to think that the principal is being unreasonable

[qazxc]

the principal at our local secondary seems to me to have gone power mad about uniforms. I agree that on school grounds the children should wear appropriate attire. But he was in the local paper saying that "I've had to go down to the local garage to confiscate hoodies". that pupils wearing hoodies outside school "give the school a bad image" and that they should wear the official school coat (which is quite pricey). that (shock horror) "pupils remove the hoodies or non school coat before they walk in the gate". Is it just me or has he gone mad? how far away from the school would it be acceptable to not wear the full uniform? should children constantly be in uniform lest a middle age man strip them? i know quite a few people that are fed up of having to go to the school and reclaim items of clothing (and get a half hour "talk"). should he be told to wind his neck in?

if the rule was that they have wear a smart coat, i would consider it fair enough. but he has confiscated coats that aren't the school coat as well. by the way the school coat costs ?120 (i'm in ireland). it's a navy coat with the school crest on, nothing special. but understandbly parents are reluctant to buy it because of the cost and the fact that, according to the kids, it isn't very warm.

It's very U of them to expect you to buy an official school coat, the rule should just be plain, smart coat. I mean, your child isn't going to want to wear the official school coat out of school with their home wear so that means two coats are needed!

The head at my DS's school believes that you have to give most teenagers something to rebel against, because they are generally programmed to push the boundaries in the name of individuality when they are trying to find out where they fit into the adult world.

That's almost exactly what he said at the Y7 parents welcome evening, along with a load of other stuff on the subject, and listening to him go on about uniform, it made a lot of sense.

It basically boiled down to giving them a uniform fir the sake of giving them harmless rules to break, because that way they hopefully won't search out bigger rules to break.

Pictish - completely agree! I get the rage at this kind of rubbish, never saw the point of it at 14 and still don't! It indulges the short-sighted idea that what we wear reflects well/badly who we are. We spend so much time telling our kids not to judge a book by its cover and to treat all people kindly regardless of appearence, whilst simultaneously instilling this kind of snobbery. I also don't buy the argument that it teaches them about appropriate clothing for the workplace - it teaches them what ONE SECTION OF SOCIETY wears and considers important. Plenty of people, myself included, do not conform to these ideas.

PS - at my school (local comp) my mates and I typically sported tiny skirts, Docs, thick black eyeliner and Nirvana hoodies, and spent break times on the field smoking Lamberts. Didn't stop us being kind, considerate people; didn't stop me getting a first and an MA from a Russell Group. Anecdotal evidence/rant over!

What a wanker.

Whilst I totally support both the schools that my DDs attend in terms of the rules and regulations whilst they are there, what they do outside school hours is up to them and that includes what they wear. I imagine that the op's headteacher would be enraged by my eldest two who usually just put on a hoody over their uniform after school to go out with their friends.

I don't get the whole 'it teaches them to look smart' and 'it prepares them for the world of work'.

So they go through primary and secondary in their blazers and ties, and then they go to university and wear whatever crap they want to for 3 years...

And then they go and get jobs and conform to the work dress code, just as people have done since time immemorial without having been forced into blazers from age 5.

I love the UK, but this mad drive for conformity does my head in!