Personally, I love school uniforms. There are two ways of looking at why there should be school uniforms.
Equality. School uniforms means that everyone has to look the same, and that there can be no disparity between the clothing choices of students, preventing more bullying. This is actually why my school doesn’t even have full casual-clothes days, because there have been complaints when students have bullied others for not wearing ‘trendy or fashionable’ clothing.
Personal comforts. I like wearing school uniforms for many reasons. Some of them stem out of the equality reason, because I can buy just a few uniforms and that can last me for all my school years. I don’t have to waste time worrying about what to wear, and whether I wore that on Tuesday so I can’t wear it again etc. With a school uniform, you don’t have to worry about that. Plus, it’s less money (despite school uniforms being expensive). Overall for all those years, wearing maybe for changes of uniforms is infinitely cheaper than buying new clothes all the time to wear at school.
The only things uniforms do is make everyone look the same. Note that I did not say make everyone equal, because they do not do that. About the only positive outcome of uniforms is that they can foster a sense of school spirit. Beyond that, uniforms are nothing but a power move to control students, and they do not solve any problem that they set out to correct.
People from different walks of life, different status, varied economic conditions etc.aspire to give their children the best of education. A child needs a good school, good atmosphere, cooperative & friendly attitude of fellow mates, and above all an indiscriminate surrounding for its healthy development. An uniform prescribed by the school first of all confirms its identity, hides the parental background of the child and imbibes a sense of oneness without any discrimination. Parents fail to identify their own kids during school recess or in a classroom on their first glance,no one can assess the children’s family status, caste ,creed, economic conditions, religion etc because the school uniform acts as a barrier to such type of approach since the colour, design, pattern and material of the school uniform is one and the same and it is this that brings all children towards friendliness cutting across all barriers.
Administrators mistakenly think it will improve student dress, reduce wardrobe costs and reduce bullying.
Unfortunately, enforcing uniform codes becomes and exercise in policing undone buttons and other minor infractions – a time consuming and frustrating experience for teachers and student alike.
Wardrobe costs are rarely reduced since parents have to buy uniforms plus the wardrobes student want to wear when not in school.
Bullying is much more complicated than what one is wearing so any reduction in bullying is hard to identify if it exists at all.
In the school I retired from there was a dress code that consisted of rules about modesty and against objectionable comments on clothing (racist, anti-anything except war, drugs, etc., and obscenities). On a field trip to the Stratford Shakepearian Festival, we simply asked students to wear clothes that they thought were appropriate and they showed up looking better than the students from uniformed schools in their sloppy uniforms and unclean shirts.
School uniforms, other than spirit wear, don’t really work, except for snob appeal in some schools.
Yes. Uniform exists for a reason. It maintains uniformity. Uniform is the bridge between the external appearance of a student from a rich family background and a student from a lower income family background. School/college would be an entirely different place if some students would wear jeans or pepe London tshirts and some would wear torn out shirts on trousers. Uniform maintains just one class of people – STUDENTS. Without uniform school/college would just like be temples where people with money get VIP entry and other need to wait in the queue.
To suck out the souls of the people who are required to wear them. Just kidding, that’s just something my friends and I would say in elementary school because we didn’t understand this rule.
Many adults believe making students look alike keeps them safer and creates a sense of unity among students. Also if you take field trips with students it makes them easier to spot if one seems to stray. If a kid decides to skip class it can make an outsider spot them easier and choose to assist them in the right direction.
Another reason people chose to make students wear uniforms is to try and decrease the way in which individuals get bullied. If everyone looks the same the idea is it is harder to tell what someone’s income or home life is like so teasing gets minimized.
Also, schools that require uniforms, at least where I live, tend to cost more so parents see it as a way to advertise their wealth and that they can afford to send their children to a school where they tend to get more attention and a higher quality of education than kids who are sent to schools without uniforms.
There are pro and cons to it. I was sent to a religious school, so when I was older and sent to a regular public school it made me a target for kids who found out and did not approve of my associated religion. I literally had a self proclaimed satanist throw a partially full bottle of gator aid at my head followed by some remark I no longer remember because I was so shocked and thrown off balance by the act.
Aishwarya Says:
I have always been against Glorifying Over Work and therefore, in the year 2021, I have decided to launch this campaign “Balancing Life”and talk about this wrong practice, that we have been following since last few years. I will be talking to and interviewing around 1 lakh people in the coming 2021 and publish their interview regarding their opinion on glamourising Over Work.
If you are interested in participating in the same, do let me know.
Do follow me on Facebook, Twitter Youtube and Instagram.
The copyright of this Article belongs exclusively to Ms. Aishwarya Sandeep. Reproduction of the same, without permission will amount to Copyright Infringement. Appropriate Legal Action under the Indian Laws will be taken.
If you would also like to contribute to my website, then do share your articles or poems at adv.aishwaryasandeep@gmail.com
We also have a Facebook Group Restarter Moms for Mothers or Women who would like to rejoin their careers post a career break or women who are enterpreneurs.
We are also running a series Inspirational Women from January 2021 to March 31,2021, featuring around 1000 stories about Indian Women, who changed the world. #choosetochallenge
Leave a Reply