Ahhh, back to school season. A time for bento lunchboxes, mesh backpacks, new kicks, and a school supply list that costs the same as your car payment. No matter where your child attends school, one thing is a given – you’re going to spend money in order to clothe them this school year. Whether you’re buying a $100 pair of tennis shoes from Foot Locker or a $5 pair from Goodwill, we are all doing the best we can to help our children start the school year with less-worn clothing than what they’ve been wearing all summer and (hopefully) a little bit of extra confidence.
Here in
Georgia, there are just about as many schools without a uniform policy as there are schools with a uniform policy. This makes for some interesting Facebook
debates among my friends. Because I have a ton of highly intelligent acquaintances
who really do have thoughtful opinions to contribute, I’ve gathered lots of
reasons for/against uniforms being used in public schools. Yes, I said PUBLIC
schools. I’m not talking about the private schools where weekly tuition costs
more than your monthly mortgage, because obviously, uniforms have been a staple
in private schools for quite some time now. Nothing new there.
Before I
go into the arguments I’ve heard from both sides, let me be the first to say –
I love uniforms. I am a huge fan and this post will be extremely biased. Even when my daughters are 16 and they tell me
they hate me because I "make them dress like everybody else”, I will still love
uniforms and I will give them these exact reasons why until I’m blue in the
face. Plus, by then we will have hovercrafts and they can’t stay mad long while
flying to the mall after school (Sky Mall, I’ve always been convinced you
missed your calling with that in-flight catalogue. Hello. SKY mall. Mall in the
sky. Get it?).
Anyway.
Here is my list of the most popular arguments that I hear as to why students
should not have to wear uniforms to school.
1.
Educators
should focus on educating – not fashion.
This one honestly
surprises me every single time I hear it. Why? Well, first of all, your child’s
teachers aren’t the ones who decided on the uniform policy for the school.
I’m sure you’re
thinking, “Whaaaat? That can’t be! Teachers are responsible for everything in
public schools. The lunch menu, the uniform policy, my child’s successes and
failures…Everything!”
I’m here to burst
your bubble. Guess what teachers are at school to do? Their jobs. What does their
job entail? Teaching your child. Protecting them, nurturing them, helping them
cope with things that may be going on at home, supporting them, guiding them -
these are all tasks that happen to be performed by teachers because they (most of
them) love what they do.
If you seriously
think teachers sit around all day eyeballing your kid’s clothes to make sure
they fit the uniform policy, you’re out of your mind. They have to send your kid to the office if they aren’t following dress
code so they don’t lose their job. Also, they can’t possibly let one kid get
away with something and not the rest of their students. That would not go over
well at all.
Here’s a thought! How
about you do your job and send your
kid to school in the right f*$#ing clothes. Problem solved.
2.
They’re
expensive.
If you buy your
child’s solid polo shirts and khaki pants at freakin’ Gymboree and Children’s
Place instead of Wal-Mart, I’m going to stop you right there. Seriously, go
away. You’re not allowed an opinion on this topic.
The biggest
complaint I hear toward this topic is that it’s expensive to buy uniforms AND
play clothes for after school, on the weekends, and over the holidays. That, I
kind of understand. But seriously – I can get my child clothes from Wal-Mart,
Target, and Old Navy without spending a fortune and I can shop the clearance
racks at children’s specialty stores the season before and it’s actually cheaper than Wally World and Tarjay.
I guess what I’m
saying is, if you have to have the best of the best then yes, it might cost you
more than a cheap-o like me. But where there’s a will, there’s a way. Suck it
up.
To everyone who
thinks I’m a heartless b*#ch right now, I know what you’re thinking. “There are
people who legitimately can’t afford new clothes at all, much less uniforms
that have to fit a certain criteria.”
I get it. I do. I
feel for you. However, this isn’t really a good argument against uniforms
either. I’ve never seen a school who turned students away because they can’t
afford uniforms. They have uniform drives, they can put you in touch with
charitable organizations that can provide uniforms for you, and hell…most
people will help you out of the goodness of their heart (uniforms or not) when
it comes down to it. Again, where there’s a will there’s a way.
Believe it or not,
schools are here to help our children.
3.
If kids
have to wear uniforms, so should teachers.
This one was obviously
spewed by some jealous woman who caught her husband checking out the art
teacher’s ass at open house. I mean, let’s be honest here – teachers are not
busting up in the school wearing something that’s going to cause a Janet
Jackson-like “wardrobe malfunction” (or whatever the male equivalent would be
for dudes), and they certainly aren’t trying to stand out and “distract”
students.
Can you imagine if
the teachers were dressed the same as the students. Seriously, think about it
for a second. Kindergarten kids who are new to this whole “school” thing wouldn’t
have a clue who to ask for help finding their classroom. They’d be so confused
as to why the kid by the water fountain monitoring the hallway looks forty-five
and wrinkled.
On the flip-side, I
know some teachers who look like they are still in high school. Can you imagine
if they were teaching high school, wearing the same clothes as the high school
students, and actually look seventeen
years old? Oh, that’s just bad news waiting to happen. Chaos, I tell you.
Chaos.
Now, if by “teachers
should wear uniforms too” you mean a chef’s uniform, a professional athlete’s
uniform, a doctor’s uniform, etc. I’m sure they’d go for it if it meant they
got paid what these professionals got paid. I’m just confused as to what
uniforms teachers might wear that would satisfy people. They could all wear
paper grocery sacks, but then I’m sure that would start a debate with unhappy environmentalists
everywhere.
4.
Kids need
to be able to express themselves.
This one is the
only one that I can sometimes agree with. Sure, some children and teens find it hard to express themselves verbally. A lot of kids don’t want to join
clubs or go out of their way find different activities that showcase the person
they are becoming. I get it. I do.
However, I will
always stand by my opinion on this particular subject. Kids can express
themselves through dressing a certain way on Saturday and Sunday and every day
after school. They have all summer to try out new styles and decide what they
like and what they don’t like.
I will always tell
my kids that if they want to express themselves and they want to stand out,
they don’t need clothing or hair dye or a cool book bag to do that. They should
be able to stand out based on the person they
are on the inside, not the outer shell that can be so easily replicated, and
bought.
Anybody can dye
their hair blue or buy expensive clothes and it isn’t a testament to
self-expression. It’s a testament to your taste in clothing. That’s it. You don’t
make real friends based on sneakers
and you sure as hell don’t make them based on what shirt you decide to wear to
school that day.
You make friends
after school at drama club, or football practice, or while sitting on the
bleachers listening to Weezer. You make friends when you decide to sit next to
someone new at lunch or during class when you realize the kid across from you
spells their name the same way.
Uniqueness doesn’t
come from the way you dress. Unless you make your own clothing, somebody,
somewhere has worn it and it isn’t special. It’s a shirt. What makes kids truly
unique is learning how to be unique and awesome without relying on superficial
things.
