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I never look like a bum, but will wear a nice pair of jeans once, maybe twice a week. When I do I almost always dress them up with a nice dress shirt, sport coat, and dress shoes. Honestly, that is when I receive the most compliments. Otherwise it is usually "Docker-type" pants and a polo shirt, or a sport shirt. I think the dark jeans and sport coat looks better than khakis and a polo. I never wear a tie, but I don't think I'd be comfortable with my third graders if I were too dressy. I know on days when I wear nicer dress slacks, I usually don't sit on the floor with them like I do on other days.
As far as my students are concerned, they do well socially and academically without having uniforms. Parents are pretty mindful of their children at this age and they are almost always dressed appropriately. Implementation of uniforms would be unnecessary.
I know what you mean. I think a dark pair of jeans with a nice sweater or blazer looks very nice and perfectly acceptable in the classroom setting.
Wow. I want to work where you work. I can only wear jeans on Fridays with a "spirit" shirt. Although, I'm about to tell them when they operate like a "rea"l school and treat me like a "real" teacher, then I will wear "real" teacher clothes. Until then, I think I will wear jeans every dang day of the week.
Yeah, in a very large way I have a cushy gig. On the other hand having such ambitious and driven students generates a ridiculous amount of work. I have had to limit the number of kids I mentor for their senior research and in order to pick they have to do a formal presentation of their thesis proposal. I had 12 kids make presentations for 3 mentorees. It was a pain.
Thank god school uniforms don't exist in most schools in America. I realize a couple Catholic/private schools have them. But if they ever hit public schools, there will be an open rebellion against the federal government of United States. A rebellion that will result in massive loss of life. Taking away the right to dress freely in American high schools and junior high schools is the line that we the people of the United States of America draw. Our Founding Fathers gave us the right to bear arms to prevent totalitarianism and rebel against our government if need be. I hope it doesn't come to a rebellion, but we will rebel if necessary. Hopefully things will never come to that though, hopefully school uniforms never exist. And they never will, because if they did, there would be a rebellion. Everyone will rebel, both high school students and your average citizen who has had enough of this totalitarianism in America.
School uniforms are wonderful.
If you want uniforms in school, then my recommendation would be to employ the "unique" argument adopted and upheld by the US Supreme Court.
The public schools have a very unique mission, that being the education of your youth for your future. That mission is not only unique, it is critical, because your prosperity and security, as well as the survival of your country rests on having a well-educated citizenry.
In order for the public schools to perform their mission, the schools "must maintain good order and discipline," to minimize the number of distractions that detract and interfere with the education process.
What uniforms do is help break people down and force them to realize that while they are individuals, they are also part of something greater, in this instance a school community. Uniforms eliminate class-ism and other impediments to bonding and developing such as socio-economic restraints, bullying, gangs, crimes, bad behavior and certain types of cliques.
School uniforms have no impact on individualism, because students are still free to express themselves in a variety of socially acceptable ways, such as through vocal or instrumental music classes, athletic competition at the team or individual level, through art and crafts, and through written communications such as essays, poetry, plays, tele-plays and screen plays, plus they can interact through student government and other student organizations.
And that's what we want to teach youth, working as an individual and expressing themselves while still being part of the whole and working for both their benefit and the benefit of the whole.
I think uniforms are especially important for young girls and building their self-esteem. They need to learn that lipstick and fingernail polish and gaudy jewelry does not make them beautiful, or more desirable, rather it makes them look like a French *****.
It's ironic that people would disparage private schools of both the religious and non-religious varieties that have uniform requirements and produce intelligent students who are active in the community, while public schools continue to fail.
Uniforms used to give employees a sense of pride, a sense of authority over their position. Ironically, in this day, wearing a uniform is going against the grain.
In health care, it's the lower level, more subservient employees who wear the uniforms. Doctors seldom do, though they do wear scurbs in the OR.
In police work, the lower level employees are actually called "uniforms"; the higher level employees wear street clothes.
I think uniforms are especially important for young girls and building their self-esteem. They need to learn that lipstick and fingernail polish and gaudy jewelry does not make them beautiful, or more desirable, rather it makes them look like a French *****.
It's ironic that people would disparage private schools of both the religious and non-religious varieties that have uniform requirements and produce intelligent students who are active in the community, while public schools continue to fail.
So you'd like to ban makeup as well as uniforms.
Do you have any proof for your allegations about the superiority of private schools? In my state, such schools are exempt from standardized testing, so we have no idea how they rank compared with the public schools. A friend of mine who sent his kids to Christian elementary school said the companion high school lacks academic rigor and sent his kids to public high school.
The town I live in and the town I work in both have school uniforms in the public schools. It's not something new either. It's been about 8 years now that kids have been wearing them.
I teach in an inner city school. My first few years there was no uniform policy in place and many students, even in elementary school, dressed like little thugs. Oversized pants, underwear showing, big white t-shirts, gang colors...
I'm so glad that they adopted the uniform policy. Parents can go before the superintendent and speak their mind about reasons for their child not wearing the uniform, but he makes the final decision.
Thank god school uniforms don't exist in most schools in America. I realize a couple Catholic/private schools have them. But if they ever hit public schools, there will be an open rebellion against the federal government of United States. A rebellion that will result in massive loss of life. Taking away the right to dress freely in American high schools and junior high schools is the line that we the people of the United States of America draw. Our Founding Fathers gave us the right to bear arms to prevent totalitarianism and rebel against our government if need be. I hope it doesn't come to a rebellion, but we will rebel if necessary. Hopefully things will never come to that though, hopefully school uniforms never exist. And they never will, because if they did, there would be a rebellion. Everyone will rebel, both high school students and your average citizen who has had enough of this totalitarianism in America.
Don't be so melodramatic. There would be no rebellion with loss of life. And honestly, it wouldn't be a bad idea... God knows that most public schools could use a hell of a lot more discipline than they have these days. This is obvious with just a passive glance at some of the horrendously uneducated people coming out of these institutions.
I can see the point about school uniforms in some ways, however, I keep thinking that a public school should not be able to tell students what they must buy and wear, unless the school were supplying the uniforms and/or families had options about attending.
My kids went to a public charter school, and there was a dress code (which did mean we were buying clothes that no other kids their age wear for the most part!), but we had a choice to go there or to go to a regular public school with no dress code. Also, at one point it looked like they were going to change and tighten the dress code, which I was not happy about because it meant my younger child would not be able to wear the hand-me-downs from my older child (so we would have had to pay more $ for clothes that no other kids would wear!).
Last, at the charter school there are gym clothes that we can buy from the school for gym days, and they are not made well, and the shorts are too short (might not even meet the dress code actually!). If uniforms were mandated, it seems it would be tricky to make them decent quality and not too expensive. (??)
I've been teaching for 33 years. several school districts in 2 different states, and can not tell you the amount of time I've had to waste on monitoring dress codes, baggy pants, short skirts/shorts, underwear and cleavege showing, skinny straps, halter tops, tank tops, shirts without sleeves, inappropriate graphics on the shirt, chains on the belts, holes in the jeans, flip flops, slippers, hoodie sweatshirts, pajama bottoms etc. No matter what you write in a dress code, there is always the student that pushes the button and the teacher that tries to do their job of enforcing the code first thing in the morning and throughout the day.
Telling students what they may wear, instead of what they can't wear, could have been a huge proactive movement~
BTW~In my current building; as a teacher we are not permitted to wear jeans, denim slacks or suits, and even denim dresses, skirts, blazers or blouses are frowned upon. Our spirit or casual days allow for the staff t-shirt (polo with logo) and slacks. The only time we can get away with denim is when there are no students in the building (in service days). The administration would like to prohibit that as well, but it would mean sending all of us home t change, and they are afraid we wouldn't come back!
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There would be no rebellion with loss of life. And honestly, it wouldn't be a bad idea... God knows that most public schools could use a hell of a lot more discipline than they have these days. This is obvious with just a passive glance at some of the horrendously uneducated people coming out of these institutions.
