School Uniforms: Your Viewpoint

[oxfordcircus]

Shape, of, a, giant, whacking, stick.


Seriously, this thread is like a train wreck. Strangely compelling. I just can't take my eyes off of it.

Public schools cannot condition attendance upon wearing a school uniform, that's why most schools have a strict dress code (khaki or blue pants, shirt with collar). Schools must provide a way to opt-out of the uniform policy. Generally, it only involves having a parent fill out the proper paperwork.

I sympathize with Pigeon's school funding problem. I find it outrageous that so many districts charge parents money for books and materials when those parents are legally obligated to comply with compulsory education. But a uniform dress code is different. No matter what, the kids need clothes. The uniform comes out of the clothes budget.

For our UK friends, I believe the American resistance to the public school uniform can be summed up as, "You can't tell me what to do with my kids. I make the rules."

Don't be comin' up in here and actin' all logical.

 

[Andy B]

For our UK friends, I believe the American resistance to the public school uniform can be summed up as, "You can't tell me what to do with my kids. I make the rules."

Do you think this resistance to conformity has led toward the breakdown of community?

 

[Duckfan-in-Chicago]

Don't be comin' up in here and actin' all logical.

I'm not familiar with that. Is that 'new' logic?

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Then you could just pick a school without uniforms. End of story

While we're at it, I think the military should be able to dress like then want, wear jeans or sweats. Wearing fatigues all the time just doesn't let them express themselves

Not only that they are more expensive than all get out and you HAVE to have everything that could possibly ever be needed while wearing the uniform--$40 plastic canteen anyone??

I wore uniforms for grammar school,a nice Catholic one at that--and I liked it. I was in 4th grade in a jumper and couldn't wait till I was in 7th and could wear the vest!! The uniforms did not define our individuality or lack of it--The girls who were friends got matching hair accessories or earrings or necklaces etc--the guys got matching ties--Binders and notebooks were all about expression. One girl Danielle had Prince plastered all over everything. Others chose to wear the plastic bracelets Madonna made popular. One guy had a mohawk while a girl had her sides shaved.

Individuality is not determined by what you wear--there is so much more to it.

I have a 9yr old DD who is all about her friends--She wants to have what they have and do what they do. She wants to wear skirts with jeans or leggings underneath because they do--She no longer wants to have her bangs cut because none of them do--She wants to wear lipgloss and bring it with her for touch ups because they do--she was the first in her class to get an MP4 player and I have had her friends asking me a ton of questions about where I got it and how much was it etc

For the OP to say that this is not how kids act because all they want it to express themselves shows that she doesn't have kids or has yet to spend any significant amount of time around them. They express themselves thru the herd mentality--heck when I got to high school and could wear whatever I wanted it was about half shirts and spandex leggings and leather jackets that had been airbrushed on the back with Guns N Roses and hair that reached 2 feet off the top of my head....why? Because that's what everyone else was doing.

 

[oxfordcircus]

Do you think this resistance to conformity has led toward the breakdown of community?

I don't have an opinion myself, but:

Our information often came, and comes, through family and friends. You can't always trust your community to be there for you.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Do you think this resistance to conformity has led toward the breakdown of community?

Absolutely. The US has so much space to spread out, people create their own little compounds and forget what it means to be a community. They forget (or maybe never learn) that we should be mindful of others. This certainly doesn't happen to everyone in the US, but I feel like there is a distinct rise in incivility across the country. It's not good. At the same time people are bridling against conformity, they have lost critical thinking about the truly important things.

Oh well.

Curmudgeon in my 30's.

Sad.

 

[KikiFan]

Seriously, this thread is like a train wreck. Strangely compelling. I just can't take my eyes off of it.

Public schools cannot condition attendance upon wearing a school uniform, that's why most schools have a strict dress code (khaki or blue pants, shirt with collar). Schools must provide a way to opt-out of the uniform policy. Generally, it only involves having a parent fill out the proper paperwork.

I've done some research, thanks to this thread. And in order for the uniform to be legal, there has to be an "opt out" clause. It requires that the parents fill out some paperwork and get it approved.

Interestingly, in the 6 years my daughter has attended schools that require uniforms, I've never seen one single person opt out of the uniform.
Not once.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

I've done some research, thanks to this thread. And in order for the uniform to be legal, there has to be an "opt out" clause. It requires that the parents fill out some paperwork and get it approved.

Interestingly, in the 6 years my daughter has attended schools that require uniforms, I've never seen one single person opt out of the uniform.
Not once.

Why do you think that would be? Perhaps because the student would be mortified to be wearing something different... Nah.

 

[va32h]

Not only that they are more expensive than all get out and you HAVE to have everything that could possibly ever be needed while wearing the uniform--

And then a week or so after you do buy it all, they decide that they would rather have shirts without pockets on the pleats, or BDUs with velcro tabs instead of buttons, so you can just throw out all the uniforms you have and buy new ones.

 

[jodifla]

Dress codes good, uniforms bad.

That's how it basically boils down for me. As a kid, I would have HATED wearing a uniform. We enjoyed watching the Catholic girls at the mall (late 1970s), who would hike their skirts up to AMAZING heights, and unbutton their blouses practically to their navals.

We got a kick on how pious their little uniforms were supposed to be, when they looked like they were ready to walk the streets. And us, dressed in our heathen earth shoes, jeans and T-shirts! Who looked more modest? Us by a mile.

To me, uniforms are just a lazy way out for parents and adminstrators who don't want to be responsible for what their children wear, so they prefer to put them all in psuedo-prison garb.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

And then a week or so after you do buy it all, they decide that they would rather have shirts without pockets on the pleats, or BDUs with velcro tabs instead of buttons, so you can just throw out all the uniforms you have and buy new ones.

And add to that the constant changing of patches and the need for winter combat boots and summer combat boots now and the special kit to clean said boots when they even get the slightest bit of dirt on them. AND the fact that the stupid velcro gets ratty after a short period of time and you can't replace just the velcro and need to buy a whole new set. Aaarrrgggghhhh!!

 

[oxfordcircus]

We enjoyed watching the Catholic girls at the mall (late 1970s), who would hike their skirts up to AMAZING heights, and unbutton their blouses practically to their navals.

ME TOO! But I'm too old to enjoy that now.

 

[Pigeon]

Public schools cannot condition attendance upon wearing a school uniform, that's why most schools have a strict dress code (khaki or blue pants, shirt with collar). Schools must provide a way to opt-out of the uniform policy. Generally, it only involves having a parent fill out the proper paperwork.

Thank you. That's what I suspected, and I'm a uniform-hating curmudgeon in my 40s.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Dress codes good, uniforms bad.

That's how it basically boils down for me. As a kid, I would have HATED wearing a uniform. We enjoyed watching the Catholic girls at the mall (late 1970s), who would hike their skirts up to AMAZING heights, and unbutton their blouses practically to their navals.

We got a kick on how pious their little uniforms were supposed to be, when they looked like they were ready to walk the streets. And us, dressed in our heathen earth shoes, jeans and T-shirts! Who looked more modest? Us by a mile.

To me, uniforms are just a lazy way out for parents and adminstrators who don't want to be responsible for what their children wear, so they prefer to put them all in psuedo-prison garb.

For the sake of debate, how would you word the dress code so that administrators didn't have to entertain endless debates and complaints from parents whose children didn't comply with the terms of the code?

 

[Ariel Mae]

ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? No conformity amongst children? Have you not seen several posts, on this very thread, of mothers of daughters buying similar or the same outfits? Or take my 9YO son. He is very much his own person. Walks to the beat of his own drummer for many things. However, line him up with 5 or 6 of his pals, and you'd be astounded at how similarly they are dressed. How they speak, how they act.

I swear--you are posting what you post to be confrontational, controversial, and contrarian (hey, the 3 C's).

Okay, until you've been to my school, and been in my shoes, don't assume what you cannot. It happened here, and it's happened over and over again. We didn't conform. We did what we wanted either because our parents wished it of us, or because we wanted to do it. Kapiche?

What are you possibly doing to your clothes to make them unwearable after a few months? You said before that you couldn't wait to take them off after school, so what were you doing to your clothes?

Wearing them, for ten hours. That is it! At the most, once a month, running in them for gym. Don't ask me why they don't last.

Yes, you do need the clothes. If your school requires them, then you NEED them.

A uniform is not necessary. It is an option before it is mandated. A public school is about just that...there's a reason people send their children to public school, and often, that's to avoid the costs of a private school. Can't do that with uniforms.

I think you just want to pick fights with people. *shakes head*

You know what I really want? People to stop putting themselves in shoes that don't fit. "Oh, you're full of it. It can't be that way, because it wasn't with me." As I said, until you've been to my school, you know squat.

I've done some research, thanks to this thread. And in order for the uniform to be legal, there has to be an "opt out" clause. It requires that the parents fill out some paperwork and get it approved.

Interesting. I did not know that. I wish I had. I wager many others do, too.

"Go to a school without uniforms."

And if you aren't given that option? And if you're only option is to move? It's not that easy. If the whole parish/county is uniform ruled, then what do you do? Up and move to another state? Pshaw.

 

[irishbosoxfan]

Dress codes good, uniforms bad.

That's how it basically boils down for me. As a kid, I would have HATED wearing a uniform. We enjoyed watching the Catholic girls at the mall (late 1970s), who would hike their skirts up to AMAZING heights, and unbutton their blouses practically to their navals.

We got a kick on how pious their little uniforms were supposed to be, when they looked like they were ready to walk the streets. And us, dressed in our heathen earth shoes, jeans and T-shirts! Who looked more modest? Us by a mile.

To me, uniforms are just a lazy way out for parents and adminstrators who don't want to be responsible for what their children wear, so they prefer to put them all in psuedo-prison garb.

Are you serious?? Lazy because clothes?? I could see that if it was one kid who was going to school with stains all over the clothes and stinking to high heaven but because of a uniform?

Uniforms are a way for the school to assure that everyone is following the dress code making their job easier so instead of battling kids over whether their skirts are too short or their shirt speaks of gang affiliation they have more time to do what their supposed to be doing which is teach.

And psuedo-prison garb?? Yeah well I guess you could call what prisoners wear a uniform but I know I'd rather see my kids in a school uniform than in a prison jumper so maybe there could be a valid argument for teaching your kids to conform to societies standards early by making a school uniform the lesser of two evils.

 

[nuttylawprofessor]

Interesting. I did not know that. I wish I had. I wager many others do, too.

Alternatively, you could have learned about the opt-out from your school's uniform policy. It's right there, in black and white.

And it's "capisce."

 

[DisneyGirl4188]

Wearing them, for ten hours. That is it! At the most, once a month, running in them for gym. Don't ask me why they don't last.

If the cheap clothing wasn't lasting, why didn't you purchase more expensive clothes (that, by your own admission, last longer)?

A uniform is not necessary. It is an option before it is mandated. A public school is about just that...there's a reason people send their children to public school, and often, that's to avoid the costs of a private school. Can't do that with uniforms.

Clothes are going to cost money, whether they are part of a uniform or not.

Many people here have said that they spend LESS on uniforms than regular clothes. You said that you would buy clothes are the Dollar Store. I hardly think that implementing a uniform policy is going to make people suffer undue hardship, when they would already need to buy clothing for their kids.

You know what I really want? People to stop putting themselves in shoes that don't fit. "Oh, you're full of it. It can't be that way, because it wasn't with me." As I said, until you've been to my school, you know squat.

If you don't like what people are saying then:

a.) stop creating threads asking for people's viewpoints
b.) ignore the people that upset you
c.) stop posting completely

You have choices. Besides, you already said you were done with this thread (yet you keep coming back) *shrugs* *scratches head*

 

[Crankyshank]

Alternatively, you could have learned about the opt-out from your school's uniform policy. It's right there, in black and white.

And it's "capiche."

And now we go back to the whole problem with lack of internet connection, phone jack, can't perform the required tribal information dance, community is unreliable issue

Kath, I'm with you on the hanging the uniform on the radiator experience. Best way to head out to the bus stop on a winter morning

 

[Miss Jasmine]

*shrug*