"smart business suit" for sixth form - bit tacky or a good idea? Mixed 6th

[Sparrows12]

I'm in the "bit tacky" camp myself. Don't want daughter going to school everyday dressed like a candidate from the Apprentice. There are plenty of years to get used to dressing for the world of work, so why start at 16, especially as these children will be back in jeans etc for university. A sixth form uniform would be my strong preference. And i can foresee all sorts of disagreements in Next, Top Shop etc over what is "smart". I already find myself fighting to keep quiet about unsuitable (frankly "large handbag-style") bags being taken to school - aargh, and school shoes from unsuitable places like top shop that last one term before falling apart.

They have to be leather briefcases. And there is guidance on where to purchase the suits too!

I always think of it as the young conservative look. It's beyond awful.

16-18 year olds are being denied useful experience in determining their own look by being required to wear cheap suits and carry cheap briefcases.

You would think they dont have a life outside of school the way some of you go on!

Really? Cheap suits and cheap briefcases on 16-18 year olds reflect the tedious Guardian-reading lower middle class aspirations of small-minded headteachers IMO.

Schools only do it because parents like it

State schools are not accountable to parents!!!

I think it's the small but vocal minority of parents that like it.

Well, I can see arguments on both sides really. Our school has always had a formal dress code with uniform until 6th form then suits. Always leather briefcases. ~We are happy with the school, so just go along with it, and have no problem.

Boys these days don't look as ridiculous as they may have done a few years ago. They are bigger and look more mature than the little weedy 16 year olds of say 20 years ago.

I think you're probably right jins.

I find all the 'don't send you child to a school with a uniform policy you don't agree with' arguments somewhat disingenuous. School choice is almost totally illusory in England. Most people are very limited in the schools they can choose from (and an awful lot of people find that they have only one possible 'choice' locally or even none at all). In which case, they're stuck with a school whether they like the uniform policy/homework policy/annoying subject specialism/etc.

The idea of an 11-year-old hauling around a leather briefcase for, let's face it, no justifiable educational reason makes me want to lie down on the floor and cry. Schools don't half come up with some crap ideas. But then at my school a sizable proportion of the teachers would happily abolish uniform altogether.

State schools are accountable to parents. Patents choose a sixth form college for their young adult. Many parents like the idea of waving off progeny in smart business attire, it provides validation.

It will be a suit for DD.

She is planning it now. It will include fuck off heels.
She won't be able to walk, but I imagine she can crawl between classes.

So the parents that like it, what did you/they wear in the sixth form?

We were all dressed madly. Still all got our A levels and went to university.

Yes, Hully, Art GCSE is death to school uniform. I similarly refused to buy DS a new school jumper for the final term of yr 11, so he had to keep wearing his 'grey with creative splodges' one.

He's in 6th form now. This week alone he's got involved with oily stuff in physics, mud in Environment Studies, ink in Design, and rock surveys in Geography. I think a decent set of camouflage fatigues might be the way to go. Or one of those toddler all-in-ones.

"So the parents that like it, what did you/they wear in the sixth form?"

It wasnt that long ago that very few went to 6th form. most people went straight from school into the work place at 16 (DH being an august baby was 15 when he started work.
They didnt have the two years of 6th form to dress madly and very very few went to university.

That hasn't answered the question

How can you answer the question if you didnt go to 6th form, in my day very few stayed on to 6th form. I'm not either in favor or against suits in 6th form. I really dont see that it is anything to get your knickers in a twist about.
I also said that you end up with clones whatever the dress code is.
The school just wants smarter clones than messy clones.

As said above DS wears a suit to school, he is very happy in 6th form and thriving. He goes to a school that is very good at treating the kids as individuals.

So you didn't stay on. Did you have friends that did? What did they wear?

I think the point is my parents would have loved it if I had been 'smart' for college but I had the freedom to reject that and become part of a peer group.

Perhaps this is the rebellion of youth - the early adoption of corporate culture, certainly teens have a tougher deal today than I had in the 1990's.

DD had this in 6th form but they didn't specify suits (argh!) so we had the " this cardigan can't be worn with this skirt as it's not the exact same shade of grey " etc.

I was like that, at that age - until the time I was due to go out with a friend. "I can't go out - the socks that go with my trousers aren't dry." My friend told me to stop being so stupid and get over it rather than let a pair of socks make us both late and spoil the day for us both.

I would suggest the same might work in this case. If something can't be worn with something else and they make themselves late then they take the consequences.

It's much better to be so silly at 16/17 when people will make some allowances because they know that teenagers are like that, than to be still behaving like that at 22/23 when it's just likely to cause annoyance.

No very few of my friends stayed on as I said most people didnt at the time. We went to work and trained in the work place. I have no idea what the ones that stayed on wore, cant remember.

A point of information for the parents of boys here. My dd joined a boys school with girls in the 6th this year. They can wear anything they like but have to have formal wear for things like going to away matches, formal assemblies and so on. And my dd and her friends are finding the boys distractingly attractive when they are wearing suits! So if you have a ds you might want to pass that on.......

While on this, I really loathe seeing tiny kids effectively in business suits - shirt tie, jacket, trousers. Really?

"Perhaps this is the rebellion of youth - the early adoption of corporate culture, certainly teens have a tougher deal today than I had in the 1990's."
As i pointed out teens were in the work place a lot earlier than they are now. At 16 I was commuting to the City every day working for a corporate. Most of my friends were working for banks again expected to wear smart clothes.