To uniform or not?

[zanzanfergie]

What's your opinion on whether schools should have a uniform or not?

Almost all schools in Australia have uniforms, including mine. Plus mine's an all girl school, so we end up looking super sensible in our pleated skirts and big shouldered blazers. :rolleyes:

I guess my feelings are that uniforms can't hurt, and probably do improve the image of a school. And they reduce perceived differences between the kids, and help reduce the labelling of people based purely on what they wear. But then again, if a school doesn't have them then kids are free to wear what they feel suits them, and have more freedom is expressing themselves. It's a hard question. I just wondered what people who go to free dress schools think about it.

[popcornbird]

Although I don't like being forced to wear something in particular, I like uniforms in the sense that then, those wierd girls can't wear their nasty tight, half naked clothes that make everyone gag, to school. I HATE HATE HATE the clothes some girls wear here at school. It makes me want to puke. :eek: They have so little sense of shame its amazing. So yes, I do see a benefit in uniforms. Also, kids can't exactly pick on others because of their clothes style. I like flexible uniforms, for example, if its a skirt, and some girls don't want to show their legs, they can wear the same thing but longer, etc. :p I've never gone to a school that requires a uniform, so I hate having to see all the nasty clothes people wear with no shame. Most private schools here require uniforms, but most public schools are free wear. I personally love girls only schools because I think I'd feel so much more comfortable in them, but unfortunately we don't have enough of those here, for even the people who like going to girls only/boys only schools. :rolleyes: I for one, consider you lucky to be able to go to such a school, and if we had girls only schools here, I would definitely go to one of them. :p

I also understand why people may not like uniforms, and when I was younger, I hated them, because I like to be free to wear what I want to wear, however, after getting older and seeing what kids wear to high school :eek: I'd very much prefer uniforms than 5 sizes smaller jeans with tiny tight tight tight tops. :o

[Cataholic]

I am totally for uniforms. I wish I worked in an environment that had one. I could then wear the same thing week after week, and spend my money on fun things.

[binka_nugget]

I'm sitting on the fence. I'm for because no one can really judge anyone else by how they dress...which is one less thing to worry about. Also, because you wouldn't have to worry about what you're going to wear tomorrow. I'm against if the school doesn't give a reasonable amount of freedom to the kids. I think as long as they have the option for whatever hairstyle, haircolor, piercings, etc..then I'm fine with uniforms.

[primabella]

I'm with Ashley. My school has uniforms (which I was totally against at the beginning but now it's alright) but don't have stupid rules like 'no bright nailpolish' or 'no earrings'. It is good in a way because everyone looks the same so even if we do like losers in our gray pants and polos, we ALL look like losers. Those who can afford the really expensive shirts don't get to show it off but those who like to spike up their hair punk-style can. :)

[Amber]

My school dont have uniforms. We wear what we want, although I think it would be cool to wear uniforms. :)

[Sevens]

I wish our schools would've had uniforms where we were growing up. We lived in a good section of the suburbs, but since my dad was in the Navy, my mom was a stay at home mom, and there were three kids and a dog to support, we had a nice place to live and food on the table, but not the "cool clothes". And it was pretty hard keeping up with the other kids, as most had two income households.

As I think back on it now, I can see how shallow it was to argue with my mom about wanting designer stuff (which probably wouldn't have fit right anyway), just so you'd have the "right" label on the back of your jeans.

I'm all for uniforms. I think it would help equalize things, although it has been almost 10 years since I finished high school, so maybe my perspective is a little skewed by my old age..:p ;)

[mugsy]

Speaking from the teacher point of view, I am all for uniforms. I wouldn't have to waste my teaching time telling boys to pull up their pants are almost around their ankles because they are so big. I kid you not, I have seen boys carry their books in one hand and hold their pants up with the other. I also wouldn't have to tell girls that their skirts, shorts, or shirts are too short and not to wear them again (yeah that happens and with no support from the office on the matter, why should they listen?) Dark blue pants and white shirts sound good to me.

[Cincy'sMom]

When I was in school, I never would have wanted to wear a uniform. When our school dress code changed and we were allowed to wear jeans, it was the coolest thing!!!

Now, I think uniforms are a good idea. I don't think we dressed the way kids do now, even 10 years ago. Sure there weer things that were inappropriate that people wore, but I don't think there was as much skin showing as today. But maybe that is all prespective, and getting older.

I do work wear we have a uniform...sort of. Our company provides Scrubs for us to wear...they only started this about 2 yrs ago and I love it!!! We were given a catalog to go trhough and not restricted on how much to order (just be reasonable) and so i have 5 scrub "outifts", in different clors and with some cool (animal) tops and don't ruin my own clothes. ( I'm a chemist)

[babolaypo65]

I'm with Mugsy. As a former middle school and high school teacher I would have LOVED it if the school had uniforms. So much time wasted on all that stuff. Looking back I wish we had had uniforms in school. I too tried to keep up. My family got by okay, but did not have the money for all my silly fashion whims.

Finally, I'd like someone to do a study on long term results. I suspect that adults who wore uniforms as school kids may make more responsible clothing choices when they enter the work force.

[mugsy]

You can't believe the parents that don't want uniforms. They say it interferes with their freedoms. I just want to smack them. The ones that kill me are the ones that say that the clothes where the girls have half the butt hanging out or a skirt so short that they can't sit comfortably and the shirts so tight and so short that they leave nothing to the imagination are "cute." And they are also the parents and get all nasty when their daughter gets propositioned. "DUH!" Uniforms would totally eliminate that kind of crap. Sorry, I'm just venting.

[Cincy'sMom]

I played softball with a woman who is on the school board of her children's elementary school. This school decided to adopte an optional uniform policy...if the parents choose to dress the kids in a uniform, we suggest, blah, blah , blah. This is voluntary...the kids to DO NOT have to wear the uniform.

One night after a game we all went to eat at one of our team sponser's restaraunts. She gets a call on her cell phone from a friend whose kids also go to the same school. This woman is ouraged. She and a group of parents are talking to a lawyer to sue because of the uniforms. I don't know what the end result of all this is/was, that was one of our last games. Just seems a little silly to me, let's sue over a Voluntary dress code?!?:rolleyes:

[mugsy]

What premise is she going to use for her lawsuit? :rolleyes:

[Cincy'sMom]

Who knows...I don't know if it ever went anywhere or not...haven't seen anything in the paper.

We are having a softball team dinner on the 25th, I'll ask then what is going on.

[Uabassoon]

When I was in elementary school I had to wear a uniform, it was one of those pleaded jumpers. I didn't mind it too much, especially since most of the kids there had a lot more money than my family I knew I would have felt bad as a kid not being able to afford the clothes that they wore. My only issue with uniforms where girls have to wear their shirts tucked in, is that it really sucks for girls like me who have issues with their big booty :) . Picture Jeniffer Lopez butt on steriods.

[RICHARD]

Dress codes focus on girls.
Schools clamp down on skimpy clothing.

By Evan
Henerson and
Valerie
Kuklenski
Staff Writers


WOODLAND
HILLS --
Midway through
praising the
grooming
habits of Taft
High School's
student
population,
Assistant Principal Sharon Thomas spotted someone in
need of an adjustment.
"Sara, don't forget to pull that shirt down," Thomas said to a
thin blonde, who tugged down her skin-tight white shirt so it
covered the waistband of her olive-color pants. Her midriff
no longer exposed, the honor student was back in
compliance with the school dress code.
As hundreds of thousands of students return to class this
week, so, too, do principals and teachers to their seasonal
roles as campus fashion police. But instead of sniffing out
teenagers in baggy pants or gang-inspired clothes and
hats, as they've had to do in years past, school officials
have a new target: girls in skimpy shorts, plunging tops
and micro-miniskirts.
"I guess the fad is to have the lower-cut pants and the
higher tops," Thomas said. "That may be fine for the beach
or for going out with their friends, but for school, it's not
appropriate.
"Students are here for instructional purposes, and any time
you have that extra skin showing, it's a distraction."
While the wholesome look of teen idol Hilary Duff is still
popular, it's the tantalizing, you-know-you-want-it look of
pop stars Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera that the
kids want _ and that their teachers discourage.
"It's what the stores are selling," said Sandra Lee Collins,
principal at Christopher Columbus Middle School in
Canoga Park. "The stores are selling whoever the kids
watch or see on TV or in the movies. That could be good or
bad, depending upon how you look at it."
During the summer's final back-to-school shopping
weekend, some retailers at Westfield Shoppingtown
Topanga enticed customers with photo displays and
mannequins that showed off their latest hip-huggers,
lingerie-style camisoles and pleated micro-mini plaid
skirts. Abercrombie & Fitch had a sales counter display of
its quarterly magazine-catalog, with the wrapper touting it
as "the Sex Ed Issue."
"People decide who they are based on what they're
wearing," said Tal Gozani, curator to Lauren Greenfield's
"Girl Culture" photo exhibition that opened this week at the
Skirball Cultural Center. "The kids are so preoccupied and
it comes up in every interview I read.
"By manipulating what they wear, they can manipulate how
people view them. Some girls like that kind of power, and
some don't."
And it's not just high schoolers who are faced with this
situation. Middle school preteens who, upon receiving their
end-of-summer dress code reminder, sometimes have
been driven back to the mall in search of code-worthy
clothing.
Browsing the racks of American Eagle Outfitters with her
mother, 13-year-old Stephanie Walsh said she likes her
school's dress code, which forbids low-slung pants, short
shorts and spaghetti-strap tops.
"It makes our school nicer and neater and clean-looking,"
said the eighth-grader at Millikan Performing Arts Magnet
School in Sherman Oaks. "The girls can get out of hand _
the boys, too."
Principal Norman Isaacs uses myriad tactics to make sure
students abide by the school's dress code. He calls
parents of violators to demand a change of outfit or
assigns clothing scofflaws after-school chores.
He also photographs inappropriately dressed students
and sends the images to parents with the caption, "Do you
know this child?"
Carol Vaughn, whose daughter, Jessica, has run afoul of
the dress code at Granada Hills High School, said such
policies are too restrictive and are crafted without regard to
Southern California's warm weather.
"It's difficult in the Valley for kids to know how to dress,
particularly when they're imposed with a very strict dress
code," Carol Vaughn said. "With the heat factor and with
what is available in stores for them to buy, it's especially
difficult for the girls."
"Cool," however, was not the intent of 12-year-old Marita
Lawson, who turned up for the first day of school at
Columbus Middle School dressed to test dress code
boundaries.
While Marita wasn't showing skin, she figured the holes in
her shoes and the chain in her pocket were probably worth
a citation or two. Her friend Adriana Calderon, also 12,
sported boots, a plaid hat, spiked collar and a leather
trench coat over a Pink Floyd T-shirt.
"My mom said I look cute and I seriously take that offensive
because that's not cool right there," said Marita.
"We're not trying to look cute."
----------------------------




The pics that went with this story were really funny....

Carol Vaughn's daughter was dressed like a street walker...the girl had on a pair of short shorts and a bandana/halter on...


parents want the schools to teach the kids-
how can they if the parents don't teach the kids to follow simple rules???

the stupid kids defy the rules, get in trouble and the parents go ballisitic, lolololol, had they taught their kids to repsect the rules do you think they would have that problem?

[catland]

Looking back, as someone who was in High School in the early 70's, I think uniforms would have been a great idea. You aren't in school for "self expression" - you are in school to get an education. I think students would moan and complain for a couple of weeks and then they'd get over it.

My only hesitation is that the people on the selection committee would select something really goofy. Perhaps at the high-school level, they could have the students vote on the design.

Cataholic - I know what you mean sometimes - my life was much simpler when I worked at a grocery store - white shirt, dark pants - I shopped at Goodwill and was able to spend my money putting myself through college.:D

[Edwina's Secretary]

If I had had a daughter she would have gone to an all girls school with uniforms.

If you need to express your creativity -- take an art class.

Although I was quite the fashion plate in high school we were not even allowed to wear slacks.

Uniforms take away distractions such as gang colors, economic status, and indecent exposure.

Girls do as well or better than boys in math and science until puberty -- when those hormones kick in and becomes "uncool" for females to be smart. (Every time I see a commercial where glasses and slicked back or short hair stands for smart I want to scream. Think "My Big Fat Greek Wedding!") When girls attend single sex schools they answer questions in class more, participate better, take more leadership roles and are called on more by teachers.

(My niece has always ben grateful she didn't come to live with me until she was in college!)

[Chinadoll]

Uniforms aren't necessarily a bad thing. I went to an all girls catholic high school. Ugly brown uniforms. Some girls would try to push the limit by having their skirts shorter than was allowed. Could never figure out why. Even with a shorter skirt it was still ugly. Besides at least once a year we had skirt checks for length. We had to kneel. If your skirt did not touch the floor while kneeling you got a demerit. Even though the uniforms were ugly, it was a blessing to never have to figure out what to wear everyday. I could be dressed and ready in 15 minutes. Besides it was an all girls school...not like there was anyone to impress.

It was a shock when I hit college. After years of wearing uniforms, suddenly I had to pick out something to wear every morning. Jeans, a tank top and flip flops came to be my uniform. Never could figure out why most of the sorority girls came to class in itty bitty skirts and spike heels. I love dressing up and wearing skirts and heels, but not for school. Walking across campus in a little skirt and heels is not my idea of fun.

[carole]

My daughter will attend intermediate school next year, and this will be the first time she has to wear a uniform, it does not bother her, and frankly I can't wait, no more having to buy fashionable but practical clothes for school, no decisions, is that going to be warm or cool enough for the weather today. etc etc.

I love buying her clothes, so now I can just get real cute stuff for going out , so that will be good, also as girl's can be very competitive, there is none of that with the uniform in place, so I am all for it.
Most intermediate and high schools in NZ also have uniforms, and I am thankful for that.

Now whether it will be easier on my pocket, I have yet to find out, But somehow I doubt it.

A lot of parent's buy second hand uniforms in good order, especially for the two years at intermediate, and of course this is when the kids are growing so fast.

One thing though, I do think they could modernise the uniforms a little to go with trends, I know of one high school who has bootleg pants, so just some little changes, would be nice to see, like something different from when I was at high school