UK and School Uniforms - good idea or not?
 

Are you with the idea that school uniforms “enhance learning environments” and “increase commitment” to education or do you think it puts a block on kids’ freedom?

i agree with school uniforms

but not because i think they enhance learning environments or increase commitment

Here in Australia every single school has uniforms then you hit univeristy / college and there gone. Uniforms are boring and don't let children express themselves.

I love it, in the UK. :flutter:
Here the weather is hot 95% of the year, so the uniform is just a plain t-shirt with the school's logo, and it's... meh :bored:

Is it not a good thing that children learn to express themselves with words instead of material possessions?

I think they are a good thing. ...takes away the pressure of kids having to have the latest best clothes to keep up with their friends.

Uniforms are a good thing. The kids whose parents don't have the money to buy the designer clothes and shoes would be picked on and ridiculed. Some of the youth of today are shallow and about material things.

That's an overused excuse imo

We have regular non uniform days and this has never happened

https://t3.ftcdn.net/jpg/01/42/08/40...UxCfbOFFOP.jpg

...of course...remind the 'lil blighters that they're not free yet

Mark L

I agree with this.:wavey:

I loved my school uniform
Many others did not however.

I don't think really a uniform enhances learning at all.
I think if a child hates the uniform,that is more likely to rub off as to affecting learning too.

I agree with you in some ways but it depends on the child, some kids aren't into labels and designer stuff and some are, so you don't know what pressures non uniform days put on parents or kids, uniforms are a godsend you know what you are putting on every morning so it takes away so the angst about what you are going through wear especially for girls, there are enough school holidays to express yourself clothes wise

I used to be absolutely furious that school uniform was a thing but it really doesn't bother me in the slightest now

ALso the choice of clothes available to boys to wear has remained pretty constant over the decades while girls clothes and trends are far trickier to navigate

I'm more in favour of a dress code than a strict uniform policy, Uniforms are a bit of a con and they're only enforced in order for schools to squeeze money out of parents.

School uniforms are a form of identification, which is of most importance if worse comes to worst. I'd sooner stick my child in the ugliest uniform you've ever seen if it meant that they were safer.

yes, school uniforms look so classy and nice :)

You dont buy the uniforms from the schools though. I think they're great for all the reasons Cherie said above. My only issue when I was going to school was girls had to wear skirts and that really pissed me off, thats changed now though, my daughter has a choice between pants and skirt

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In my experience, I did have to buy certain items of uniform from the school (with them getting the cut of profits from bulk-buying from a retailer) - though this was mainly stuff with the school crest, and our house colours, on.

With our school you either bought it from a certain shop in which the school profited from or you bought it from the school itself.

Our school was terrible for cash grabs involving uniforms, they'd basically hold people to ransom over it and the uniforms were of trash quality so you'd have to go through multiple items a year since they'd wear out quickly.

As much as wearing one was awful i think it's a good idea.

If they wasn't uniforms people who are poor and can't afford the nike etc would get taken the piss out of. It makes people look smarter too which looks good on the school because in England you would get people wearing track suits and looking all scruffy.

Uniforms don't cause issues as not wearing it would.

If someone can only "express themselves" through the clothes they wear, they need to find better ways of doing it. Sure, uniforms are boring but it's school, kids have plenty of time to wear what they want in their own time.

Some of us have to wear uniforms to work too and it doesn't hinder expression of personality or the ability to get the work done in anyway. Of course most of us would rather wear clothes of our own choosing all the time but wearing a uniform for things like school and work isn't really that big a deal (as long as the uniform standards are reasonable, which admittedly isn't always the case).

What do you guys think about other countries (aka America) not following suit (allow the pun)?

I don't really understand this point of view because it happens anyway with whoever cannot afford the smartest pair of black shoes, whose shirt isn't ironed nicely, whose hair needs a cut/isn't the latest style :shrug: it's always going to be a problem.

Plus Nikes/football boots are a factor of school anyway when it comes to sports/games.

Not to say I'm against uniforms - I'm not really - I just don't understand this argument.

Same in the UK. Colleges/Unis don't have uniforms.

But that money is spent on uniforms so...?

Also, around here uniforms aren't bought direct from the school.

You buy shirt/jumper/trousers in the appropriate colours.

Colleges do (depending on the course you do)

Which courses?

A jumper with the name of the college doesn't count as a uniform, they're optional. :nono:

And a uniform in PE is kind of obvious, if you play for a team you want to be identifiable as part of that team.

Well from my college Public services, hair and beauty

But i did travel and tourism and i had to wear a uniform for it and i didnt have an optional choice. You had to wear it. But all the courses uniform are different.

Some sixth forms in Liverpool (Bluecoat for one) have a uniform for sixth form. I don't think it's just a primary/high school thing a lot of the time.

What has wearing a school uniform got to do with children expressing themselves? They are in school to learn an education and have plenty of free time after school and at weekends/holidays to wear their out of school clothing.

Yeah, but that's different. In courses like that uniforms are required for health and safety/cleanliness reasons. Hairdressers tend to wear overalls with a material that prevents much of the hair from sticking to them, ruining their regular clothes. And then they also handle bleaches/hair dyes etc.

It's like catering/food tech students, they wear a uniform not for the sake of it but because of the nature of the stuff they're doing.

Hahaha free time. You do make me laugh :joker:

I finish school, when i get home I have an hour to sit and relax, so my own thing, then I have dinner for an hour, then I follow my revision timetable for the day, then have my evening downtime and before I know it's time to sleep.

The weekends no different because if I'm not revising and up for going out with friends, they're revising. And vice versa.

I really think UK schools would benefit from having no uniform. If not to make people to more comfortable, but to encourage 'naughty' students who bunk all the time to quit complaining and turn up.

School uniforms look really tacky and ugly.

So, the solution to constant revision and school work is to abolish uniforms because student have a lack of expression?

Snowflake times indeed.

No it was just in response to the comment about free time.

Well school children do get a lot of free time.

I imagine your jam-packed revision schedule is only around exam periods.

I don't get this 'express yourself' why do you need to express yourself at school? the only reason why they would want to express themselves is to impress people. You go to school to learn not to impress anyone. There's no one there to impress because it's not important to express yourself at school.

I don't see why you need clothes to speak for you and "express you" either.

Most kids opt for the latest trainers, trend at the high street stores. So wearing manufactured mass produced styles/clothes isn't really expressing anything other than "Look what my mum can afford".

Who actually bunks because of school uniform though? People who truant do it because they can't be bothered to turn up in the first place not because they want to wear their own thing.