I went to one of those (public) high schools where the daily fashion show and consequent judging (real or perceived) was an everyday stress. Not having the right brand of jeans or the right style of top could be mortifying. It was a constant source of anxiety for me, and there were days I would agonize for hours over having “nothing to wear”, end up going to school practically in a panic, and feel uncomfortable all day. I realize now how ridiculous a problem it was to have, but at the time it was very real for me and many of my peers.
Halfway through my high school years, it was semi-seriously floated to introduce a uniform of khakis and a school t-shirt. The student body was overwhelmingly in favour of the idea, and I don’t remember why it never came to fruition. On the super petty side of things, had I never had to worry about what to wear to school every day, I could have cultivated a better weekend wardrobe, and would have spent more time learning about how to do my hair and makeup (skills I wish I had as an adult), which always took a back burner to tearing my closet apart every morning trying to find something that fit just right, wasn’t too similar to something worn too recently, etc. Less petty, I think my very cliquey school would have been more inclusive without the immediate visual labelling, the kids who couldn’t afford the “right” brands would have had an easier go of things, and it would have built a better sense of cohesiveness as a school.
I’m all for it, and wish my kids went to a school with a uniform.
I would like to point out that there are significant challenges in underperforming schools due to a lack of even food for some students.
As we cannot find a way to even fund core needs for school supplies and require teachers to donate materials from their own income I am strongly against any attempt to effort which will increase the existing socioeconomic disparities that exist today.
Full disclosure, it doesn’t help that the only experiences I have directly observed were directly related to misogynistic, religious or xenophobic claims.
As an example in my home town which was mostly LDS there was a push for school uniforms because of concerns about some women wearing shirts without capped sleeves and boys wearing gym shorts that didn’t cover the knee.
Social cohesion is good at any level. Shall we therefore require all residents of the State of Indiana to wear uniforms? Or how about everyone who works for Monsanto? Or maybe we should have uniforms at the college level?
Or if uniforms are so helpful, let’s make all American citizens wear uniforms. If that would solve the divisiveness we now face in our society, I’m all for it!
They are becoming quite common. Both my former elementary school (currently years K-5) and my middle school (years 6-8) have put the kids in uniforms, which would have been unthinkable for local district schools in my time.
For a lot of kids in the midst of one growth spurt or another, or in the wilderness between the standard cuts and sizes, everything’s uncomfortable, ill-fitting, and fairly ugly as a result. I’m talking about Dockers that look fine when you’re standing but whose hems hike up past the top of your socks when you sit down, because they fit badly around the waist area. Nothing looks or feels worse than ill-fitting khakis.
I’m of two minds about this. I strongly dislike the idea of uniforms in general, but if I’d had to wear them when I was in school I think I’d have preferred them to be well tailored and sharp, including the tie and blazer. It would have been something to take pride in. OTOH nobody can take pride in a pair of khakis and a polo shirt.
My town’s school board tried imposing uniforms a few years ago and it turned into a major issue. The board ended up backtracking for fear of people actually caring about school board elections. It didn’t help that the high school principal’s reasons for requesting the policy were totally asinine (it was basically all about promoting “school spirit,” i.e. sports). And the proposed uniforms were ugly as sin too (polo shirts in either neon orange or poop brown).
When I was little, in the early 1970, boys wore button down shirts and jeans to school-- occasionally non-jean trousers. Girls usually wore dresses and tights; most of us wore Oxford shoes (saddle Oxfords, often B&W, which we had to put scuff cover on every evening). We word sneakers on gym day, and girls wore jeans on those days.
Older kids wore jeans and button down shirts or blouses. A few schools let girls wear the mini-skirts that were popular, and a very few wanted girls to wear longer skirts instead of jeans, but didn’t object to jeans.
On the elementary level, and about 75% on the high school level, dressing up slightly for school was something your parents did for you which you never questioned.
In the 80s, “school clothes” fell by the wayside. I’m sure no kid about ten years younger than I was had the experience of not being able to go outside after school until I’d changed into my playclothes.
I perceived the “uniform [read: strict dress code]” movement of the early 1990s not just as a way of getting away from horribly expensive shoes, gang colors, and provocative T-shirt slogans, but a way of returning to the order of the earlier times. Maybe it was nostalgia. I think in those earlier times, there were a lot of other differences-- smaller class size, and the ability to kick out a disruptive students, who, since 1974, can get a diagnosis, be declared disabled, and then can’t be expelled under Public law 94-142.
Don’t get me wrong-- I’m in favor of PL 94-142 (The Education of all handicapped children), but I think classroom teachers are often not given the resources or training to deal with them.
I grew up in Wyoming and a new pair of Jeans and a button up shirt were appropriate for both weddings and funerals.
But note 48% of students are on subsidized meals, so even Polo shirts will be a burden for a lot of them. If you had the money to have “play clothes” you were way better off than most of us.
My home town also happened to have the State Mental hospital, and while resources are an issue I think you only prefer the “older method” because you didn’t get to see the “happy fun times” and very real social costs that preceded PL 94-142 and Rennie v. Klein.
My nephew’s school mandates (for boys) a collared “golf”-style shirt with the school name embroidered on it and khakis.
Other than making the boys look like miniature Best Buy employees/pro-golfers, I don’t see a problem with it. It reduces the drama over dressing for school greatly.
I have no idea about earrings or such. My dad and stepmum are raising my nephew. They’re slightly to the right of Nixon on these things and still haven’t recovered from my mid-90s belly button ring. :rolleyes:
My daughter goes to Catholic school and we’re fine with school uniforms. Trust me, the kids don’t need clothing battles nowadays to express themselves when all they need to do is send nudes through Kik or Snapchat. And it’s cheaper and simpler on the parents.
I used to work in an inner city school with gang activities and such and yes, uniforms are needed to help keep the right environment. Frankly those type of schools need to be run practically like military academies in order to keep control.
I’m ambivalent … when my kids’ school was discussing it I really wasn’t convinced one way or the other … the proposal eventually failed because of the added expense of the school district having to provide uniforms to the children whose parents couldn’t afford them … the district heavily abused the free lunch program and on that basis they’d have to clothe over half the students …
When I was in Fourth Grade, a young lady showed up to class mid-year in a pair of nice slacks and she got sent home … girls had to wear skirts or dresses, no pants at all …
I’m surprised that no one has said anything about the inherent sexism in school dress codes and uniforms.
In my school district, we do not have a uniform at any level. However, we do have a dress code and it is all about boys. Meaning, it is all about what girls cannot wear. The boys portion of the dress code is pretty short. No shirt, no shoes, no service. Oh, the shirt cannot be an athletic net that can be seen through. So, a tshirt and shorts works fine. Oh, and the boys have to shave. No bears or mustaches. (Why? I have no idea. I’ve been here since 1998 and staff only got the right to have beards and mustaches two years ago. Well, some of the women had mustaches longer than that, but I digress…)
But the girls’ goes on for pages. Technically, it applies to boys, too, but it’s really about girls fashion. If any skin is showing between the collar bone and the knee, the boys won’t be able to concentrate on their studies. Shoulder straps must be 1.5’ or wider. No bra straps showing ever, at any time. No midriff can be exposed. It just goes on and on.
It seems to me that the boys just need to learn to concentrate on their studies. The cute girl in the next seat might be more interesting than algebra, but we all have to learn how to prioritize. An office drone can’t simply be poor at his job because there’s an attractive woman in the next cubicle.
A uniform actually gets around the sexism issue. If everyone is wearing the same khaki or chino trousers, X style shirt, and X style sweater/pullover, and loafers (or whatever) there’s no sexism to be had.
It’s easy to go afoul of patched-together dress codes, particularly for girls shopping in the juniors section. The juniors section seems to exist to show as much skin as possible. School dress codes exist to do the opposite.
