School uniforms

[Tatyana]

Here's some of the list from the local girls' high....

Junior Skirt 56cm – 107cm $85.00
Senior Skirt 56cm – 107cm $90.00
Short/Long Sleeve Blouse 8 – 24 $60.00
Navy Jersey 82cm – 122cm $80.00
Red Jersey 82cm – 122cm $65.00

So based on 5 Blouses, a jersey of each colour, and 2 skirts, that's $590, not including stockings and shoes, which could be another $90-$150, or the uniform for Phys Ed which is another $200+ for 2 polos, trackpants and shorts.

Jeebus, that is expensive.

Check out the Asda school uniform prices:

http://direct.asda.com/george/kid-s-clothing/schoolwear/0305,default,sc.html

 

[Checkmite]

But all the kids will look just adorable in their cute little outfits!

 

[Damien Evans]

You should inseminate women in a suitable sequence so that the children's uniforms can be handed down in an orderly manner.

Sure, the hand-me-downs may cause them to get self esteem issues and hate you but thats probably going to happen anyway.

That actually makes a strange sort of sense...

 

[Travis]

But you can see how they can promote an egalitarian effect surely? In such a setting, children can experience freedom from prejudice.

I'm not sure how much prejudice there really is in this regard. My school didn't see rich kids only hanging out with rich kids. Sure they formed cliques for all sorts of reasons but that didn't seem to be one of them.

And if this is your solution to what prejudice there is why not just take it a few steps further and genetically engineer all kids to be the same? Meaning you combat prejudice by promoting tolerance not by trying to pretend everyone is the same. We aren't the same, kids know it and see through such BS quickly.

 

[Puppycow]

Are school uniforms mandatory in Japan?

When I was at school, uniforms were recommended but not mandatory. Most kids wore uniform. Mind you, the uniform consisted of black pants and yellow shirt. Yes, that was the only restriction. You could buy specific yellow shirts, and most parents did, but frankly, any yellow shirt would do.

It depends on the school. Middle and High Schools generally have uniforms, while Elementary schools usually don't. Nursery schools usually do, although those are fairly reasonable, as they are for nursery-schoolers. Although, middle and high school are 3 years each, so one uniform usually lasts until they graduate assuming you buy one with some room to grow into. So I guess it's not that bad really.

 

[uk_dave]

Now I see kids all looking the same, and have no idea whether I should curse or bless them – therefore I have opted for the former.

The little bastards got on your lawn too, eh?

 

[JJM 777]

So what is your view? Is it a bad idea to discourage that brand of individuality at such a young age, or is it wise to show children that they are all equal in the school system, with no one pupil beating the other in terms of dress

Here in Finland no school of any kind, either private or public, has a school uniform. Politically it would be a most unwelcome suggestion to introduce them to state schools. Yuppie brand clothes come to the picture around 7th grade, or that is the age when children start paying attention to them. I have no personal memories of envying anyone's brand clothes before 7th grade or so.

Interestingly, Ukraine started requiring school uniforms after it became independent from USSR in 1991. In the Soviet era uniforms were not used in schools there.

 

[bluess]

Blue2's schools have had dress codes - the private school's code being very specific and enforced (yes, they will call you and have you either bring the appropriate clothes in for the child or give the child a disciplinary mark) or not at all (hey, are you naked? geez....).

I liked the enforced dress code because it ensured that no child was dressed as a wanna-be gangsta or hoochie-mama. Upper classes were allowed to pay $1 into the class fund on Fridays to wear 'non-uniform' clothes, with certain limitations (no offensive language on shirts, pants on your butt - not under it, appropriately modest) which Blue2 always did (from her allowance).

The non-enforced dress code results in a lot of flesh being displayed as the adults-in-training emulate their favorite rap videos. Oh boy. And mom has to be awake enough to ensure that the small fry is actually appropriately dressed for weather and our family's standards.....

 

[NoScotsman]

I dislike school uniforms for the same reason Charlie Sheen likes them.

 

[Nosi]

Most schools here, public and private, have uniforms. I support them. The thought of kitting out a 13 year old girl in designer clothes each day is terrifying.

The uniform doesn't make much of a firewall against style. Depending on the school rules, kids sometimes have to be discreet, but style can still go, even if undercover.

 

[Cactus Wren]

Here's some of the list from the local girls' high....

Junior Skirt 56cm – 107cm $85.00
Senior Skirt 56cm – 107cm $90.00
Short/Long Sleeve Blouse 8 – 24 $60.00
Navy Jersey 82cm – 122cm $80.00
Red Jersey 82cm – 122cm $65.00

So based on 5 Blouses, a jersey of each colour, and 2 skirts, that's $590, not including stockings and shoes, which could be another $90-$150, or the uniform for Phys Ed which is another $200+ for 2 polos, trackpants and shorts.

Jeebus, that is expensive.

Check out the Asda school uniform prices:

http://direct.asda.com/george/kid-s-clothing/schoolwear/0305,default,sc.html

And in the US, at J. C. Penney.

Or Target.

Good Lord, PhantomWolf, are the schools in your area getting a kickback?

 

[nene]

I spent two years at an American high school with uniforms and I still think it was horrible. Slacks and polo shirts. I still can't wear them. I'm positively traumatized.

But my high school in Germany started implementing a dress code. You could buy reasonable prized sweaters and T-shirts with the school logo. Wearing them was voluntary, but most of us did. Or at least it was a safe bet, if you didn't like your normal clothes. Strangely there seemed to be a difference for voluntary and enforced uniforms.

I also found that with standarized dress you still could see who's parents had money. It did nothing to level the playing field.

 

[Lukraak_Sisser]

I've personally never seen the point of school uniforms.
As has been pointed out, they do not foster equality in kids, because unless its heavily policed kids do not *want* equality and will always from cliques of some kind.
School spirit and all that has more to do with how well a school is liked (or disliked) by the kids rather than what they wear.
Wearing uniforms to know wether a person belongs on a school would only make sense if the adults wore the uniform. No kid skipping their own school is then gonna spend the day in another school.
Tradition is just a word, clothing does not influence how good a school is.
In other words, as far as I can see there is no net effect of wearing uniforms. But that also means there is no particular negative effect. Its just something some kids have to put up with. Kinda like going to school.

 

[Darat]

The price thing seems a bit weird to me. In the UK, there isn't much specific clothing you need at all, at least not at any of the schools I know about. Uniform is along the lines of "Black non-denim trousers (or skirt for girls), white shirt, black shoes, specific colour jumper, specific tie". The ties are generally very cheap, the jumper could be bought anywhere as long as it's close enough to the right colour, and everything else is entirely generic. While there are shops catering to school uniforms where you can get it all together, you can buy most of it wherever you like for whatever price you can find.

Private schools tend to be rather stricter but if you can afford private school, the cost of the uniform is unlikely to be much of a concern.

That's because you are a youngster and the times have a changed.

As I recall, the blazer I mentioned cost my mother £65 in 1980. I had the same one 'til '84. It was a dendrochronologists dream, you could count the years that I'd worn it by the rings around the arms.

Yep back in those days there would probably have been just one or two places that you could buy the accepted uniform and they really charged through the nose. The PTA at my secondary school raised money every year to help the poorest parents afford the uniform.

ETA: And having a school uniform meant it was much easier to spot the kids from other schools so you knew who to hit*, must be hard for kids these days.



*I lived out of the official catchment area for my school so I learnt the hard way that a school uniform marks you out for attention if it is the wrong uniform.

 

[zooterkin]

Wearing uniforms to know wether a person belongs on a school would only make sense if the adults wore the uniform. No kid skipping their own school is then gonna spend the day in another school.

Er, what?

As Darat says, times have changed, but when I went to school, all children, at least where I lived, wore a school uniform, and there were very few parents who would have let their child out of the house on a school day not wearing it. If an adult saw a child in town when they should have been at school, or saw them misbehaving on the way to or from school, they would know which school the child belonged to.

 

[welshdean]

That's because you are a youngster and the times have a changed.



Yep back in those days there would probably have been just one or two places that you could buy the accepted uniform and they really charged through the nose. The PTA at my secondary school raised money every year to help the poorest parents afford the uniform.

ETA: And having a school uniform meant it was much easier to spot the kids from other schools so you knew who to hit*, must be hard for kids these days.



*I lived out of the official catchment area for my school so I learnt the hard way that a school uniform marks you out for attention if it is the wrong uniform.

Every Word. Especially the last sentence. Two frickin schools I had to walk past to get to and from school. The mornings were easy, maybe 1-3 fights per week. The evenings, jeeeezus!! Welshdean's kids were amazed when they asked if I'd ever had a fight. "Really? Seriously dad, at least 500?" They couldn't seem to grasp the "zeitgeist" of the day. It should be said that I played a lot of rugby in those days, "tighthead" prop for those 'in the know'. I probably had 50 fights a season on the pitch ferchrissakes.

Kids today!!!

 

[welshdean]

Er, what?

As Darat says, times have changed, but when I went to school, all children, at least where I lived, wore a school uniform, and there were very few parents who would have let their child out of the house on a school day not wearing it. If an adult saw a child in town when they should have been at school, or saw them misbehaving on the way to or from school, they would know which school the child belonged to.

And the bastards did call the school, sometimes by phone (the posh ones) sometimes by letter!
School parade time. "All boys with dark hair sit down! All boys with a blazer not ripped, sit down!" It was like a game of frickin 'Guess Who' and I was the only boy in school with a beard, glasses and a hat!.

Oh how I miss school.