Schools insistence on uniform rules are behind the times

[spanieleyes22]

I know I will be slated for saying this but just reading a thread from a poster who is disappointed that there is not a more formal dress code at work and so many people saying everyone is more casual in offices all over the place and suits are more worn by older people in the city. Yet schools seem to put so much faith in whether a boy keeps his shirt tucked in or how short a girls skirt is. God forbid they dye their hair or have more than 1 stud earring. Isn't it time for schools to loosen up wrt dress code? In the Scandinavian countries there is no uniform. Does this mean their teenagers are wild and don't learn anything. Why are we so hung up on not allowing teenagers to express themselves.

I see many people in uniform daily.

School groundsman, checkout operators, nursery workers, GPs and nurses, delivery drivers, gardeners, the list is endless

GPs don't wear uniforms

In some surgeries they do.

And do any of them wear stiff polyester blazers, trousers and ties? Are there regulations about what colour they can dye their hair?

Lots of them wear uniforms because they don't want to wreck their own clothes. School doesn't wreck your clothes.

Gp’s don’t wear uniforms. Neither do my Evri and Yodel couriers.

The guy l got to do my garden didn’t wear one either. The list isn’t endless.

Teachers and lecturers don’t, neither do solicitors or civil servants. Ds is a journalist, he doesn’t, Dh works in medical services he doesn’t. The receptionists at my gp didn’t have them on when l went yesterday and neither do the receptionists at the dentist.

The wait staff in restaurants don’t wear them, neither do baristas. Its service jobs that wear them.

I'm pretty sure the only reason manages to put his army uniform on in the mornings is because of all those years of practice...

Not because he's been able to put clothes on since toddlerhood. Putting uniform on isn't exactly a difficult task...

I loved it because of not having to think what to wear every day, and everyone pretty much looked the same. I can't say that I would have chosen to wear a shirt and tie age 7 but by the time I got to sixth form where will still had to wear a formal shirt/tie/blazer uniform I'd got used to it. My children also wear uniform for school but have the choice of their own clothes out of school time. I tell them it's just like having 'workwear'.

I've never heard of shorts with tunics before, only badly fitting trousers hence wearing the dress, plus I'm not really a trousers person. What do you wear on your legs with shorts??

Is it really that complicated to get dressed in jeans and a hoodie or shorts and a T-shirt in the warmer weather?

My sister is a hotel manager and has to wear a tie/jacket/skirt uniform, and she likes it. It looks very smart in my opinion.

@Parker231 not for some children, but others might have either very few clothes in which case the jeans/hoodie get worn for school/after school/weekends and consequently start to look very worn. Or they might be the 'wrong sort' of jeans/hoodie and lead to bullying. I have never had a problem with a separate set of clothes for school and others for home.

It’s much cheaper at non uniform - just one type of clothes and no separate school and home clothes

Bullying wasn’t an issue (and no wasting time on policing the wearing of blazers, ties tied etc) and branded clothes were the exception rather than the norm. No one was interested in what you wore.

As it bucketed down all yesterday, my friend's DD2 shoes were wet from walking a mile to/from school in them. They were still wet this morning. She wore her elder sister's shoes which she wears during her PT work at a Tesco Express - not working. They are slightly on the trainer side of shoes. She got a telling off from her head of year.

Friend's DD2 does not own another pair of black shoes - she wears all sorts of colours outside school.

I doubt this wasn't the only case like this yesterday/today

My daughter’s school doesn’t have a policy for coats. Many of the kids wear ones with reflective material in panels or that are made entirely of material that lights up brightly if hit by headlights (they look silvery in daylight)

I come from a country with no uniform and now have DC about to enter schools in the UK, so I will embark on my own uniform journey :)
Agree with all the comments but to offer the perspective of someone who grew up in a posh area without uniform; it was not pleasant. My mum (rightly so) didn't want to buy me the latest branded clothes every girl was wearing in my school and as a result, in secondary, I felt sooo uncomfortable in my skin going to school every morning. Way to add weight to teenage angst!
So I'm very much in favour of uniforms. It's a great leveller and to the outside eye, looks really smart and cute! To a foreigner eye at least :D

We're in Scotland, where uniforms are encouraged but not legally enforceable

Our DC's school has a pragmatic approach - white shirt, any black skirt or trousers (can be jeans or leggings) and black and / or white shoes (black trainers and converse are allowed). Blazers for sale, but tend to be worn only by S1 and prefects. Only compulsory item is school tie, cost £5

Kids have a bit of flexibility to express themselves, but mostly conform to this relaxed dress code

Yeah my son had to wear a full suit at sixth form but I had to buy him a new set of smart casual (chino’s and short sleeve shirts) for his internship in the city. DD has started at same sixth form and they have relaxed the rules a bit in practice (no blazer enforced now) but in writing it still requires a suit and blazer for girls. Things are definitely less formal now, but I don’t think secondary schools need to relax uniforms.