School Uniforms-yay or nay?

[Laura]

The Rich kids still buy the expensive item & name brands the poor kids get the knock offs. Then you still have 2 sets of clothes every day becasue after school you have to change because your in the ugly uniform. It's cute & easy when they are small but by middle school it's expensive & a pain.

Thank Goodness our District does not do it. I wore a uniform in Catholic School & HATED it every day.

Exactly. I think uniforms are really just overrated.

 

[Feralpeg]

DD's school is going to a type of uniform for next year. They will be required to wear khaki or navy pants and polo type shirts from Land's End. The school says that this will cut down on dress code violations. They have a big problem with kids wearing inappropriate clothing. The girls tend to wear shirts that show their midriffs and the boys pants tend to sag down to where you can see the top of their underwear. Many kids were sent home this year because of this.

Of course, the school gets a kickback from Land's End for the clothes purchased. Fortunately for DD, she won't be there. She is a senior and graduates in May.

 

[Planogirl]

I don't like school uniforms and I'm glad that our district doesn't have them. I must say that DS couldn't care less what he wears each day though so it's easy for me.

I've looked at the uniforms in the stores and they tend to be rather pricey. No thanks to that!

 

[Talking Hands]

First of all in most cases there is a variety of pieces to the uniform that can be interchanged. Shorts, pants, shirts, polos, tees, skirts, jumpers, etc. Some high schools here only require a school polo with the school logo and those are in a variety of colors. Many of the elementary schools have several options of colors both for the shirts and polos as well as pants and slacks. At the school I'm working at now the kids can wear tan or navy slacks or shorts, Polos that are gold or navy. Teachers have the option of several nice polos in multiple colors we can wear slacks or nice jeans. I'm all for uniforms especially on field trips. Makes it easy to id our kids.

 

[BoyLovesBuzz]

Oh, and don't forget about the extra time wasted by teachers and school staff nitpicking about the uniforms, when their time can be spent *much* better on other things!

Actually its just the opposite. Hundreds of hours a year are wasted addressing dress code issues in DW's school. For people that think that a dress code is a simple thing, nothing could be further from the truth.

 

[MerryPoppins]

I can see the pros and cons. My kids don't have to wear them and at 15 and 18 they'd die if they had to start. I support them, but I do think that flexible uniform policies can be great.

I know of one public school that went to uniforms and it worked well. Students could wear school polos, sweatshirts and t-shirts (in short and long sleeved style). Kids could also wear a plain navy or white polo or white blouse or shirt. They were able to wear blue (including denim) shorts, skirts, jumper or pants. Jeans were acceptable. This actually allowed a lot of choices and some individuality, but still limited the wardrobe. I'm sure it cost much less to outfit a child at that school. I had a friend who had a child at that school and the PTA offered a clothing swap in the fall, so you could even bring in uniform items that were too small to donate (or get vouchers to return and shop for larger sizes). I thought the clothing swap was a brilliant idea.

 

[palmtreegirl]

I'm kinda in-between, and leaning towards "nay". I had to wear them in Catholic school for several years and there were ways that I had to "keep up" with the other girls who had more $$. Shoes, jewelry, hairdos, etc. You knew who the nerds and the punks and the jocks were even with uniforms.

LOL, that is so true! I wore uniforms 1st-12th grade, Catholic school and there were always ways to "compete" and cool things to "keep up" with. In grammer/middle school it was shoes, hair, jewlery and purses. In High School all those things plus socks and once Junior year hit it was the car you drove to school. Oh and don't forget "out of uniform"days, pure hell.

Overall though I never really minded the uniform too much, it was nice to roll out of bed, throw it on and go with any thought. Now I'm a very casual person, have been since I graduated high school. Whether or not that has anything to do with growing up wearing a uniform skirt? Who knows, probably not, it's just me. :teeth

 

[PenskeSth1]

My kids have had to follow county wide dress code for a few years now, (they attend public school). DD is in high school and they don't have a dress code anyway. Well other than no mid driffs showing, or slinky spaghetti strap shirts etc...Although I hear they are thinking about bringing it to public high schools in our area.

DS is in 2nd grade, they can wear shorts as long as there is no design or stripping on them. He could wear green, burgandy,blue, or white polo shirt if he wanted. If he wears a pull over sweat shirt it has to be a school purchased one with their logo, other wise he can't wear it during school hours. I just purchase about 5 school tee shirts with their logo on it at the beginning of the year, quick and easy. The biggest problem DS had was getting use to having to tuck his shirt in and having to wear a belt if shorts/pants had belt loops.

I agree it is ok while in elementary, I just think it is a pain as they get older and takes away from the kids being able to be individuals and expressing their own styles.... We adapt though and really don't have much of a choice.

 

[princesspumpkin]

I didn't wear uniforms growing up and I was very poor. A lot of embarrassing days were had. DD wore uniforms for the two years that she went to private school. What a blessing it was. I am not rich now, but the school that she went to had many affluent families (professional football and hockey players, etc.) I am glad that they all looked alike, so that DD wouldn't feel the way that I felt. I have always felt that people who say that they want their child to be an individual, really just want to flaunt the brand new fancy school clothes that they bought their child. School is only half of the day, and not on weekends. If children can "act" a certain way in school, but let loose when at home, why can't they dress a certain way at school and be that wonderful individual at home. Taking the focus off of fashion in the classroom allows more focus to be paid to schoolwork. If wearing the same clothes as the kid sitting next to you makes you become just like them, therefore losing your individuality, you've got more problems than just the uniform.

 

[princesspumpkin]

Can I get some back up/text book link or quotes on this? I need all the help I can get.

Most people here don't get that my child goes to a very large urban/poor school district. All children in our district get free breakfast. 56% get free lunch. Clothes the children wear are often hand me downs or purchased for a dime or a quarter at the Salvation Army store or Goodwill. I am not exaggerating. $50 per child for school uniforms would be a huge financial burden for many. Really. I drop off bags of my son's used clothes regularly on the porches of the kids who ride my school bus. Those children wear those clothes and pass them on because it's all they have. Having special clothes to keep track of and keep clean would also be a burden to many. Obviously, my family does not have these problems but I wonder what will happen to the children who's families do. I understand that it is difficult to wrap your brain around these details. The children at my son's school are unique. Some boys have mohawks and hair down their backs. The school color is tie-dye. We sing the rainbow song as our school song. We recently went to Nationals in Scholastic Chess and placed in the top ten. All the other schools were prep and day schools. Uniforms would NOT go over well. We do not conform. Teachers are called by their first names, the principal too. Test scores(although we hate those d#@!M tests) are the highest in the city. My guess is that parents will protest, debate and argue against this possible policy with all their might. Should be interesting. For those who think we are "shallow" for being non-conformists-whatever. There are rarely Abercrombie, Gap and so forth clothes coming through our doors. We recently fought for and have been granted expansion through middle school so we don't have to send our children into those clothing competitive envirions.
Thanks for all the input. We have plenty of friends who's children attend parochial schools. I have seen the simplicity of their dress. I don't dispute it, simply say it's not for us.

DH works in what has been labeled as the city with the worst crime in America. Yes, extremely poor there. They wear uniforms - cheap ones, hand me downs, thrift store. They probably get hand outs too. Poor is poor and they still need clothes to wear so why not a uniform? You can get by wearing the same uniform several times a week, and people may not even notice.

 

[shortbun]

DH works in what has been labeled as the city with the worst crime in America. Yes, extremely poor there. They wear uniforms - cheap ones, hand me downs, thrift store. They probably get hand outs too. Poor is poor and they still need clothes to wear so why not a uniform? You can get by wearing the same uniform several times a week, and people may not even notice.

I'd like to do research on both sides of this issues. pm me with his school district if you are inclined. Thanks!

 

[momof2inPA]

Not really; for one thing, as another poster pointed out, they don't have an effect on the academic achievment of a school.

The poster said that uniforms do effect achievement-- negatively. I find this hard to believe and would like to see a link.

Personally, I like uniforms. When kids wear them, they look so clean.

One of the mother's from the local public non-uniform high school was talking about the "rules" that the popular girls (her daughter was one of them) had made about dressing. I can't remember them all, but you couldn't wear the same pair of jeans in the space of two weeks. First, I can't believe parents support this. Second, no poor kid could keep up with those standards. Third, it just goes to show that not wearing uniforms doesn't necessarily mean you will have any more individuality than wearing them.

 

[Laura]

The poster said that uniforms do effect achievement-- negatively. I find this hard to believe and would like to see a link.

Personally, I like uniforms. When kids wear them, they look so clean.

One of the mother's from the local public non-uniform high school was talking about the "rules" that the popular girls (her daughter was one of them) had made about dressing. I can't remember them all, but you couldn't wear the same pair of jeans in the space of two weeks. First, I can't believe parents support this. Second, no poor kid could keep up with those standards. Third, it just goes to show that not wearing uniforms doesn't necessarily mean you will have any more individuality than wearing them.

I think can believe that it affects achievement negatively. I just did a Google search and found an article. Maybe that's the one referenced by the other poster:
http://www.geocities.com/school_uniforms/abstract98.html

I have to say that I never experienced the kinds of "rules" in public school that you describe. I wasn't one of the "popular" girls, though, so I didn't have to abide by them, I guess! We had all kinds of kids at my school, and we all had our own ways of dressing. I can tell you each specific fad I had to deal with at Catholic school, but honestly I can't remember anything from public school. Well, a lot of guys wore ratty baseball caps with the bill curled in reallllllly tightly. That's about it. But they weren't allowed to wear them in class.

 

[aprilgail2]

I would hate if it my daughter had to look like every other kid wearing the same clothes...she loves getting up in the morning and looking at what she will pick out to wear that day. She doesn't follow what everyone else is wearing since she is very picky about clothes..she will not wear anything with a zipper, button, snap or drawstring or that is a jeans type or khaki type material (they feel itchy and to hard acording to her)....so unless a uniform included some stretchy type pants there is no way in heck she would wear them.
There are rich kids and poor kids and the playing field will never be equal...the rich kids will still find a way to be different than the poorer kids....thats life.

 

[Pam]

I give a HUGE Nay on the subject.

 

[Southern4sure]

I have not read the entire thread so please forgive me is this has been mentioned.

Until we moved, my kids we in private school (not a catholic). This was one of the largest private schools in our county, over 2,400 K-4 - 12th. Uniforms did not cut down on who is richer. For example I filled in one week at the snack bar. You would not believe how many kids bought something and wanted to pay for it with a $100 bill. The cars these highschoolers drove was unbelievable.

We could only buy uniforms from 1 store and they were expensive like slacks for a 2nd grader were $27 a pair, more for older kids. Shirts were $24 and up and even socks had to have logos, so the socks for boys were $10 for 3 pairs. I didnt complain because I knew this when I enrolled them.

Anyone believing uniforms for public schools will equalize the kids, cut down on knowing who is poor or not and less dress code violations is fooling themselves. Our old county went to uniforms for all public schools and each school had a different color. They also wanted you to buy the uniforms from certain retailers but they were not much cheaper than the private school retailer.

The violations were so frequent across the county it made the evening news several times because parents couldnt take off work to get the kids and the kids were not allowed back in class until the violation was fixed. It was threatened if a child was in violation and the parent could not pick up the student, the student would be sent to the juvenile center. It was a big waste of time. Rich kids had Tommy H. slacks/polos and I cant remember the shoe brand but it was really popular and expensive. The skirts, girls would roll the waist to make them shorter so that was a problem always watched.

So IMHO, it doesnt matter if kids have uniforms or regular clothes, the violations will occur and you will never be able to equalize the kids.

 

[Christine]

You know, I really never thought *why* uniforms would be started in a school. It never occurred to me that it was to "equalize" kids. I know my son is in Catholic school and, historically, they have just done uniforms forever. I don't think they do it to equalize kids, make the poor kids feel better, or make test scores higher. I truly believe that they view uniforms as a form of discipline and to create an atmosphere of professionalism. Much like at a workplace where you are expected to wear business attire and not flip-flops. It just creates an "atmosphere." Whether you believe that it truly does this or not is all a matter of opinion. Personally, having experienced it both ways, I do believe it creates an atmosphere of respect. And I think that's about all it does...besides makes my life a hell of a lot easier in the morning.

 

[Southern4sure]

You know, I really never thought *why* uniforms would be started in a school. It never occurred to me that it was to "equalize" kids. I know my son is in Catholic school and, historically, they have just done uniforms forever. I don't think they do it to equalize kids, make the poor kids feel better, or make test scores higher. I truly believe that they view uniforms as a form of discipline and to create an atmosphere of professionalism. Much like at a workplace where you are expected to wear business attire and not flip-flops. It just creates an "atmosphere." Whether you believe that it truly does this or not is all a matter of opinion. Personally, having experienced it both ways, I do believe it creates an atmosphere of respect. And I think that's about all it does...besides makes my life a hell of a lot easier in the morning.

Maybe I didn't word that just right...sorry I do that all the time. I agree with you about private schools and uniforms and why they are required. I was trying to explain that uniforms are not the magical answer to equality. I know the county explained this as one of the reasons they went with uniforms for public schools but it didn't help.

 

[In a hurry]

They are looking at uniforms at our school. There wouldn't be any specific store to buy from, and have several pieces from which to pick. I don't have a problem with them at all. What can I say...my daughter looks cut in everything!

 

[Christine]

Maybe I didn't word that just right...sorry I do that all the time. I agree with you about private schools and uniforms and why they are required. I was trying to explain that uniforms are not the magical answer to equality. I know the county explained this as one of the reasons they went with uniforms for public schools but it didn't help.

No, you worded things just fine. I was really responding to your thread and a few others that talked about equalizing students, or having it done so that the less wealthy students wouldn't feel they needed to compete. I agree that they are not the magical answer to any of these things. But I do agree that school should be a place you go to that has some dignity, respect, and an "atmosphere" of professionalism with a little bit of seriousness thrown in on the side. Like a business office, I think clothing contributes to that feeling.