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The reason they went to uniforms for most of the public schools around here (except High School) is so kids wouldn't be distracted by what Janie or Jimmy is wearing and even the poor kids would look pretty much the same as the richer kids.
My granddaughter is in 2nd grade at a charter school and she has to wear a boring uniform. I personally am not a fan of making the kids look alike. I would much rather they can express themselves (within reason) than be stuck with the khaki bottoms and whatever color top their school requires.
When I was a teacher, I hated having to deal with enforcing the dress code. It wasted precious class time, and because I worked in an inner city school . . . sometimes the kids didn't have clothes that met the dress code and couldn't afford them.
My daughter is 8, and they aren't allowed to wear leggings to school. Well, my daughter won't wear jeans or anything tight - she wiggles and is visibly uncomfortable in them. They call pretty much everything that isn't jeans for little girls "leggings" - even though they are knit pants. I took a pair to her school to ask whether they would be okay to wear. Sure they are, if she wears a pair of shorts over them. I visited her school recently and saw several kids wearing "leggings" so I just made sure hers are lose and they've been okay so far. Then, one day she wore bicycle shorts that are about 2 years old, so they were tight. (I bought bike shorts because she's tall and I figured they would meet dress code). She got told not to wear them because they were made out of the same material as leggings. I inferred from that incident that basically my 8 year old shouldn't wear tight bottoms and I'm working around it as best I can. I understand no legging in high school - especially if they are the thin leggings that are practically transparent. But I think it's ludicrous that a 3rd grader isn't supposed to wear "knit pant" leggings.
I think I should also add - I love my daughter's school. It's great, other than the dress code issue, and frankly, the varying degrees of enforcement and definitions of what meets dress code and what doesn't is why I wish schools would just do away with them.I kind of wish more school districts would just go standard mode of dress. It would make life so much easier.
The schools where I live now have uniforms. I never wore them and my kids never did either.
While I wonder what the point of uniforms is (fostering school spirit, maybe) I would have loved the simplicity of putting my kids in a uniform, instead of the daily grind about what to wear.
I volunteer at two grade schools, they each have the same uniforms, but in different colors...one is red or white with navy, and one is light blue or white with khaki. Skorts, pants, skirts or jumpers, with polo type shirts. There are plenty of ways the children show their individuality, with wild socks, shoes and hair bands, etc. As a parent, I love the uniforms.
Dress code should be whatever best orients developing human beings to distinguish themselves in an educational setting by having to distinguish themselves by performance academically. Trying to 'fit' in via a style or "stand out / be noticed / or be an individual" by external means (dress) in an educational setting, should be avoided in favor of standing out / fitting in with a group / being noticed / or being an individual by academic achievement / performance.
This is why I would favor uniforms or some very easily obtained common clothing that all students can readily purchase off a rack somewhere. There are always extra curricular type venues associated with most educational systems that will enable those wanting to stand out by dress enable themselves to 'be seen'. The educational classroom IMO should not be that place.
Though I went to public schools in era of fairly liberal dress code, something my parents would stress whenever I lamented my slow physical maturation rate was 'work on developing your mind instead'. I think the educational institutions should embrace the concept within the school / education environment. Too often it is a focal point of distraction and status. Let the formative minds worry about that - OUTSIDE of the educational environment.
Lax dress codes allow the marketing carpet bombing of the developing mind saturated with mass media marketing images ad nauseam that can become a distraction that is unnecessary in the educational environment.
"Look at what Cheryl and Debbie are wearing!.. check out Mike and Bob!" Hahaha
Kids do that enough simply on physical characteristics alone in early and late childhood.
Having lax guidelines gives more ammunition to distinguish or mock or ridicule which counter-intuitively makes me wonder why the same people who want to reduce / stop bullying and other forms of harassment, are not clamoring for uniforms more often to eliminate one opportunity in an environment supposedly for academic development?
The only issue is that after 33 of teaching and administering, I can't think of more than a couple of instances where dress actually affected learning.
I think you just want for everyone else what you want.
The schools where I live now have uniforms. I never wore them and my kids never did either.
While I wonder what the point of uniforms is (fostering school spirit, maybe) I would have loved the simplicity of putting my kids in a uniform, instead of the daily grind about what to wear.
I volunteer at two grade schools, they each have the same uniforms, but in different colors...one is red or white with navy, and one is light blue or white with khaki. Skorts, pants, skirts or jumpers, with polo type shirts. There are plenty of ways the children show their individuality, with wild socks, shoes and hair bands, etc. As a parent, I love the uniforms.
My granddaughter's school is only allowing white, black or navy knee highs and shoes have to be 90% black.
My students come dressed in their PJs, maybe even naked a time or two...
oh wait we homeschool to avoid this stupidity.
What difference should home schooling make ?
If I homeschooled my kids I still would insist they get dressed out of their sleepwear , comb their hair, and transition to a school type mentality.
I live in the adult world. Our dress code is business casual on most days, with more formal business attire (suit for both genders plus a tie for the guys) on days we have meetings with the customer. On Fridays we are allowed to wear jeans, but anyone who is looking to move up does not. No shorts, no short skirts, no flip flops, no "very revealing clothing", on either gender. Hair, jewelry, or makeup, if worn, is to be neat and professional. This is pretty standard in most business settings.
School is supposed to prepare children for the adult world. So a "school age" version of business casual would be appropriate. My children happen to go to a school with uniforms so it works for me. They are allowed to wear whatever they want on the weekends.
My granddaughter's school is only allowing white, black or navy knee highs and shoes have to be 90% black.
Yes, I'm sure many do. I happen to like the "don't sweat the small stuff" attitude better, though. Like, if the reigns are too tight the kids might rebel in other ways. You know, like the preacher's kid who winds up in jail.
My son loves having a dress code/uniform. He doesn't have to think about what to wear, he just wears the same things every day. No muss, no fuss. Makes my life so much easier too.
I think he'll end up being the kind of adult who wears pretty much the same thing every day - khakis and a polo shirt with the logo of where he works. (He's most likely going to end up in some type of engineering or tech company where that is the norm)
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