Spanking, spending on $hoes, control, Auntie goes OT. So uniforms are bad for students, right?
Are you asking me that?
I can clarify my point if you need to know what I mean or what I'm thinking of.
For one - I've never dealth with uniformed-older kids. My kids have been in a non-uniform district for 6 years now - no problems - but my oldest is only now in the 7th grade.
Personally - I prefer not having to deal with uniforms at all. When they did have to wear them it was a pain in the ass in many ways. However - other people feel differently, thus, it should be up to popular vote of the parents - not the school-district - and most certainly not a county or state issue at all.
Part of my view is because, from my experiences, there was also an overwhelming lack of insight from the school board as to what was acceptable-uniform. They choose some colors for tops and bottoms - and restricted materials. They were strict about the appearance of the overall uniform and gave no leniency to a younger child over their overall uniform-appearance thorughout the day.
My kid's uniform was:
No denim, no polyester. (because these things are evil somehow) - shirts had to be dress/polo or other type with a collar - no t-shirts and so on.
Tops: dark blue / white / light yellow
Bottom: dark blue / khaki
Nice shoes
Belt for boys.
and on and on - it was quite strict. . . and stupidly so.
My oldest (who was just in K at the time) had developmental disorders - he had problems buckling a belt, tying his shoes, and tucking in his clothes - but the school could care less, they gave him no leniency, and he was in trouble often - and I frequently received calls of complaints from the principle abotu his 'unkept appearance' and blah blah.
He was a good student - never misbehaved - but he simply couldn't do all the little things that they expected and demanded.
The color-choices were ridiculous. I found it impossible to give color-variety by mixing the few permissible colors up. White and yellow tops were constantly stained with paint and other things - never to come clean again. . . and dirty shirts weren't acceptable. Khaki pants, also, can't stay clean on a Kindergardener.
Nor can nice shoes stay nice when a wild 5 year old is wearing them all day.
And on and on - I have nothing but criticism about the implimentation and over-strictness of the uniform policy at the elementary schools he attended in that district. . . we moved away when he was in the 2nd grade and were pleased to not have to deal with uniforms anymore after that.
We had other more serious issues, though - due to his developmental disorders.
One was to do with after-school transportation. I worked at that time and after school my son was to be bused to a daycare. However, because all students looked alike via their uniforms, he was often confused with two other children - him having a developmental disorder - never was aware of the issues. He'd frequently be dropped off at other places - a problem I didn't even know about until after it happened several times and the principle finally decided to inform me.
Thus - I found that uniforms merely functioned to confuse teachers - remove necessary identity which permits people who don't personally know students to otherwise tell them apart - and so on.
Yet the argument that people give for uniforms is that it 'helps with behavior problems' and 'improves the school'
But, quite honestly - I don't believe that it's *just the students* that make a school a *bad school* - it's the teachers and it's the governing staff (principle, vice principle, etc etc) - if these people are rude to the students, too demanding and obsessed with all the things that don't actually matter (who gives a damn if a shirt's tucked in, you know?) they will only stir dissent and disaproval and a lack of coopeartion and understanding as well as involvement from teh students and the parents.
So - I like not having to deal with uniforms. In fact, I love it. But at the same time I've heard nothing but good things from others - so I think our personal experiences might be simply that - personal.
Overall - I think when school-districts impliment any drastic measures they don't have a clue as to what the 'problems' really are and they think that blaming the students - or controling the students - is goign to fix things, but it doesn't.
An non-uniform example of this is my kid's current school and how they've had to start handling the lunch-money issues in the school. . . they've coem to realize that THEY are the problem and NOT the parents or the students.
The probelm they identified: too many kid's lunches aren't paid for on time.
Their solution: call the parent the first time the student had $0 in their lunch account and push for sending payment immediately.
Well - I rarely forget to send in the checks. However, I receive several calls a MONTH from the principle over 'sending in the money' - only to have to repeat myself everytime and say "I sent in their money - it should have been received . . . " - and sure enough - the teacher had it on their desk. Or the lunch-lady had it in a stack . . . it's always there - somewhere - and eventually it's accoutned for.
So - it's been 3 months since they implimented their 'harass the parents' policy - only to have to stop because they realized where the problem was: them and their personal disorganization and overwhelming lack of communication between lunch-staff, teachers and so on.
So - blah blah . .. I wrote a book - sorry
