Why is uniform for secondary school so formal and strict?

[Soubriquet]

I mean why do they HAVE to wear a blazer unless a teacher says it’s ok to take it off. Why do they HAVE to wear a tie when most primary schools don’t.

Why does it HAVE to be a particular brand, especially with the COL crisis that’s happening.

My dd is going into secondary school and she’s moving from a primary school who were fairly flexible for uniform to one who is strict. I mean one skirt is £20 on its own! Madness

People argue it’s to prepare for the working world, but even adults in the working world have more flexibility

I think it varies, some of them could do with an update, although I think the principle of dressing smartly (ish) is a good one.

They should have a second hand shop though - check with the school.

I remember even in the 90s having this issue the HT would stand at the gate as we left and shout at us to put our blazers on- it was really hot one day and he shouted at me so I walked over and explained that actually I had a 30 min walk home, my bag was heavy, it was extremely hot, I had my period and I felt faint so no I wouldn’t be putting my blazer on and he just said ‘oh. Right you are. Thankyou for explaining’ I was never asked again.

I'm happy with there being a uniform but I think it should be black/grey trousers/skirts/shorts (tracksuit bottoms or leggings, as long as they are decent, acceptable), white polo shirt and school coloured sweatshirt (logo one optional).

My son is autistic and we struggle massively getting him to wear uniform in primary school. I'm dreading secondary school because I know they will be much less flexible.

I don’t know why secondary schools are so strict nowadays. When I was at secondary in the 90’s all the schools (except mine where we had to wear a tie) were plain coloured sweatshirt, plain shirt, no tie, plain trouser/skirt, white socks, black shoes.

In all the schools where I live it’s now v neck jumper with logo, blazer with logo (jumper and blazer must be worn at all times even in Summer and permission must be given to take it off), shirt, tie (in house colours), plain grey trousers for boys or awful pleated tarten school shorts for girls, white socks, very strict about school shoes (e.g not tiny coloured Kickers tag or any coloured stitching, etc)

PE kits when I was at secondary was trutex top with joggers, shorts, or netball skirt. Nowadays, it’s specific tops all the school logo on the tops and the bottoms.

I really don't like school uniforms and I disagree that it helps level the playing field between rich and poor. I was a quiet, compliant and hard working child from a very poor working class family who could not afford the correct uniform and was frequently punished for it at secondary school in the early 1980s. I dreaded going into assembly and being directed to the 'wrong uniform' side of the hall through no fault of my own. In my case it was usually because I didn't have the exact shade of pinkish cream shirt (that could only be bought from the one official supplier in the county town 10 miles from where we lived). I hope nowadays teachers might show some compassion and give children like me something from lost property. I do remember my mother getting a £30 uniform grant from the council one year but it really didn't go very far. (£30 was a relative fortune in the 1980s but clothes were so much more expensive then - before Primark and the explosion in cheap clothing from China).

Cost aside, teachers have to waste so much time and energy policing this nonsense. Who cares what children wear? School performance bears little relationship to the strictness of the uniform. It's a fad from the Gove era I think - a sort of 1950s fantasy.

I was in secondary school in the 00’s and we was the same. Grey skirt/trousers, white blouses and a maroon jumper. The same school now has blazers and ties. It sucks

I live in a US suburb where there is a very broad socio-economic range. You could call it a disparity of wealth. About 25% of the student body across elementary, middle, and high school receives free school meals.

There is no uniform in the public elementary and high school districts, and zero concern about the 'equal footing' that takes up so much bandwidth in British thought on the subject of uniforms.

Why is there such an emphasis on wealth and signifies of wealth in the UK? Forcing everyone to wear uniform surely only heightens the focus.

My observation of what happens in a non uniform culture is that when kids are used to wearing civvies from their earliest days in school they do not care what anyone wears, and the vast majority do not care what they wear either.

I can believe this because a school concentrating on education and providing comfy clothes that facilitate that is really on message. It’s all going kick off re excessive focus on appearance at some point. Likewise it’s going to dawn on school governance that being given detention for a forgotten pencil is like being given a jail sentence for not talking quietly in the local library

Believe that if you like.

If you believe children and teenagers don't laugh at and bully kids for their clothing you must be crazy.

Parents sign up to the rules. If you don’t want your child to abide by them, find another school. 🤷‍♀️

To me blazers and tie wearing seem so uncomfortable to sit about in all day. I’d like to see trousers polo shirts and a jumper . Kids are more likely to learn if they are comfortable surely

Easy to say but there's no choice. There are 15 secondary schools in my town. Every single one of them has a uniform.

Unless you can afford private education, many parents don't have a choice. You are simply allocated your nearest school.

In any case all the schools in our town (including DCs primary school) all use the same 2 suppliers....which is my bugbear rather than the actual concept of uniform itself.

I am speaking from lived experience here.

It may well be the norm in Britain for children to bully each other over clothing, but it is not a thing where I live.

I guarantee that British children and teens would quickly get over themselves wrt clothing after a week in an average American public school.

Passing through Stratford on Avon at home time I noticed secondary school students of both sexes wearing matching t shirts and legging style bottoms that I thought was a very sensible uniform. I suppose the downside was that they must have come from a limited number of suppliers.
In Australia I saw young people wearing very formal school uniforms that I imagine cost a fortune and have been hot to wear. I don't think they were all private schools.

I would love to find another school….except the 3 local secondary schools all have the same rules. DD is already going to a school out of her catchment area because the two that are actually closer are full.

I used to be pro school uniform but then schools my DDs went to demonstrated how willing they were to enforce it to ridiculous levels, while completely failing to tackle problems such as bullying.

I now think it is a peculiarly archaic and British tradition that should now be consigned to history, where it belongs. There's something very Victorian about it.

This is such bullshit 🙄 and so insulting to teens.

I've no idea why this country is so obsessed with school uniforms, it did my head in when I was at school and continued to drive me nuts when dd was at school.

Imo it's a waste of money and completely pointless.

Some do, sometimes, usually if the other children are wearing something really out there and are already unpopular for some other reason, but most of the time, most children and teens don't. Especially when everyone is wearing their normal clothes every day.

Do children not talk about their holidays/ their family car/ their weekends? By secondary I knew who had money and who didn't (I didn't care).

Uniform is such bullshit. I wish it could be abolished. My school sixth form had no uniform and produced excellent results and after a few weeks nobody looked twice at each other's clothes. Nowadays, it's suits and business attire. Ridiculous.

Some do, sometimes, usually if the other children are wearing something really out there and are already unpopular for some other reason, but most of the time, most children and teens don't. Especially when everyone is wearing their normal clothes every day.

I was in school not that long ago (2010s) and brands were a big thing.

Children bully and tease each other even with school uniform (about shoes mostly, as one of the differentiating items), so personally, I can't see how making teens wear their own clothes helps.

The only real problem with uniform is the cost of silly logo items.

Anyway, just like the monarchy, there will be annual debate on here, with people declaring it should be abolished, but in reality it's not going anywhere.

This all the way. Blazers etc. are just currently what’s the norm. Sweatshirts etc. were a few years ago. Hope it comes back into fashion

I was in school in the early 2000s, I don't recall anyone getting bullied for what they wore on non-uniform days except for the one boy that wore a superman cape, who already stood out as different.
I also have a teenager who goes to a non-uniform school currently and she tells me there's zero issues with making fun of or bullying people for what they wear.

Now different tribes wear different things. My DC’s crowd wouldn’t wear logos and in sixth form - where it’s own clothes - all the little factions gather. The ones who are laughed at the most - though not at this stage to their face - are the ‘private schoolers who dress like chavs’

I was in school in the early 2000s, I don't recall anyone getting bullied for what they wore on non-uniform days except for the one boy that wore a superman cape, who already stood out as different.

Well, I was in school more recently than you and that was not my experience. Social media wasn't a thing when you were in school, and I imagine it plays a role. Next you'll tell me teens are teased for having a crappy phone.

We could assume bullying never happens because you haven't personally experienced it, or we could be realistic about things.

Wearing home clothes certainly isn't going to reduce bullying, that's for sure.