Just read the bloody uniform policy!!!

Uniform creates an equality among the students.

Does it bollocks. You can always tell the “poor” kids, blazers tatty due to being worn year on year or hand me downs, bobbly jumpers and tops because parents can’t afford to replace.

I get migraines if the office thermometer reaches 21C. If my school had made me keep a blazer on in this heat, I'd have spent more time in sick bay than in classes

Id have soaked my blouse in cold water and warn it sopping wet like i do with my tops in this shitty sauna of a flat.

Bet there is nothing in the rules that say the uniform has to be dry eh @FishyTree Why are you going by the fucking month instead of the actual temperature. Sadist much.

And I strongly suspect that the people responding to that YouGov poll were not parents of current schoolchildren.

I don't remember this much angst about uniform when I was at school. You wore it, whinged a little and got on with it.

When did children become such delicate little flowers that they need branded shoes etc in order to be happy at school.

If only schools didn't allow any logos, including their own. It still annoys me that that I had to pay £15 for school shirts for DS for the privilege of having a stupid logo embroidered on the pocket, when I could buy exactly the same shirts without a logo for £6.

Fortunately, the school never noticed when I just sewed the same pockets onto the non-uniform shirts I bought every time after the first term.

We expect these kids to grow into independent adults, yet schools don't allow children to decide for themselves whether they are too hot? Madness.

I get migraines if the office thermometer reaches 21C. If my school had made me keep a blazer on in this heat, I'd have spent more time in sick bay than in classes.

Spain, France, USA? Most of Europe don't wear uniform. I don't think I'd describe any of them as " very socialist" although maybe more so than UK.
Actually, I don't know about Scotland and Wales- do most kids wear uniform there?
FWIW I've worked in schools with strict uniform, uniform-lite, and no uniform. It doesn't seem to affect the behaviour and learning, or school cohesion and identity. I can't see the point in it. It's just another rule to get het up about, let children wear what is comfortable and appropriate, and focus on things that do matter.

YABU. They're school shoes and they shouldn't be sending kids home for it. I once wore my trainers for a good couple of years and got my mum to say I had a blister. I appreciate the VW shoes were flimsy but as for the price tag. My DD has gone to school in £70 doc martens because they're sturdy and practical and last like no other shoes she's ever had

How do Americans and Canadians in their millions learn to wear appropriate clothing?

How do American and Canadian schools cope?

I don’t think American schools are the best comparison, considering the amount of mass killings that occur from students that have been bullied.

Uniform creates an equality among the students.

This girl game in wearing £100 Vera wang shoes.
If there was no uniform, she would obviously be in head to toe of designer clothes.
She has money so she’ll instantly be popular and less likely to be subject to bullying.

Another student who comes from a single parent background for example, cannot afford £100 shoes and head to toe in designer clothes.
It would be obvious straight away to all their peers that they do not have the money to buy designer clothes and therefore become the victim of bullying.

There is already an issue with bullying in schools.
There is no need to create more.

As a teacher my absolute worst days were non uniform days because it causes so much anxiety for so many students and the bullies have a field day saying nasty things and making them feel insecure.

I always comment on these threads to ask if anyone has any concrete data showing that very rigid uniform rules have proven to lead to less bullying and better results in England than in the majority of countries where they don't have uniform. Noone has ever produced anything! And yet the usual po faced replies defending England's mad rules continue.

I grew up not in the UK (mainland Europe). Didn't have a uniform and still managed to get a decent education and know how to dress as an adult! I now teach in Scotland where I, and the pupils I teach are allowed to wear trainers/DMs/comfy boots/sandals as appropriate, and funnily enough it doesn't affect their learning or my teaching! My own primary kids wear leggings or cycling shorts, plus a school polo shirt and trainers or boots depending on the weather. I'd find it totally ridiculous if the school sent them home for that and can't believe some posters are defending that kind of pathetic action by schools.

Obviously this is totally irrelevant. People don't have to work in supermarkets, they have to go to school, and they very frequently have no choice about which schools they go to. There is an obvious point to a uniform in a supermarket, i.e. so that people can tell who are customers and who are staff and can find staff members easily when they need to. There is no such point for school children. And supermarket uniforms are generally kept to the minimum necessary to achieve that - they don't impose rules about things like shoes, hairstyles and jewellery unless it's necessary for safety purposes.

What exactly is the issue with teenagers having some self-expression? It’s not like you get the chance once you’re working (depending on the career). It’s not to ensure that kids who can’t afford more expensive items don’t stand out- that’s a cheeky argument if the uniform it’s self isn’t subsidised.

@NotAMug

It is September in the U.K. DC are hardly going to die from having to wear a blazer. If a particular classroom is exceptionally warm, permission can be given to remove blazers but otherwise full uniform should be expected.

Lucky you having lockers. It certainly isn't in any way guaranteed in schools nowadays. Kids count themselves lucky if the roofs aren't falling in.

Why are people spending 100s on Vivian Westwood shoez

School is the place to learn you need to wear what you’re told. It helps make everyone equal, and is a good foundation for broader discipline.

Kool Aid...

How do Americans and Canadians in their millions learn to wear appropriate clothing?

How do American and Canadian schools cope?

What could schools in those countries possibly use as an alternative to magical clothing as a foundation for discipline?
Answer:

1 - The consent of the governed.
2 - Fairness in enforcement.
3 - Practicality and reasonableness of the rules around clothing.
Radical, I know...

"Uniform is there for a reason".

What reason would that be? Why doesn't it apply in the majority of schools around the world?

Whenever one of these threads comes up, people produce these arguments about needing uniform rules so people can cope in the workplace. And every time, someone asks them how come people in other countries where schools don't have uniform seem to have absolutely no problem in coping with work. And they never, ever answer.

Go on, @GraysPapaya, indulge us and provide an answer.

Totally agree but many parents seem to want to go against schools rules as much as the children and then you see more and more children who feel they are entitled to do whatever they want.
Edit - I forgot to quote!

Wow, the whole of America is tacky, trashy and has low standards? How do they manage to turn out all those Nobel Prize winners, all those great writers, artists and musicians, all those inventors?

No-one with any claim to basic standards of logical thinking could come up with such ludicrous generalisations.

Saw on FB today a few schools not even allowing kids to take their blazers off today, absolutely ridiculous, it was high 20s today.

I struggle to understand the problem with that. People in your village have signalled that most of them don't agree with these restrictions. Why should they have to? They are validly expressing an opinion and the school would do well to pay attention. If no-one could ever dissent from what goes on in the local school, we would still have corporal punishment and would be teaching creationism.

Surely it's entirely helpful for teenagers to learn that it's OK to question rules and dissent? Any good school will be teaching them about people like Galileo, Luther, the Pankhursts, Mandela, and I would certainly hope that they will not be teaching them that they were all irresponsible dissenters and rule-breakers.

Uncomfortable clothing and being too hot are not conducive to learning.

You can buy the metal swoosh plates on Etsy for a couple of pound. I know because chavvy little middle-aged me bought some sparkly ones to replace the boring plain ones on her own AF1s 😄

@Livinginanotherworld

If everyone stuck to the uniform list properly there would be no bullying and showing off with clothes and shoes, they’d all be wearing the same.

I think if you spent time in a country where uniforms are not worn you'd realise your mistake there. The fact is, wearing mufti all day every day of your school life completely nullifies the importance of brands and styles. Showing off with clothes and shoes just doesn't happen.

What required uniforms do is heighten the importance of standing out in tiny details, and magnify the idea of non-school clothing as forbidden fruit, desirable, exciting, and special, and therefore worth paying attention to and putting effort and expense into.

And FYI, bullies bully because the bullies have problems, not because their victims have cheap shoes.

It’s not really difficult is it ? God help all these little darlings in the real world of work ?

Again, a surprise is in order - young people all over the US and Canada and continental Europe who have lived their entire lives in mufti manage to turn up at work in whatever clothes are appropriate for their workplaces.