Why did schools change and wear sweatshirts and cheap blazers?

[Neweternal]

I'm curious when I was at school you had wool blazer (expensive yes in the 1980s they were £50) tie shirt etc. Now I see kids going to school in those hideous cheap polyester ones, are the days of school exchanges gone? Also I've seen sweatshirts and polo shirts in primary and secondary and it doesn't look smart at all and after the first term their sweatshirt and polo shirts are bobbled and discoloured. White cotton shirts can be bleached out in the sun. Surely no one thinks that looks better than a shirt and tie? Also children learning to buttons shirts up, tie you ties, they're life skills. What are the pros of sweatshirts, non wool blazers? Yes more ironing is involved with a clean shirt everyday, but my child takes pride in being smart. Poor kids in the 1960s managed school uniform, so I'm not convinced this is purely a financial argument. Should state schools not be competing with private on uniforms? Wearing polo shirts and sweatshirts to secondary if like an acceptance they're going into the trades and not going to need to tie a tie for work, (nothing wrong with trades I have one) but its about aspirations and dressing raises aspirations too. I know private schools still have the school exchange. What's the thinking behind all this?

You sound very stuffy and old fashioned.

I don't care what schools wear really. All the secondary schools near me have moved back to blazers (washable) after years of polos and sweatshirts.
But I don't really care either way.

I like seeing smart well turned adults and children, may be that's just a personal preference.

Yes, I think you've hit the nail on the head there. It's just personal preference. I wish there was no school uniform and then everyone could dress according to their own personal preference rather than having other people's preferences forced on them.

I fail to see how 'looking smart' (debatable in my mind) helps children learn. Wearing uncomfortable clothes never aided me and I've never needed a tie since.

The OP reminds me of a family I used to know - the mum was very proud of how well-turned out her kids were, beautifully washed and ironed uniform. They didn’t actually care that their kids both did pretty badly at school and indeed one was failed atrociously by her school. Both kids (now adult) have spent a lifetime doing menial jobs. But hey! They looked so smart!

Fucks sake.

Primary school kids should be running round and climbing trees and should wear uniform appropriate for that. There are plenty of professional jobs with completely casual dress codes. In fact I've found the higher the level of education required the more lax the dress code (I know that's not universal though).

In a lot of Chinese schools they wear tracksuits...!

Quite practical, actually.

The OP reminds me of a family I used to know - the mum was very proud of how well-turned out her kids were, beautifully washed and ironed uniform. They didn’t actually care that their kids both did pretty badly at school and indeed one was failed atrociously by her school.

I know families like this too and find it very odd.

my father won a 100% scholarship to local grammar school in 1935, he would have loved to have been a doctor it was the great depression but his family could afford the books or uniform so it had to be turned down when he left school at 15 he joined steelworks as electricians apprentice, because of essential nature of work he worked for MOD in UK but after WWII he got kitchener scholarship to do HND type thing in engineering which he did while working full time

so yes poverty did stop clever children accessing education

In a lot of Chinese schools they wear tracksuits...!

And the majority of 670,000 comments on a Chinese networking site agreed that the uniforms are "really ugly"!

I can't see the problem with primary aged dc wearing polo shirts and sweatshirts to school but I do agree that in secondary school it looks low aspirational. Polyester blazers (and ties) are not uncommon in the private senior schools near me, but many sixth-formers and all the male teachers wear business dress - suits, ties, cufflinks even; perhaps it's because we live close to London though.

Saying that, I don't mind the European look of jeans and t-shirt but sweatshirt and black/grey school trousers - yuk.

Cuff links for school are rather ott

I’m with you OP. I had the shock of my life when my kids moved to a new school and the uniform list was ridiculous - old-fashioned corduroys, woollen blazers (although they only wear these to and from school), tartan for the girls. ££££ per child and only one supplier so you can’t pick bits up from M&S. however, absolutely everyone uses the second hand shop (in fact, it seems the more money you have, the more you use the second hand shop) and the children do look amazing. They take their blazers off in the morning and are allowed to run free and be children all day but they are taught and able to look sharp when they need to, eg a church service. I really like that.

Our local primary has also just implemented a smarter uniform (tartan and shirts and ties) and they all look great and all the parents are very happy, I hear.

I think for general day to day school a more relaxed look is fine, but it’s nice to learn how to smarten up for special occasions.

it’s nice to learn how to smarten up for special occasions.

But why is that something you should learn in school? Easy enough to teach at home.

Well, you're clearly someone who feels most comfortable when you have strict rules for everything. The thing is, the world is moving in the opposite direction. More and more what matters in the workplace is what you achieve, not what you are wearing. Uniform has its place - cabin crew, police, paramedics etc.- but out there in the real world, dress codes are getting more and more relaxed as the focus shifts to substance over style. This is probably difficult for you and makes you feel ill at ease. Fair enough, and I have some sympathy for you.

On the whole though I like this direction of travel. I like the prioritisation of pragmatism and merit over appearance. And when I go on a date (which won't be any time soon, am recently widowed), I would be more than happy for my date to turn up in a nice shirt and decent jeans, or depending on context, jeans and a T-shirt (preferably with a print from some nerdy sci-fi show that I am keen on).

As for funerals - at my H's funeral not long ago, we asked for people not to wear black, unless they felt uncomfortable in colour. We played him in with pink Floyd and out with Mike Oldfield. Life has changed. You are absolutely entitled not to like it though.

My children’s primary school has just introduced ties and they look bloody ridiculous.
DH is a bank manager for a private bank and doesn’t wear a tie.

You say that poor people afforded uniform in the past. ..loads of kids missed out on going to the grammar school because their parents couldn't afford the uniform.

My children go to schools where uniform is important and enforced. I like this, it sets a standard. What other people want is up to them. If you want your child to go to school in a tracksuit, fab. However I think it's important to understand that the way you present yourself is important and will continue to be.

I went to see a solicitor this week. If she had been wearing a tracksuit then I would not have been impressed, I didn't wear a tracksuit to our meeting. It was a 'business meeting' not a work out at the gym.

For those posters who say that dress is now more casual, I would agree. I worked for an American company approx 20 years ago where one of our managers was asked not to wear such formal dress ie a suit, to meetings. However we didn't then go to work in tracksuits. If we wore jeans, they were good quality jeans with a nice shirt. We all had a polished look (client facing) but obvs the tech bods were more casual (unless attending a client meeting).

What I'm trying to say is, like it or not, the way we present ourselves is important. Whilst wool blazers (expensive and difficult to clean) are not a great choice for school, a smart jumper and shirt is (for both sexes).

I like this, it sets a standard

Does it improve grades? Does it improve teaching standards? Does it make the school a happy learning environment?

My children are image conscious due to social media - but inform isn't the image they wish to present

Of course I can't prove it improves grades or teaching standards. However I do believe that if everyone wears the same then there is no competition as to who is wearing what, there is not having to think about what you are wearing each day, there are no comparisons, there is no having to 'think' about what you wearing and what you look like. I do think that wearing a 'uniform' puts you in a frame of mind and can focus you. I also think it can instill a sense of pride, thinking about the forces. I know that I have separate work clothes to casual clothes maybe I am a bit old fashioned but I do think it makes a difference.

Some people need reminding that some of these kids are 4 or even 3 if they attend a school nursery! It's more important for clothes to be practical,comfortable,easy to change out of and easily cleaned not the "focused" mindset. Most little one have the attention span of a newt anyways,no matter what they wear.

It's not a matter of being old fashioned - it's more about obsessing over something that the rest of the world just doesn't care about. My European/American friends regard the UK uniform requirements as strange and eccentric - they really don't understand the thinking behind theories over what a blazer and tie can do, given that everywhere else children don't wear one and manage to have a sense of community, have a strong work ethic, have respect for those around them etc. They regard it with bemused benevolence as confused and misguided and part of a Harry Potteresque theme park approach to education. Possibly not the image you want to project, but that's how we come across - anachronistic, pointless, fairly ridiculous but largely harmless, like a bumbling slightly pissed uncle at a wedding.

I had a polyester blazer in the 80s. Actually they were usually neater than the wool ones as they were often washed quite regularly, whereas the dryclean only wool ones were maximum once a term, and more often annually.

I despise blazers shirts and ties for schook uniform. Completely unnecessary.

Polo shirt black trousers and jumper are smart enough.

Ive never worn a tie in my life.

I think as well lots of schools choose "posher" uniform to make it seem like a better school and appeal to those who are somewhat stuck up their own arses.

At the end of the day though it doesnt makr it a better school.

Dss has to wear a blazer and tie to school. Its an academy and its shit. Utter shit. Its trying to be a great school but all their focus is on looks and how great they appear but the reality of it is bloody shite.

Yes there does seem to be a pattern - school goes downhill; school becomes academy; school appoints new head; head vows passionately to drive up standards; head introduces stringent new expensive uniform in place of driving up standards; standards continue to go through floor but now everyone wears a blazer; progress is said to have been made because blazers.

If I see youngsters in cheap cotton joggers bottoms and sweatshirt to school I think the child looks unkempt. As for the cheeky post about me being cabin crew when I was a 20 and the assumption that my child is not so academic you're wrong. My son is very bright but that's because I invest in his education as I never got the chance due to a chaotic home life. Which brings me to my next point I left school without qualifications I have always been given great opportunities regardless and got on regardless of my appalling grammar. Sometimes good presentation opens doors, not just in employment but with potential suitors too. Your child presentation reflects on you, kids in a smart old fashioned uniform look smarter than the kid the scruffy tracksuit going to school. When you leave school qualifications don't count for everything presentation also play a part in our lives. There's nothing wrong in over dressing in my opinion, unless it's impractical and looks silly. Although I appreciate my views are old fashioned. I respect others on here and they have made me reflect.

So what though? You clearly realise that smart uniform doesnt = good grades or better education. So what is the point?

Its one thing to dress smartly for an interview but entirely different to do it every day for what 13 ish years of your life when honestly it wont make a shiny shit of difference.

75% of jobs now require a pass in maths and English. A lot of higher education isn't possible unless you agree to re try your maths and English - it's a marker - you need to pass.

Being smart years ago was a sign of money - thank god this doesn't happen anymore and kids at given opportunities based on their intelligence and hard work rather than appearance.

As for kids reflecting in parents - big sign up in our junior school about kids needing to be dirty and use paint and pens mud and sand and all other mannor of dirt inducing play stuff because they are learning - worrying about a mark in a white shirt will hinder that learning, because their parents fuss about a few stains!!

Kids need dirt and they need to explore - they don't need to be tussled up in a tie to sit at a desk