There Is Uniform Appeal for Kids in Public Appearances
U niforms for public school kids? Not too long ago, that idea would have been laughed off the table, but now it’s apparently gaining increasing support in some cities from parents and educators.
We’ve seen the issue from both sides, as former students in parochial and public schools. Can something actually be said for the cookie-cutter look?
HE: You bet. Take away clothes as a source of social competitiveness at school and that’s one less thing that kids, who are already heavily laden with adolescent cares, have to worry about. Nobody’s a fashion plate, nobody’s a clothes nerd.
SHE: I wore uniforms in a Catholic elementary school but not in the Catholic high school I attended. Uniforms were a boon to me when I was a youngster because my parents were struggling economically and couldn’t afford to dress me in the style of my rich friends. The look: maroon jumper, short-sleeved white blouse, royal blue sweater or jacket.
But even with uniforms, you could tell who was well off. The wealthy kids had loads of shoes, several uniform changes, great haircuts and every sweater and jacket that was offered. Plus--and this is a big plus--Friday was “free-dress” day, so the sartorially endowed pulled out the stops.
In high school, I enjoyed the variety of open-dressing. But by then, I was able to baby-sit, make enough money to buy some neat things on the layaway plan. I may not have had as much as everyone else, but I could look as good .
HE: At my Catholic grade school, clothes didn’t become a subject of comment until seventh or eighth grade, and then only away from school--at outside dances, at the beach, at basketball games. The kids were developing a sense of style, but they weren’t doing it at school.
Nor did they feel the need to do it at school, which is my point. At that age, kids are crashing through the puberty barrier almost audibly, and they desperately want to fit in. Traditionally, at public schools, one sure-fire way to make a run at fitting in was to wear certain clothes that had cachet at the moment. Fads were everything. They determined status and pecking order.
Take that away and kids have to rely on personality, intelligence and wit to carry them. If that girl or boy is intriguing, it isn’t because of the clothes they’re wearing. They’re forced to develop the inner kid rather than drape camouflage on the outer one.
SHE: I’m inclined to agree, but I do have reservations. Clothing is one of the few ways we express ourselves. And censorship in the form of what we can or cannot put on our backs--aside from duds that scream GANG MEMBER--makes me a little skittish.
I think strictly enforced dress codes might be the answer. Or optional uniforms.
HE: First, I don’t think uniforms on grade-school kids constitute censorship. Nobody’s saying they can’t wear clothes they pick themselves. The idea is that while they’re at school they’re there, primarily, to learn, not to concentrate on wowing their pals and upstaging their enemies.
Optional uniforms wouldn’t work, I don’t think, and strict dress codes sound like a watered-down halfway measure.
Actually, I think that if the uniforms are just stylish enough--let’s say, generally, well-tailored gray slacks and skirts and solid dress shirts and sweaters with a school crest--the kids would actually take to them. There’s a certain sense of school pride that a uniform conveys. That embroidered crest is particularly cool.
SHE: I think any hard-fast rules about what we may or may not do with our bodies constitutes censorship. If they’re not censoring the little kids, they are censoring what their parents may put on them.
I admit that, in these times of gang-dressing, I would rest easier knowing my uniformed children were not attracting negative attention. In fact, my own children wore uniforms all through grade school and didn’t mind a whit because everybody was wearing them.
I just hope the day doesn’t come when a uniform identifies you in a negative way, creating even more problems.
Just had a flashback: I remember being in seventh grade and riding home from school on my bicycle when a high school boy spotted me and yelled “Hey, you little Catholic bastard!” I was stunned, mortified. I cried the rest of the way home.
HE: There are probably a lot of former military people who will sympathize with you.
I don’t think we’ll be seeing any district-wide public school uniform policy in the near future, but individual schools might send out a few feelers to parents. They’re the ones who have the final say-so.
If enough parents were enthusiastically in favor of uniforms, that might be enough for administrators to push the policy through. On the other hand, if enough parents balked, that would be that. Somehow, I think they’d like the idea, though: easy, cheap back-to-school shopping and no worries about their kid wearing the wrong colors in the wrong neighborhood.
SHE: I’m for anything that protects our children. But remember, a uniform is only as good as the environment in which it is worn.
