Uniforms in public schools?

Parent Cafe
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<p>I went to a public school with uniforms and I hated it. It forced the teachers to spend too much time policing the dress code when they could have been teaching.</p>

<p>And it didn’t equalize anything. The kids with more money still had designer shoes/handbags/etc. and the kids with less money still looked like they were wearing more inexpensive clothes.</p>

<p>Not to mention the fact that the parents now have to shell out for two separate wardrobes–one for school and one for after-school.</p>

<p>And then, if we weren’t in uniform, they would actually pull us out of class to wait for our parents to bring uniform clothes. Really? Clothes are more important than our education? No thank you.</p>

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<li><p>If kids want to pick on someone for having less money, they’ll find a way–like I said, it may not be clothes, but it could be shoes, backpacks, purses, etc. It’s not hard and I saw it frequently.</p></li>
<li><p>Jeans are often the cheapest option…and, like I said, parents now have to furnish their children with two separate wardrobes.</p></li>
<li><p>There are other ways. Every school has PE uniforms; that’s not really an issue IMO. As for field trips, it was never an issue when I was in elementary/middle school. We stayed in groups with a teacher/chaperone.</p></li>
<li><p>This was never an issue either, and is easily taken care of with a dress code. And I grew up in an area with quite a few gang issues.</p></li>
<li><p>Again, this is why you adopt a dress code. Ask for non-graphic tees and use the four-finger rule (t-shirts must fall no lower than four finger-widths below the collarbone).</p></li>
<li><p>For a public school…? I just can’t see this being effective. I grew up in a district with seven different high schools, and we were crowded enough that no one needed or wanted advertising. This is more of an issue with charter/private schools, where uniforms are expected anyway.</p></li>
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<p>I think uniforms are a great idea on paper, but they rarely work the way the administration wants them to. I have never liked them, and will not put my children in schools that require them. The only time I would is if, as was the case with my elementary and middle school, the child has the option to “opt out” of the uniform policy with their parents’ consent.</p>

<p>And, to be completely honest, I think uniforms place an extra emphasis on clothes, because it sends the message to the students that clearly clothes are of a huge enough importance for the administration to step in.</p>

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<p>A lot of families LIKE uniforms if for no other reason that they take a lot of competition/drama/high costs out of the whole dressing-for-school issue. Frankly, they can simplify things, especially rushed mornings! They send a message to kids that school is a serious place where you dress and behave in a serious manner; that making an impression and following certain norms matters.</p>

<p>Several public magnet/charter schools in my city require uniforms. Frankly, I’d prefer that to certain, less specific but still strict, dress codes I’ve encountered, which leave a lot of room for error.</p>

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<p>We couldn’t afford custom made. The skirts were made and hemmed by the shop. That’s just how it was. </p>

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<p>I think that’s what it comes down to for me as well. If that choices works for you, great. But it shouldn’t be required at a PUBLIC school where you have no choice but to go.</p>

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<p>I go to a “troubled” public schools and we, unfortunately, have to wear uniforms. But it’s not restricted to the school logo; we just have to be wearing a collared shirt and any pants but jeans or tights. If you don’t wear it, they give you a referral. When you get 15 or more referrals within a semester (half the school year), then you get suspended.</p>

<p>Not only do the kids hate it, the parents aren’t too excited wither. But the problem is that the parents aren’t really involved in my school. In my school of over 1200 students, there are, like, 10 people in the PTA. But what are they going to do anyway?</p>

<p>I’m part of my school’s student activist club and we did a whole bunch of petitions and rallying to change the policy, but nothing worked, just as I thought. And it’s not like the kids will start wearing bikinis to school if uniforms are no longer required; they know better.</p>

<p>I’m tired of having the same thing to wear to school every other day. I just want to live my life the way I want to as a normal 15-year-old, without having to look like a 25-year-old. There have been countless times outside of school when people have mistaken me for an adult because of my clothes and it’s so embarrassing. I’m not rich, so I can’t buy too many variations of my uniform.</p>

<p>What do you thing the activist club could do in the next school year to abolish this policy? I need a change of scene NOW.</p>

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<p>I’m a special educator, and so I totally understand the concern about tactile issues. Some of that is about the specifics of the uniforms – our kids wear school T-shirts, and khaki bottoms. They can pick whatever fabric and cut for the bottoms (shorts, elastic waists, skirts etc) as long as the skirt is longer than their finger tips with their hands at their sides. Kids seem to be able to find something that works. In addition, for many of our kids with disabilities that impact their social interactions, anticipating what will be accepted by peers is tough, a uniform makes that easier. </p>

<p>As far as not being able to get to a certain store, because pretty much every school in our community requires either khaki or navy “bottoms”, that’s what you see at the store. If you go to Target, or the thrift shop, or the store on the street you’ll see a selection of navy and khaki. If you look at the donations we get to hand down to kids who need them, it’s khaki. I think this would be harder if just one school made the move. As for the shirts, we sell them, and give them away. If you play basketball, you get a school basketball shirt, which counts. Make honor roll? You get a shirt, which counts. </p>

<p>I don’t think it’s perfect, I don’t have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I also don’t think uniforms are a huge problem.</p>

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<p>I agree with the points made by HisGraceFillsMe. D attended a private middle school with an extremely affluent contingent of students. The wealthy girls had Coach bags and belts, wore expensive jewelry, and chatted about their winter break ski trips. No way a mere uniform “equalized” anything. D always felt dowdy and unattractive in the uniform–some girls can pull off khaki pants and a polo better than others–and changed clothes the second she got home, so yes, we did have double the clothing and laundry. She was happy to attend a public high school where she could express her personal style with her clothing.</p>

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<p>I hate uniforms. I wish I could just stop wearing it, but that would ruin my record. And you’re right: some people do look better in a polo shirt and khaki pants than others. I am not one of them.</p>

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<p>My kids wore “uniforms” in middle school, but it was more like a strict code – white or navy polo-like shirts and navy or khaki pants as I recall. One school gave up after a while because it took too much time for administrators to deal with kids who weren’t complying. I wasn’t personally a fan, but I do understand that it stops some of the really inappropriate attire – jeans exposing underwear and more when worn loosely, girls dressing in very sexualized ways, etc. And there is the equalizing factor. </p>

<p>My daughter taught in two middle schools – one without and one with and she felt the uniforms contributed more to a culture of achievement – that you show up dressed and ready to work. This is a big thing especially if you can eliminate a lot of controversial clothing that is downright dangerous – i.e. gang attire.</p>

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<p>Why do school uniforms resemble golf attire? Even if you believe that uniforms somehow magically change behavior or attendance, why not make them dashikis or kilts or the most American clothing of all, blue jeans?</p>

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<p>Lamont Sanford: “I look chic in my dashiki.”</p>

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<p>Blue jeans would create problems from kids who can spend a fortune on them to those who wear them hanging off like gang attire. Blue jeans are a part of the problem in the first place.</p>

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<p>^You could say the same about any kind of pants. Jeans are just widely worn (because they are generally cheap/comfortable) so you see it more with jeans.</p>

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<p>Plus designer jeans are more available at second hand shops. </p>

<p>Honestly though, I’ve met very, very few people who legitimately care about your clothing brand. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but I think that’s grossly over-hyped.</p>

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<p>My public school in Delaware is implementing a school uniform for my senior year and onwards. My school is known for not having the brightest or the best students in the district and apparently the new uniform is meant to push the school onwards and upwards. Of course several kids made a big fuss about the uniforms and claimed that the uniforms went against their rights (which is funny as absolutely no kids from the school showed up to the PTSA vote, at least I think it was PTSA). Most likely, next year there will be those who try to organize others to dress against the new dress code in protest and this plan will fail (maybe due to some fearing punishment or some simply forgetting) and the school uniform policy will be stronger than ever. I personally don’t like that my school is implementing new uniforms but it will be a relief to not worry about what others think about my clothes. Honestly it isn’t really too much of a bother other than the minimal cost involved. I think the fact that no student showed up to the vote to determine whether the new policy should be implimented or not shows that it won’t be disputed all that much.</p>

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<p>I do like school tee shirts on field trips.
As a frequent chaperone, it was hard keeping track of the kids, and having them all in the same brightly colored shirt would have sure simplified things.
Unfortunately, the other parents didn’t thinkso.</p>

<p>I also don’t think that my D could have tolerated uniforms even if she could have picked out the material.
This was a girl who as a baby couldn’t be held when she nursed, couldn’t stand cloth diapers or Hanna Andersson clothing. She wore a tank top and vest because she couldn’t stand anything on her arms. She wore baggy shorts, because she couldn’t stand anything on her legs. She really wanted to play soccer but couldn’t tolerate the shin guards, so she dropped it and played basketball instead. ( she did start soccer in 6th gd & wore the same shin guards through highschool)</p>

<p>I also agree that polo shirts are not very flattering to very many people. You have to be pretty slim so that they hang right, but too skinny and that doesn’t look good either.</p>

<p>My oldest did wear a uniform during her CityYear.
Furnished by timberland, nice boots & khakis, red or white tees & polos, red jackets.
She only wore it for one year, but absolutely refuses to wear khakis, since.
;)</p>

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<p>Unfortunately, clothing does play a part, in my opinion, in the formation of cliques and social groups. People, and especially teens, don’t dress as who they are. they dress as who they want to be.</p>

<p>Accordingly, you will see different styles of dress among different cliques. The hyper-masculine hip-hop group will dress one way, the skaters will dress another way, the geeks will dress one way, the sports guys will dress another way. I actually think that in this sense there is less homogeneity in clothing styles among males than for females.</p>

<p>Uniforms are a crude way of trying to dissolve the boundaries between social groups. Social groups will still exist even if uniforms are implemented. However, they may serve to dissolve some of the visual segregation that goes on. </p>

<p>Because the desire to dress a certain way is typically influenced by the media, advertising, music videos, and peers, being able to dress the way you want does not do anything to actually help “self-expression.” Paradoxically, it hurts self-expression. Because now the pressure to dress the way the “cool” or “popular” guys/girls do takes over and only furthers to power that advertising, the media, etc. has over everyone at a school. A teen who sees that all the cool and popular guys are wearing Nike shoes will start to want those shoes too, because they make him look cool, or fly, or have “swag,” or whatever other slang word out there.</p>

<p>I recently graduated public high school in an affluent area, by the way.</p>

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<p>A lot of off-the-rack clothing can be hard to get in a good fit for someone (child or adult) with “unusual” body dimensions (for the target market of the clothing).</p>

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<p>My kids have never not worn uniforms. My son swears he’ll never wear khakis or polos again. This year he had to wear a blazer and tie. I’ve always liked them and the new school uniform is actually cute for the girls. They require specific clothes including socks and sperry shoes. They even enforce it, which is the downfall of most public schools. My d admits mornings are much easier. They always have a uniform exchange where you turn in clothes you’ve outgrown.</p>

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<p>^^^Same. My two oldest went to public high school and had dress codes - both will never wear a polo again!</p>

<p>On the other hand, D2 is attending private school with uniforms. They dumped polls her freshman year in favor of button up striped oxfords which she HATES. she would pay a fee daily to have the option of a polo!</p>

<p>We always want what we don’t have. :)</p>

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<p>I have to respond to this post by CuriousJane</p>

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<p>I understand what she is saying, but this is not the correct way of saying it. What she is meaning is </p>

<p>It equalizes things in a school with a vast range of expenditures.</p>

<p>Many families with high income do not purchase expensive brand name clothes (some families do), and many families with low income do purchase expensive brand name clothes (some families don’t). It all depends on how much that particular family values expensive name brand clothes.</p>