I said generally, not always) don’t care as much about the clothes they have to wear. </p>
<p>I also know for a fact that I (along with most of my peers) learn better when I’m comfortable. And the clothes that we’re forced (yes, forced) to wear are NOT comfortable.</p>
<p>Also, they rely HEAVILY on the staff to do the policing, which takes away from OUR class time. And then they wonder why our test scores aren’t going up. Sheesh.</p>
<p>This was something I wrote for my Philosophy class on the subject, and it links in to how most students feel about our uniform policy:</p>
<p>Students vs. Administration</p>
<p>Why are students unhappy with the uniform policy?</p>
<pre><code>All school policies are decided upon by the administration. No students are members of the administration; therefore, no students have an input on the school policies. The administration does not have to abide by the school policies, so they do not understand how unhappy the students are with the decisions they make. Because students are unhappy, they choose to rebel and break the rules. This forces the administration to spend more time enforcing the uniform policy than other issues which are just as important to the function of the school. While they are so busy enforcing the uniform policy, the lack of attention that administrators are able to give to preventing fights and on-campus crime leads to a worse overall school environment. Therefore, students are unhappy with the uniform policy because it does not serve its purpose and takes attention away from other, more important issues on campus.
</code></pre>
<p>Thanks HGFM. Your last paragraph is very interesting to me. As we’ve talked about how to implement uniforms (if we do) we’ve always said that we would form a student committee to choose styles, colors, what to regulate, and so on. The idea would be to revisit these things every year, with an incoming student committee, to see if changes are needed. We would include a representative sampling of kids (not just the student officers) to try and show respect for the range of preferences out there. </p>
<p>I so appreciate your point of view. </p>
<p>By the way, the “you” I know through your posts is a pretty outstanding person. You have a very unique and well-developed voice. Best wishes to you in your college search. That school is going to be lucky to have you.</p>
<p>HGFM, I agree with riverrunner 100%!</p>
<p>Wow…thanks you guys! That was an amazing compliment to receive…it brought tears to my eyes. :)</p>
<p>Heh…I got a 48/50 on the assignment that paragraph was written for. I’m glad you guys appreciated it. I think what you’re talking about is an awesome idea, riverrunner. I know our Uniform policy wouldn’t be half as bad as it is if we had some say in it.</p>