to ask: What's the point in school uniforms?

[allrightluv]

They serve no purpose and promote conformity. Differences in income are expressed in other ways - shoes, bags, mobiles, in fact, even more so. Kids are judged by which school they go to (state/private). Thanks to the uniform you can tell by a mile off. Kids wear brands anyway - after school, at the weekends and in the holidays, so it's not any cheaper to wear a uniform to school. Consumerism is the most pronounced in the UK of all European countries.

Other countries like Sweden have no uniforms at school and few uniforms in work life, too, and rate much higher in terms of kids' happiness etc.

I'm not saying there's a causal link, but uniforms are not helping...

smart casual maybe ok for a college interview but not a job or apprenticeship.

Even going for an interview for a job on the tills at tesco would expect to see a tie.

legging and uggs have no place in a school no matter if there is a uniform policy or not.

I'd like to believe different uniforms for 6th year is meant to denote a sense of accomplishment and leadership. That there is a level of responsibility and care to the younger ones.

Or, on my experience, it would make it easier for my reception child to identify the year of the child who showed him the v-sign around the tongue and explained in detail its connotations. My boy had non idea whether y4 5 or 6, and a usual suspects lineup would have been out of order. Never did catch the little sod.

Can't speak for Tesco but my son and daughter both did Saturday jobs at Waitrose and neither wore a tie for the interview! Clean smart clothes and tidy hair yes, because those are important, especially when working on the food counters.

Which to me, just shows how stupid some of the justifications are for some uniform rules.

I like it, wish I had it when I was a kid (didn't grow up in UK).

gives a sense of belonging, makes them feel "dressed for the job"

hate disgusting jumpers though and the fact that anything with a logo is unreasonably expensive.

still wouldn't change it.

Im laughing at the not being able to tell who the poor children are` what rot, so lets ignore the child wearing the cheap tatty holey uniform in the cheap plastic shoes (yes that was me at school, never forgotten the feeling).

You can try and dress all the children the same, its not that simple, povety will show through very quickly, and bullying afaik has not stopped because of uniform, they just find other things to bully and laugh at, shoes, hair, cash in pockets etc.

I dont mind it but would prefer non uniform as love to see childens own tastes shine through rather than them all looking similar.

Its still easy to spot the "poorer" children so i dont think its makes a level playing field at all.

usual

I'm sure that they didn't wear jeans & t'shirts though?

That is where I think that uniform teaches us that certain clothes are appropriate at certain times. Some clothes are not suitable for school, tracksuit bottoms for example.

If they wore jeans and t'shirts then I am

Hopefully there should be no need for any child to be wearing holey uniform nowadays as Tesco sells an entire school uniform for £3.75. (Polo shirts at 50p, sweaters at £1.75 and trousers or skirts for £1.50.)

I'm chilled actually, that people think primary aged children aren't too young to learn to conform and wear the same thing as everybody else. Why exactly? What do we think childhood is? Simply an audition for the adult world? That explains a lot....

I have absolutely no patience with the 'we would argue about what to wear' either. You're the parent. It's up to you to be able to agree what is and isn't reasonable with a child. You shouldn't rely on a ruling on polyester to do that bit of parenting for you.

I think uniforms make sheep - of parents and children.

Do we think it's enviromentally or ethically responsible to be buying clothes sold for 50p a time? Not to mention having to wear the horrible things.

Other than charity shop/ebay purchases are any parents out there sitting in a £1.50 pair of trousers?

having a role eye moment with the "like to see the individuality shine through" or words to that effect regarding non uniform

dear god it's a uniform kids wear not an offensive or personality restricting item

it is though.

Agree with your last two posts NorthernLurker.

school ujniform for Primary is pretty cheap and some secondary (round here)

much cheaper for me to buy that than "normal"teenage fashion

im talking buying from asda,m&s etc

appreciate not all schools are like this

amber

if that was to me why ????

if not ignore it

Yabu-There would be even more bullying to be done if there were no school uniform.
And some children haven't got as much money as others so you can inagine the ribbing over trainers, branded clothing etc.

I personally think uniform is nice, looks smart and on trips all children are visible to the teachers and pupils stand out to the public if things are witnessed.

I don't think uniform inhibits uniqueness. On the contrary, if you all look the same you have to work harder to express your difference. Just wearing the clothes of your 'tribe' is the easy part of belonging.

That said, it doesn't bother me really either way.

Some uniforms look smart, some look a mess.

On trips - it depends. Certainly on a primary school trip to Hampton Court that I went on I would have been hard pressed to tell which of the hundreds of children wearing blue checked dresses from Tesco belonged to the school I was with.

Did you only buy uniform then? I had to buy uniform and normal clothes for my kids.

My DS had to wear polo shirts with a logo on that cost a lot more than 50p

I'm against uniform. My DS's school has gone nuts and imposed an expensive, pretentious, impractical uniform, including - and I kid you not - clip-on ties. Clip-on ties for teenagers. Has the world gone mad?

I am very glad of it-my life would have been a nightmare if it had been up to my mother what she bought.
The idea that it promotes conformity makes me laugh! Have you not seen non uniform days? It is a brave DC who doesn't conform if there is no uniform!

I am very relieved that my 4 children have to wear school uniform. I think it would be mayhem in the mornings if they were all having to decide what to wear. In the case of my twin DD's they'd probably change their minds about 5 times before walking out the door!!

Plenty of time to experiment with their own style at weekends and in the holidays...

I think uniforms are fine as long as they are practical and reasonably relaxed (eg, plain shirt, school jumper and trousers/skirt _ and as long as the girls can wear trousers too). DS is 8 and copes fine with his uniform, being not very interested in what he wears anyway. But when it comes to choosing a secondary school for him, I would avoid anywhere with a fiddly, expensive uniform and lots of petty, pissy rules attached to it, because that would indicate to me a school obsessed with obedeience and trivialities and stupid rules.

I love school uniform. My dd would want a variety of dresses to parade about in if there wasn't a uniform. Her school dress was about £5 and saves battles over clothing. I need much less home clothes because she wears uniform.