Compulsory School Uniforms?

I go to a high school with a uniform and it is a blessing that I dont have to choose what to wear each morning. We have free dress days to raise money for charity around 4 times a year and it is a hassle for us to choose something that follows the guidelines of free dress and is something that is socially acceptable. For all you adults who are complaining about them; I think you should just get over it. Your school days are over… We are the ones who have to wear the uniforms so stop complaining. You’ll always find kids who hate wearing uniforms but the general population of kids who wear them; actaully dont mind them.

my high school had a dress code. we wore blue. we had a shirt that was blue with no logos and we could wear blue jeans.

We got up to a lot of stuff after school and during, I do remember that year 7’s and 8’s had it pretty tough when I was in year 10, but that was because the cuts had been taken away.

We could ankle tap them down stairs, leap on them en masse from our perches on lockers, and generally be little bastards without a fear of 6 of the best on each hand. If we did get caught (rare) we were “punished” with a suspension and just hung round in belco mall.

Uniforms had nothing to do with it – I wear a tie most days to work, and will forget it is on, I am so used to it.

kids will act up, regardless of their clothes. now, the cuts – that was a definite prevention tool – you didn’t want to get them, so you behaved carefully around teachers….

and then, when i was in college, there were no restrictions on what you had to do, so most of us didn’t do anything. coming from the regimen of high school to the relaxed attitude of college is a fairly dangerous thing to impose on kids that are 17 yrs old – they just don’t want to learn anymore.

Uniforms work. They flatten out social inequity, and they allow students to be identified inside and outside the school. The wearing of a uniform might help some students to associate wearing it with needing to follow some standards of behaviour and do some work.

As to what kind of uniform, a college nearby should select whatever ACT Correective Services is going to use for the inmates of the Maconochie Centre. Might as well get them used to it.

Might I add that the current standard style haircut (black with shaggy bits and and angles) looks F***ING TERRIBLE. Girls, if you’re reading this, change your damn hair!

I agree with uniforms also, basically for the same reasons Thumper gave.

Newsflash for those baying about ‘individuality’ – they all look the same already. Same tight pants, same elastic muffin topper, same eyliner, same Veronicas hair cut. And then there’s the girls…

The printing of the name is available at $5 from outlets such as McDonalds Kids Wear (not a paid advertisment).

McDonalds kids wear used to do the printing for my kids school wear, untill we were told that a “copyright” was placed on the school badge, and the only legal seller here was Personally Yours.

My school had uniforms, and even though we grumbled about them, we appreciated that for most days, we all didn’t have to compete with each other for wardrobe coolness. once a fortnight we had a day with no uniforms and it was really annoying. It must cost a fortune to try and outfit kids without uniforms.

We also had a very active uniform pool. I think in all my years, I only had one new uniform, the rest were all from the pool, and went back there too. I’m amazed that many gov’t schools in poorer areas don’t have uniforms, and uniform pools. It’s much, much cheaper.

I think uniform in Public schools is a brilliant idea. Many primary schools have uniforms and then the kiddies get to High school where the “image” thing is on overdrive (along with the hormones) and they can go bezerk.

Christian school students are offered the teaching that are based on the laws written on Bible. It enables the students to quit all the bad habits and follow a right path to achieve success.
http://www.teensprivateschools.com/

Most parents send their children to private school for the “discipline” and because the school CAN expel students who misbehave.

As someone already said, Govt schools MUST take anyone who applies to the school, irrespective of their behaviour.

True – I should have mentioned that too.

“Kids who attend private schools succeed because they tend to have parents who are genuinely interested in seeing them succeed.”

Also they’re surrounded by the children of other similar parents. That helps.

Here’s a thought Blamemonkey, students wear uniforms (especially on the oval) so as to DETECT NON STUDENTS entering the school grounds – people who could potentially hurt a student.

As a teacher, and I have already said this, the more students are in uniform, the EASIER it is to spot a NON STUDENT.

It’s a safety issue, not a “rights” issue.

Uniforms detract from social status as well. The larger Govt schools push uniforms already. It’s no biggie and it saves parents having to purchase “extra” clothes for school that contain “brand names”.

Big Al, not all Govt students dress or talk like that. I bet, within a two school radius, I can guess which school you are referring to.

Teachers talk. We know the schools better than most people.

I’m the product of a single-sex private school. I’m not sorry I went there, I enjoyed my time there and there were a lot of really positive things about attending said school.

However, as simto mentions, when you get out into that big wide world, you mix with a broader range of people than you meet in a school peopled by folk of pretty much the same background as you. Not to mention women…geeze…it’ll take you years to shake some of the deeply weird attitudes you develop towards the opposite sex.

It’s not only advantages you get out of private schools.

The shift into private schools is a reflection on the run-down state of public education (but that’s another debate), and the fact that we’ve turned into a anxious, stomach ulcer-ridden society of chronic worriers. Panic over junior’s education is just a symptom.

Kids who attend private schools succeed because they tend to have parents who are genuinely interested in seeing them succeed. If you’ve instilled a decent set of values in your kid before they hit high school, I’d say they’re more likely to be interested in keeping up with their studies, developing a healthy (and responsible) attitude to sex, and a reasonable sense of self and self-esteem regardless of what school they attend.

Putting a uniform on a ratbag won’t stop them being a ratbag; but maybe it will stop them bullying a good kid who’s not wearing the “right” clothes.

The problem with public education is also its biggest benefit – they can’t refuse anyone (unless they’re completely unmanageable). Which is a problem, because you’ll get kids whos level of motivation basically extends to “they’re making me come here”.

It’s a benefit, however, in that, once you reach wider life, unless you’re very lucky, you’re going to be meeting people with a wide range of abilities and personalities. Which means that those who have been mixing with that kind of range during their educational years are going to be able to cope much better than people who have been mixing solely with people from a similar economic/intellectual/social background.

But hey, if you want to hothouse your kid, go ahead. It’s only your own gene pool you’re tampering with.

Mr Shab, I can only base my views on my own first hand experience. It’s a sad fact that the fat, foul-mouthed, bare midriff lass down the hill is a student at a Government school. She walks home with similarly plump, foul-mouthed girls from the same school. OK so my samples small, but I’m betting it’s valid.

It’s worth noting too that the whole debate about uniforms for Government schools has arisen as part of a broader policy debate on what the Government can do to stem the flow of students to private education. Remarkably shallow as it might seem, uniforms for pupils are, apparently, a big draw card for parents and an oft quoted point of difference between the two systems. Other influences affecting parental choice appear to be the quality and variety of education on offer, compulsory sport, pastoral care, extra-curricular activities and so on. Of course, the hessian underwear sub-committee of the loony left will bleat on and on about how the public sector can offer a comparable product, but it would seem that the market doesn’t lie – more and more mums and dads are paying good money to liberate their children from the public system – now if the product offer was equal or better in the government sector, how can such a market distortion be accounted for? Basically, it can’t … I’ll leave you to figure out the next bit.

Okay Blamemonkey. I can’t fight that logic 😉

And BTW – I love your work Big Al. You seem to be positing the theory that all public HS girls turn into sluts. Bravo (slow clap).

You’re equating dress with morality (I’m not crazy about the term “morality” when dealing with sex, but for want of a better word, I’ll stick with it here.)

Maybe you could send your daughter to a single-sex private school to cloister her away from those evils. And have her emerge a sexually neurotic young woman in a few years. I’m not kidding – I’ve seen too much of the damage that single-sex schools cause on people’s attitudes to the opposite sex.

Or how about a co-ed private school. Oh, wait. There’s teen boys there. Teen boys just waiting to (I won’t finish that sentance on the risk of offending you and getting off the point).

Teens are hormonal and curious. And you can’t wrap them in cotton wool. But you can inform them and hope they make the right choice. And you know…some teens, despite all the hormones, stupid behaviour and recklessness can be suprisingly sensible when it comes to sex.

That is a fair point Mr_shab…

But i don’t agree and you can’t Make me so NAH!!

I really can’t see Canberra high schools going over to blazers and straw boaters. I’m guessing it will be something like Chalker’s earlier post.

Parents cannot force kids to wear what clothes they think appropriate much more than a school can. You doubt the coercive power on parents of a surly, foul-tempered and rampantly hormonal 15 year old on a two week sulk. At least schools are a touch more resistant to this behaviour.

Yeah, if they switch over, there will be howls of protest from said teens, but 12 months later, no-one will care. The uniforms will become part of the scenery.

Most teens are far more interested in fitting-in than being actually individual. Truly individual teens tend to spend high-school being shunned and brutalised. If everyone wears the same clothes, it’s just one less thing for teens to bully each other about.

Parents can force children to wear what ever the parents think is appropriate, the schools can not.

It is compulsury or kids to go to school until they are fifteen or sixteen, so for public schools i think it is going to be a huge problem to get inforce children in uniforms, especially if the uniform is like the private schools, i don’t know anybody who liked there school uniform untill later in life playing dress ups 🙂

Besides, you can look like a slut in a school uniform as easily as you can in anything else.

Wrong Blamemonkey – you can force them. Well…maybe not at gunpoint…but you get the idea.

FYI – the commies aren’t the only ones with a thing for uniforms. I seem to recall the facists and any number of dictators having a soft spot for parades.

I say again – jeeze, give the kids some credit. There are ways of expressing your individuality beyond brutalising mum and dad’s credit card. Do schools with uniforms breed clones? That’s what you seem to be arguing.

Sure Blamemonkey – and if you want your daughter to look like a slut – send them to a Public School with no uniform, Between the playground and a few trips to the mall, she’ll probably learn to behave like one too.

I’d rather my kids expressed their “individuality” by being better academically, their superior sporting prowess or their community involvment.

What are we a communist state?? I am apposed to compulsory school uniforms it kills the sense of individuality, if you want you kids to look the same as everyone else at school send them to a private school.

As to public school it is compulsory for children to attend until 15 or sixteen and you cannot force them to wear uniform or even colour code for that matter.

LG good comment.

That’s part of the reason I am looking at a private high school for my daughter next year. I know the govt schools who have a “uniform” and because we don’t live in the area, she has little chance to get into the school.

I’m all for uniforms. I don’t want my daughter to get given shit at school because her mother won’t let her dress like a skanky ho like the other girls.

I went to eight schools, and the only one I didn’t like was the one with a colour code (and a lot of other pointless rules – and not much in the way of enthusiasm or inspiration).

seepi, in primary school, I had a uniform that was tangerine and green.

Oh the 1980’s.

Now most school colours are “better”.

The Canberra Times has now put up an article on their website stating that principals are also behind the switch to compulsory uniforms.

Now most principals only see students when they are 1) at assembly or 2) when they have to deal with major “problems” because they are usually out of the school doing things (management) with their system’s education “board”.

My question is: Why aren’t they asking the teachers who have to 1) do duty; 2) take students on excursion and 3) see the students on a daily basis?

But of course, it’s still a hierarchical system where the people at the “chalk face” are ignored and by the looks of it, so are the students.

I’m for this – although let’s not go down the path f private shcools and have clothes that are too expensive, uncomfortable, easily damaged and/or just plain foul.

Wow – strong support for this one. Katy has managed to tapa nerve for once.That said, I’m not in favour of a uniform, or a colour code. I’m surprised Katy is either, coming from a high school where the proscribed colours were baby-shit brown and eggyolk yellow.

Caf I know of at least one Belconnen college that has introduced that system.

I work in a school where the uniform is compulsory for secondary students. There isn’t a problem with dress code etc.

Students are “equals” and that is the “mantra” espoused by the ACT Dept of Education.

Uniform costs – bulk – are cheaper than buying your children the “latest” fashions and it DOES stop theft of said fashion – which does happen.

Uniforms are worn in Govt primary schools and most parents don’t complain – we do have 2nd hand clothing stores within ACT Govt schools. So why shouldn’t it happen in secondary schools?

Students are more easily identifiable on excursions and on school grounds where the chance of a “stranger” coming onto school grounds decreases with teachers being able to “spot” them amongst the crowd of students who are wearing school uniforms.

I’ve also worked at schools where there wasn’t a “real” uniform and it was hard to tell (on the oval) who were students and who were “unwanted visitors”.

Absolutely, without a shadow of doubt, simply the best, most worthwhile, idea to come from Katy Gallagher or any of our local pollies for that matter since the last election. There’s hope for us all yet… Good on ya Katy, you’ve restored my faith in Pollies..well until Pratt opens his mouth again.

Muffin tops Aka ” the mushroom affect”

a.k.a muffin tops I believe Chalker

On the safety/alien issue I don’t think there’s any real security gained through a uniform – why don’t they issue schoolkids with photo ids like us cubicle slaves all have to wear around our necks?

A certain belconnen public high school has reinstituted uniform as of this year. There are solid grounds already in place for ACT schools being able to do this, such as following the Education dept’s “Sun Smart” policy and safety issues concerning aliens entering the school grounds (people that aren’t meant to be there not the small geen ones).

The “uniform” provides more options than what I had back in the day – choice of three colours of polo shirt with the schools name embroidered or printed on, or a badge with the schools name on it. Cost of a polo shirt from Lowes or K-mart anyone? The printing of the name is available at $5 from outlets such as McDonalds Kids Wear (not a paid advertisment). The pants/skirt/shorts have to be either black, or dark blue denim.

I can’t see how this would in any way put a strain on a family budget – the kid has to wear clothes anyway, chances are they’re already going to have a pair of jeans, and a polo top lasts for a long time – you can buy them nice and baggy and let the tyke grow into it.

As far as colour code goes, all it does is create arguments: “But it is (colour)!” A uniform is at least clearly defined and more easily enforced because of that.

Uniform also removes all those unfortunate incidences of teenage girls with the t-bar showing and flab oozing out of their mid-rif tops .

Big Al – I don’t believe good parenting has anything to do with whether a parent makes a child wears a school uniform or not… although I suspect a parent who doesn’t take any interest in anything to do with a child’s schooling including uniforms.. may have some form of affect

johnboy your way behind, supre and Jeans West are way out..

johnboy you way behind, i hear supre is on its way out..

If I ran a school I would have one rule.. wear your m*#$%rF#cking collars down unless you are playing cricket and under no circumstances can you call your pink shirt salmon… that would be it… extra grades for togas and thoughtful haircuts

I don’t see a problem with it. Most school uniform garments are still going to be cheaper that kitting out your kids in whatever “must-have” garments their peers are pressuring them to wear – that and has anyone had a look at what kids wear – it may as well be a uniform anyway!

To say that it suppresses individuality is a lame argument – kids will always find a way – if not through clothes then through hair-style, sporting prowess, academic achievement (or on the downside under-achievement), the books that they read, the company that they keep.

Believe it or not, kids crave boundaries and ritual – it helps them to define their world, to push boundaries safely and to find comfort in what are often unusual circumstances.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the people arguing against uniforms because they might stifle their poor Johnnies individuality are the same ones that stare blankly at the police officer on their door-step at 3.00am and ask “Why the hell should I know where my 14 year old son is – what he gets up to is his business …”

Bring back the cane too…

Even if uniforms were expensive, I’d rather spend on expensive uniforms than the greater expense (in terms of money, time, tears and parent-child stand-offs) of trying to compromise with my teen on non-uniform school clothes.

Bring on the uniforms – easier for the parents, they are a great leveller, and if the kids don’t like it, stiff!

Aren’t I a harsh mother?

clothes, peircing’s, appearance in general.

make them wear the same clothes and BE different people rather than just dressed differently.

Oh yeah, I get that, I just meant that it sounds a bit like “Resources will be permitted to express their individuality through choosing one of the following approved accessories.” I don’t really have a strong opinion on the uniform thing anyway, colour code seems like a decent compromise to me.

Caf, effectively you’re saying “the clothes maketh the man”. At the risk of sounding like a guideance counsellor, there are an awful lot of ways to express your individuality without reference to your clothing or appearance.

That said, what I originally meant was that if the kids have to wear the same clothes, they’ll look to other parts of their appearance to express their individuality, such as haircuts, nails, piercings and so on.

Like I said, give the kids some credit. Wearing the same clothes isn’t going to turn them into grey-minded zombies.

And Johnboy – ohmygod…like, NO-ONE shops at Supre or Jeanswest.

It’s not really individuality if you are going to prescribe how it should be expressed though is it?

I think there are many better ways of expressing individuality than showing off what mummy’s mastercard bought at Supre or JeansWest.

I don’t necessarily agree a uniform has to be expensive. At my primary school (a public one) we wore white t-shirts, red jumpers and royal blue track pants, shorts, skirts or, in my case, culottes. There was an option of buying t-shirts and jumpers with the school logo on it from the school but these weren’t compulsory and you could easily get all items in plain colours at Target or Lowes if need be.

My high school (also public) had colour code but you had to wear a jumper or t-shirt with the school name on it for excursions and so on. These were sold at the canteen and realistically you only needed one of each to cover all weather. So again, a uniform but not especially expensive.

good point about the play time… but that would mostly work with private school style clothes….. I somehow don;t think that my old school uniform colour code thing would arouse the most heinous and sexually deprived swine of any sex

Kills individuality?

Nah, the kids will always find some way of expressing their individuality within the constraints of the uniform. Give them a little more credit. They don’t lose their identity if you slap them in the same clothes. I managed to wear a uniform for a couple of years without my identity being too crushed.

BTW – I thought of another advantage. If (like me – heh heh) you can still fit into the sucker 10 years later, it can be brought out of the cupboard for some special “man-lady” time.

focus on!!

Pro’s as I see it are
-Cuts out dress competition
-Teaches kids respect for boring clothing
Cons
-creates a school culture type thing
– Means schools can charge whatever they want for clothing, if they don’t go with just a colour code option some families may struggle to afford it
– Kills Individuality and is far too controlling
– looks ridiculous

but surely there is more important things in the education system they could