On stupid uniform rules, and how to explain them to children (wrong shade of grey??)

[SouthLondonDaddy]

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/sep/07/grey-school-bars-pupils-wrong-shade-trousers-kepier-school-uniform

This happened in a state co-ed secondary near Sunderland.

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Pupils were forced to line up in the rain outside the gates of Kepier school in Houghton-le-Spring this week while teachers checked to see whether they were wearing the right £15.99 trousers in the correct colour.
[…]
Several pupils who were found not to be wearing the stipulated charcoal grey trousers from Sunderland firm Total Sport were sent home or banned from classes.
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This is one of the reasons why I am against uniform codes, at least those daftly implemented.

I understand dressing alike removes one potential cause for bullyism, and doesn’t put pressure on the poorer kids to follow the latest trends – although it remains to be seen whether bullyism is more or less frequent in countries with no uniform codes.

But checking the correct shade of grey in the rain seems like a total waste of time! My main concern is that this kind of Taliban approach is counterproductive, because students may be led to believe that all rules are capricious and useless.

I do not have children in that school, but, if I did, how could I explain to them that spending time checking whether your trousers are, say, Pantone cool grey 11u or 11UP (www.pantone.com/color-finder?q=grey ) is a sensible use of time rather than a pedantic enforcement of useless rules? I don’t think lying to children (yes, dear, the headmaster did it because it was in your best interest, not because he’s a repressed who like rules for rules’ sake) would be a sensible approach.

The only approach I can think of is to be honest and upfront, i.e. to explain that in life we all encounter lots of rules and limitations, some of which we may disagree with or find rather pointless, but that our decisions must be taken considering the situation as a whole. E.g. in this specific case we disagreed with the uniform rules, but we felt the school as a whole was a good choice. In the adult world you will encounter situations where a job may have certain rules you disagree with (be it the dress code or else), but you should always decide on the job as a whole, certainly not based on whether you can wear denim or not in the workplace. Of course all of this applied to secondary school children – a 4 or 5-year old cannot clearly grasp this.

How do you feel about this draconian colour-checking? How would you explain it to your children?

Of course none of this takes into account the fact that these uniform rules may put unnecessary financial pressure onto parents (eg you cannot buy the same trousers from Tesco or Asda even if they are cheaper), or may be simply stupid (eg wearing clothes which are too hot for the summer; OK, heatwaves tend to be short in the UK, but why suffer?).

Oh, and the Sutton Trust is adamant that there is no evidence whatsoever to support any kind of link between uniforms and *better behaviour or better academic results: www.suttontrust.com/newsarchive/smaller-classes-uniforms-primary-homework-among-least-effective-ways-boosting-school-performance/

I've always assumed that schools which insist on particular trousers from a particular shop were getting a cut from sales.

Can't think of any other reason that wouldn't be about money.

The headteacher being a repressed control freak comes to mind…

I think our (primary) head is just out of touch with
A) the cost of uniform in his chosen school uniform shop.
B) the cost of normal clothes for children that age (and how much hand me down actually happens)
C) the quality of the uniform versus supermarkets

He has school aged kids, so he no excuse there.
I started a second hand uniform shop (Which he supports). He is shocked when we explain there are no jumpers/cardigans in it. (Ie. They are crap and don't last). And the cost. (£16 for primary jumper in the northern midlands)

I'm a member of Women's Equality Party. I live in Lambeth, South London. We noticed that there are a lot of problems with uniforms, so we've started the #EqualUniform campaign; asking secondary schools in Lambeth to adopt gender neutral uniform policies. Some schools have changed their policies to be gender neutral, but a lot haven't. I don't know if they're afraid of a backlash, or if they're too busy and it's not their priority. It certainly helps young people of all genders & LGBT young people to be themselves.

Whilst I accept that schools need to have a level of discipline and having a uniform policy does come under conforming to appropriate discipline codes, I do have to agree with OP that some schools and head teachers do seem to be going into overdrive getting carried away with petty quibbles.
There is a massive difference between slight changes in grey colour and turning up to school in bright blue trousers. That it is legitimate to query and ask them to turn up in a more appropriate pair of trousers. Sending them home to change is questionable also as this could be considered an illegal exclusion.

My first post on MN
I struggle to accept the obsession with uniforms and personal appearance that schools have.
I went to a State primary school in a tropical part of Australia in the 60s. No uniforms and we were bare-footed the year round. When I went to a State High School, there was a uniform. It was not compulsory as such, but the school constantly nagged us to wear it. The reasons for wearing a school uniform did not make any sense to me, and they still don't, after all these years and time as an army officer and a teacher among other things. The State government has never legislated to make uniforms compulsory (rightly in my opinion) but in effect they are, because during enrollment parents sign an agreement to support the school's policies, including the uniform code. There are very few exceptions to this.
One is a State high school in my city which does not have a uniform. It does have a dress code. When I was supply teaching there, I observed that most students wore completely reasonable clothes. A tiny number wore garments that made them stand out somewhat. There was no evident competition for who wore the coolest/sexiest/grungiest/costliest, which is is the most often cited reason for having a uniform, in my experience. Other teachers told me that every so often some parents or teachers would want the imposition of a uniform. It has not happened, I have checked their site.
Another reason I hear is "to Raise School Tone" which to me spells obsessive bourgois conformity.