<p>I’d like to see the correlation with behavior, attitude and achievement with enforced uniforms.</p>
<p>I know I chose to start a dress code at work. When I didn’t I had people showing up in short shorts or clothes that they would go clubbing in or fresh from the garden. And when I said jeans on Fridays there would be more tears than material for some of them. Hence the birth of business casual because people don’t know how to dress for a professional office job. Perhaps those who grew up wearing uniforms would have more of a clue? </p>
<p>And I notice when my people look better they work better. I bet the same goes for kids.</p>
<p>UCB: Very true about Silicon Valley and lax attitudes about ‘back room’ employees. However, school is a place of interaction…one of the things one is supposed to learn how to do appropriately.</p>
<p>Maybe behavior is not affected by dress, rather those that would yield to a requirement to dress in a ‘uniform’ (be it a plaid skirt, Friday slacks, a belly covering shirt, or a suit to a wedding) are more likely behave in socially appropriate a manner.</p>
<p>I think there is a wide variation of behavior that could be considered socially acceptable.
What sort of behavior do you need at school?
Asking questions, taking notes, working on projects…I really can’t think of how a uniform reinforces those active behaviors.</p>
<p>The entire school system in the county where my brother lives has a uniform policy.
Kids were constantly being sent home for inappropriate dress…losing a lot of claaroom hours.
Some parents argued about what was inappropriate and some felt their kids were targeted by being sent home because of their attire.
So the school board solved it by saying “if parents cannot control/oversee/assure that their children are dressed appropriately for public school then the system will have to do it for them.”</p>
<p>They have to wear navy or khaki pants and navy,white or dark green shirts. Boys must wear belts at their waist rather than six or eight inches below it. Girls cannot wear short skirts or tops with spaghetti straps…etc. </p>
<p>It is simpler because there in no gray area. They are either dressed appropriately or not.</p>
<p>I need your secret. How does your daughter “do” horses on less than the price of two pair of jeans, two clean shirts, and a pair of non-barn sneakers? Around here, horses is one of the pricier after school activities.</p>
<p>*
I need your secret. How does your daughter “do” horses on less than the price of two pair of jeans, two clean shirts, and a pair of non-barn sneakers? Around here, horses is one of the pricier after school activities.*</p>
<p>She was a volunteer at the zoo. It is within walking distance. They used to have a pony barn with about twenty ponies that volunteers would give children rides on in the summer. ( the zoo also ran summer workshops with the ponies that the volunteers would run for kids)
The rest of the year the ponies were taken care of by the zoo’s 4-h club to which most of the kids also belonged.
She managed to volunteer 2000 hrs by the time she graduated high school just from working at the zoo. Summers after she turned 18 she was also riding staff at local residential camp.</p>
<p>The most we had to buy besides clothes and shoes was a helmet.
Other people interested in horses might also work at a stable to save money or co-own a horse.</p>
<p>D’s philosophy on the human/horse relationship is strictly in the vein of natural horsemanship. Our Vet runs a rescue barn and then uses those horses to work with foster kids. D worked and volunteered in this environment. She mucked the stalls at a small barn in our neighborhood and received riding and reduced lesson privileges. We paid for a few years of once a week lessons. At college, she’s found a half lease for very few $$, developed a great relationship with both the horse and the owner and now has been asked to show her lease horse on occasion. And, she wore the same Ariat Paddock boots for 5 years…cleaned them often and moisturized the leather frequently. We just bought her a replacement pair. Still has her original helmet which we purchased and just recently splurged (her own earned $$) on official riding britches. For her the joy is in the relationship with the animal, not in the fancy and expensive accoutrements.</p>
<p>I don’t think clothing is or should be an expression of self. I have learned to wear the “robe of each country” I visit and where I am a guest. It is sometimes required and sometimes just a whole lot safer. Unforms say “I am a student, I have come to study.” I think clothing is more an expression of intention.</p>
<p>My D wore the same boots, we also were lucky enough to find a used pair in a scmancy suburb that someone must have out grown because they were practically new.
Ds feet are quite small, and she always grew slow so we were able to get good deals.</p>
<p>I disagree. I think all uniforms say is “someone told me I had to dress this way in order to be able to access education.”</p>
<p>That, to me, is the problem. Public education is supposed to be free (or paid for in tax dollars). There should be no added cost…ie purchasing textbooks, special uniforms, etc., unless there is a fundraising option, or it is an elective activity (hence the ability to opt out).</p>
<p>HS teacher here wishing I worked for PackMom’s district. I am amazed and appalled by the clothes parents will defend if their child is disciplined. In my school, there are girls wearing clothes that are way too revealing, barely covering the essentials - seriously distracting. And really, I can live without seeing underwear every time a guy raises an arm or bends down. I wish I could give you all the view from my seat for a few hours - not a pretty sight! I could send the offenders to the office, and I used to, but that just leads to lost class time, anger, and lots of arguing. And it’s not an administrative priority.
I agree that I don’t like the idea of a public school requiring uniforms. But it would be nice if parents thought about how their kids’ dress affect how they act and are looked - make that stared- at in school.</p>
<p>Well…our public school system provides reduced cost or free breakfast and lunch, before and after school care, so providing the clothing is really just a natural extension.</p>
<p>In this particular case, it seems to be that the principal who is coming from out of state, is coming from a school that had uniforms. My experience has been principals seem to implement what they are comfortable with, before they take stock of the school community.
Which may work for them, but it also may make it more difficult to gain support of that community.</p>
<p>Both kids attended schools without strict dress codes.
For the most part, I think clothing was appropriate and in the case of the public school I was involved with the K-8 almost everyday.
I don’t disagree that some kids go outside the box of what is appropriate outside the dressing room, but the ones I’ve seen seem to get their fashion sense from their parents.</p>
<p>I’m thinkng that this couldbe a teaching opportunity, instead of taking choice away, how about making it their decision?
In the high school, I think a jobs skills class could meet voc-tech requirement perhaps.
When I was in high school, we had a survival class where we changed a tire, shopped for groceries and planned a wedding. Yes, it could stand to be updated a bit. ;)</p>
<p>Some schools offer performance based classes where students write a speech and present a monologue, but it could also be a setting for mock interviews & part of the interview process could be evaluating how someone dresses affects your perception of them.</p>
<p>So because some students dress poorly, we take away the choice for everyone? Well that doesn’t make much sense. </p>
<p>How bout this- those who continually break the standard dress code have to wear uniforms? That way, not everyone gets punished because of some people. </p>
<p>And yes, I do see uniforms as a punishment. I see unnecessary restrictions because of bad choices as punishment.</p>
<p>Oh, and most of my wardrobe- both in high school and now- consists of cheap jeans from Salvation Army and free t-shirts. Wouldn’t have been able to do that with a uniform. And considering I worked on school plays, I would have had to bring clothes to change in to. What a hassle. Extra laundry, extra things to remember, etc. I didn’t study any differently if I was wearing my paint clothes or non-paint clothes.</p>
<p>Amazing how many people now would rather wait a longer time for the roadside service tow truck than it would take them to change a flat tire on a car.</p>
<p>Not sure what you mean here. Calling the roadside assistance is the more expensive option (in terms of time), but seems to be preferred by most people (I recently saw sometime getting the flat tire on his car changed by the roadside assistance in his own driveway).</p>
<p>My school only did breakfast and lunch, and I know of no schools in the area that would even consider providing clothing. Yet there is only one high school (out of 7) that doesn’t require a uniform, and no opt-out options are available.</p>
<p>I can’t say that I have ever had to change a tire outside of switching out my snow tires, but I lived in the suburbs bordering rural roads and it was a while before cell phones so knowing how to change a tire was a good idea.</p>