Uniform? Good or bad?

I disagree with uniforms. Yes, it does make you look professional and does prevent the problem with dress codes, but I believe that infringes the right to freedom of expression. If everyone looked the same this world would be so boring.

 

Well I dunno. There's good and bad things about uniforms. Coz I go to boarding school I had to wear a uniform since the first day I was at school, like when I was six. So I'm totally used to it, but when I was young I used to have trouble tying my tie, and used to get in trouble coz it was crooked.

The good thing is I don't have to worry about what I wear coz it's exactly the same as 600 other boys. The bad thing is my school is a sort of military one and our uniforms and our boots have to be spotless all the time. (I often get sent back after morning assembly to polish my boots again.)

But I don't think its got anything to do with freedom of expression. If the only way you can express your individuality is by dressing like a million other Goths or Emos or Chavs worldwide then you ain't got any individuality. Freedom of expression has to do with ideas, not clothes.

But another down side to uniforms is if you are like on the bus or train, you have to behave, coz otherwise people know what school you're from and they can report you.

But overall I think uniforms are good coz it forces you to be neat and tidy and to behave.

 

Well you dont have to dress like everyone else is what I'm getting at. Everyone has there own taste in clothing. Its true that different cliques and groups have their own style of clothing, but they don't all wear the same stuff, but probably same brands. Emos usually wear dark clothing with a little bit of like pink or something, Goths are on a world of their own, the "cool clique" usually wears either basketball shorts, jordans, or jeans with some name brand shirts, either graphic t's or polo's or whatever. Then theres the average joe's that just wear whatever, usually jeans with a t shirt. The geeks tend to wear jeans that look a little small for them. Etc etc, ya get what i'm sayin?

 

When I went to school there was no uniforms. I am though in favour of them.

Through my teens I was in Air Cadets, and in that you have to wear a uniform. During the summer courses you basically wore it all day, all week. I actually liked it because I have very low level of caring when it comes to dressing up (all through school I pretty much wore solid coloured T-shirts and jeans).

Also "in the real world" many jobs have uniforms, or dress codes. Yet this doesn't really affect the ability of people to express individualism.

I don't think it infringes on "individualism" because a lot of kids want to express their individualism by wearing [insert current popular brand here] like everyone else.

 

Its true everyone wants to wear the cool brand, but regardless its their way of wearing what they want and in a way what you wear is some form of mark of which clique you belong too

 

I graduated my highschool the year before they instituted a dress code, and one yaer later, uniforms were enforced. I must say, however, that from a workforce perspective, I prefer uniforms. There's something about dressing up that inspires me with confidance, it's wierd and the moment I'm back in my normal clothes, unless I'm around very close friends, I'm back to my timid self.

 

Here in oz have always had to wear a school uniform. Here in Queensland we don't have to wear a school tie but we do have one. I'm use to the uniform and don't mind.

 

At my school, we have ties, blazers, the whole deal. Personally, I'm in favour of them.

I think the main pro is that you don't have to decide what you're going to wear every morning :icon_wink

But it also prevents people from discriminating against each other for the brands of clothes they wear - and prevents those who can't afford good clothes from feeling out of place.

Of course - we all look the same at school, but keep in mind school isnt the only place you wear clothes. Weekends and holidays are times for casual clothes for me - which I'm perfectly fine with.

/shrug

 

Uh...I guess it's good. Right now we have to wear everything that is specified by the school except for underwear. Even undershirt must be white. (My school is very strict about dress code) So we all wears navy blue blazer, white shirt with tie and checked pants at school.
I think it's great that I don't have to worry about what to wear today in the hectic morning time!!!
Yes, it does make you expressionless because we all wears exactly same clothes, however you can put some personality into it!!
I put on a tie with tie clip which I never saw other guy doing it, also I wear a belt that is little different from others(we don't HAVE TO wear it though) and socks that has one tiny logo mark on it...if you do have eyeglasses that's an another option too(which I do have)
So I think you can make you good expression by putting tiny accessories

My mum took me to my school everyday so I don't have to worry about that
BTW, I think it's much better to not see any crappy clothes or dirty untidy clothes at school:dry:

 

Here in Australia, i think every school has a uniform, so its wat ive grown up with, but i think its much better having a uniform than wearing casual to school everyday. If you have to wear casual every day, i personally think there would be too much competition to have the latest fashions, and to not wear the same thing twice. It would clearly seperate people into labels, for instance the goths, emos, nerds etc. and i would rather just a uniform. Plus you dont have to think about hat you have to wear int he morning, and as people have said, most occupations require a unifrom in later life.

 

Most occupations? I don't think that's true... there's usually some kind of STANDARD of dress but not necessarily a uniform. Well, maybe I'm just lucky... I work in computers (notoriously casual) for a university (notoriously about freedom of expression--at least on the surface). But I think if you're outside the service industry, there's not too much requirement to wear a uniform... unless you consider business dress a uniform, which isn't that much of a stretch.

 

Hey what's a Chav? I know what goths and emos are.

 

CHAVs - Kind of like townies? Difficult to explain! It's a British term. In my area we pronounce it "Charv" short for "Charver"

Here's the wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chav apparently they're similar to "trailer trash"

 

Most students in Canada don't have to wear uniforms but I did in high school cuz I went to a private school.

I don't think I would have minded the uniform if it wasn't so obviously designed to constrain you--like if I had to wear a uniform that didn't include a tie, I could be fine with that.

Ties are the Devil! You cannot tell me they are there for any other reason to subconsciously let people know they are collared!

I don't think it's true, though, that uniforms wipe out fashion competition at all. I think you would still get the rich kids wearing better brand shoes, socks, shirts, accessories, so uniforms as a way of preventing that is garbage. It might not be as evident that clothing separates classes and cliques when you have to wear a uniform but it's definitely still there.

You have to realise that school is an institution to teach people how to behave "properly" so encouraging conformity and lack of individuality is actually a huge plus, so of course schools like uniforms and of course they teach their students that uniforms are good for you. Essentially schools are for pacifying the masses to encourage them not to rise up in rebellion against the powers that be, and stripping you of individuality via uniform is a great way to encourage community and groupthink and reduce incidents of "acting out." The military is all about breaking down the individual and building up the "team member/good soldier--" and what does the military do? It dresses everyone the same, removes piercings and covers tatoos, shaves everyone's head.

That being said, from a practical day-to-day perspective it is handy not to have to decide what to wear... but that really only applies if you care terribly much about what you're wearing. I can't say I recall having terrible crises over what to wear when I was at schools that didn't have uniforms. That is more a concern for the popular kids, and there really aren't that many of them (which is the way they like it).

Oh... and another example of how uniforms are used to control: we had a summer uniform that included shorts and a golf shirt rather than blazer/sweater and tie and long pants... but of course the school administration waited until it was just sweltering out (well, sweltering for Vancouver, which is probably like 20 to 22C) basically as late as they could in the year before they would allow us to switch to summer dress. Every year, all of us would complain and ever year, they would allow it when THEY damn well pleased. That's control for you.

 

Oh cool... thanks for letting me know! I should have known to consult the great Wikipedia.

It is a very good point that even if you don't wear a regulation uniform, you still might end up in a social group that has a very specific one.

 

Also see http://www.chavscum.co.uk/

 

Haha I like that site, but they have a habit of missing the point and someone just basically posting "a working class person".

 

personally I agree with most of what's been said, especially from dave's point! Although wearing a uniform doesn't affect which social groups you choose to hang with and what clothes you do wear outside of school it does have major upsides in a couple of areas:

1 - You don't have to worry about what to wear, about other people's opinions. It gives rise to the carefree school days when you can pretty much just roll out of bed put your uniform on and tip up to school looking like the other couple of thousand kids there.

2 - It doesn't discriminate, whilst I hated wearing uniform whilst I was there (just cos the uniform at my second secondary school wasn't as comfortable as that at my first). I do believe that it's great as it allows for a level playing field. Someone who regularly vacations at the family beach house is suddenly dressed exactly the same as the kid who's parent's are on benefits. Which unless you delve deeper.. nobody would be any the wiser!

 

I go to a public school, so no uniforms. But if we ever changed, I still wouldn't mind. I mean, I guess it wouldn't bug me as much as it would other people. I actually see more benefits to uniforms, like what Dave and Jamieuk have pointed out.