<p>I have gone to schools that require special uniforms my whole life, and I absolutely LOVE it! I was just thinking about this, this morning. You don’t have to waste time picking out what to wear, or think about what is “cool” to wear and what is not. Its just overall a better system. Plus some people like to wear clothes that are really umm “showing” and that is a real distraction and sometimes it can be uncomfortable to others around them. </p>
<p>And plus it is just preparing people for the real world. When you enter the work force (unless you do a labor job) you need to look your best. So getting use to it should be better.</p>
<p>Around here we have some public schools that ban all PDAs – no hugging, hand holding, etc. That strikes me as even more draconian than uniforms.</p>
<p>I’m from Seattle, and from the part of town where several uniform schools are located. My daughters both attended one or more of them. I also work closely with needy families with children who attend these schools and live on the same street as one of them. I have more than passing familiarity with public school uniforms in this city. None of them are hard-core special brands, embroidered logo type clothing, but are generic khakis or plain black, plain blue, etc. pants and skirts and plain collared shirts.</p>
<p>It is entirely possible to buy the required clothing at Goodwill or Valuie Village on the Monday $1.29 or 99 cent days-just as one would buy “regular” school clothes. It’s cheaper anyhow since there’s no need for a wide variety of “school clothes”. If you want to spend a little more, Target, Old Navy and Walmart, to name a few, all have crazy sales where all of these items are $10 or less every single fall. Also, parents hand down clothes to friends with younger kids and the offices keep freebies for kids who are truly destitute. And they never humilate them if they’re missing a uniform piece, but work with the family. </p>
<p>I grew up in Catholic school with knuckle-rapping nuns and where humiliation was a way of life. I was highly opposed to uniforms until I saw that what they offer here is nothing like what I grew up being forced to wear. My daughters both feel that uniforms like this make it easier to get ready, easier to avoid being pegged as someone who either cares too MUCH about clothes or too little (kids can be mean), and easier to just have one less concern at a time when there are so many other things on your mind. </p>
<p>Finally, as for dealing with kids who have emotional, physical or mental health issues or must wear certain items for religious reasons, from what I’ve seen they work with those families/kids. I’ve seen head scarves, Yarmulkes, and the Sikh headgear along with the uniform clothes. Reading the new school’s plan seems well thought out and includes parent input. I don’t see the issue here.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t consider those hats, but even if one did most schools are able to have some common sense. We’ve got teachers and students who wear kippot, and hijab, despite having a no hat rule. We don’t happen to have kids who wear a turban or a Mennonite style head covering, but if we did we’d accommodate them too. We’ve also got a child who wears a head covering because it keeps the microphone for his cochlear implant from sliding around and bothering him.</p>
<p>I’m not going to bother reading through this entire thread. </p>
<p>I’ll just say my elementary and middle schools had uniforms. They were public schools too. It was annoying yes but not really a big deal. And we were not ghetto schools, quite the opposite.</p>
<p>The stem school @ Boren was not transparent before registration that uniforms would be required.
This was disclosed after registration for the 2012-2013 school year had ended.
That does not sound like including parental participation to me.</p>
<p>My d attended a private prep school. Her jeans were worn in the back and a few pairs may have had a hole or two about the size of a nickel. Of course her baggy tshirt probably covered it up. Her jeans were also covered with writing and drawing. It helped her concentrate during class. She was an excellent student, & the clothes must have been good luck to her because they got her through Reed College.
I don’t think her sister ( who is the one with tactile sensitivity) had jeans with holes, unless they were styled that way.
Her jeans were probably too tight for pony to grab ahold of.</p>
<p>The school was marketed as in-progress to parents at sign up time. Everyone knew that the specifics, other than it being STEM, were yet to be determined. For example, the math curriculum was a complete unknown. The team/staff chose a popular math program and no one is complaining. You can’t have it both ways-you don’t sign up for a school still in design and them complain only about the parts you don’t like. You get involved and help design things and roll with the punches.</p>
<p>My kids went to schools with uniforms(private). Neither of them seemed to mind and liked not having to think about what to wear in the morning. My son can tie a tie and I never have to give him directions other than he needs to dress up for something. Uniforms really made my life easier.</p>
<p>I personally like the Japanese model of school uniforms. Shoes and bags are part of the uniform; makeup and jewelery are prohibited; and there are strict rules on acceptable hairstyles. Unlike American uniforms, they are actually equalizing.</p>
<p>These uniforms would have made my elementary and middle school years a lot easier. My family was living near the poverty line and I was fortunate that I got the opportunity to attend a “better” school with mostly middle class students. If someone had warned me how much I’d be bullied and excluded for not keeping up with fashion, I would have begged to attend a more destitute school with my socio-economic peers. As a result of my teenage school experience, I was wrestling with severe social anxiety until well into my college years. (In my sophomore year in college, I conducted a little experiment counting the number of words I was saying. I got up to 14 words - in one full week. I didn’t speak because I thought that speaking would make my inferiority even more apparent than my appearance alone.) </p>
<p>Would I have fared better with uniforms? Maybe, or maybe I would have been excluded on another pretense. I would expect that uniforms can alter the social dynamics quite a bit, though. Furthermore, school uniforms would not just protect a small minority of potential victims from harm. The introduction of school uniforms seems to correlate with overall improved discipline and higher test scores.</p>
<p>Many opponents of uniforms appeal to a right to express one’s “individuality.” I am not familiar with the argument behind that catch phrase. Can someone please explain to me why it is so important that teenagers get to pick their outfit for school hours themselves? What bad things would happen if they didn’t? </p>
<p>I am also curious how countries with strict uniforms deal with special needs (such as tactile sensitivity). Does anyone know?</p>
<p>Isn’t the STEM school at Boren new? It does not seem to be capable of being “troubled” in advance. </p>
<p>If Boren was the trigger for OP’s post, I think post #152 makes a valid point. Under the circumstances there does not seem to have been any “promises” made prior to the enrollment cut-off that the Boren STEM would not have mandatory uniforms.</p>
<p>B@rium, you attended school on another country. I don’t think being bullied for one’s clothing is a very common experience in US schools. And individuality is quite prized in the US. It shouldn’t be surprising that students want their appearance to reflect their own preferences. It’s not that something bad will happen if kids have to wear uniforms, it’s that any most Americans feel that any government-imposed restrictions on one’s freedom have to be well justified. Many of us feel there’s insufficient justification for public school uniforms.</p>
<p>I hated uniforms as a kid and loved them as a mother! My kids went to a parochial elementary school and they made my life so much easier. It made things easy on the teachers too. There were many more behavioral problems on “uniform holidays” when kids wore what they wanted. Allowances were made for kids like my older son, who attended a gifted program at a public school once a week and was allowed to wear “civvies” that day. They weren’t the great equalizer everyone seems to think they are - money always talks, just not through school clothes. But they aren’t nearly as dranconian as some people seem to think, either. A wide-eyed first-year public school teacher once asked me, in seriousness and concern, “But how do they express themselves through dress?” I just shrugged and said “On their own time!”</p>
<p>Went to a school with uniforms as a child, and always remember being told:</p>
<p>Your mom or dad puts on a suit to go to work. They wear different clothing than they wear at home to signal that they are doing something professional. You also wear a uniform to make that distinction between relaxing at home and working at school. Right now, school is your job and you get dressed up for your job the same way your parents do for theirs. School is not an extension of your living room, nor is being a student an extension of playing video games at your house. Different rules and expectations apply – just like they do for your parents. (Dad can’t say whatever he wants to his boss, and you can’t say whatever you want to your teacher.).</p>
<p>Yes, uniforms enforce the notion of hierarchy and professionalism. That’s the point! Works for us!</p>
<p>Interesting thoughts about uniforms.
We don’t see them much in Seattle, perhaps why Boeing, Microsoft & all the tech companies that encourage casual dress located here.
;)</p>
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