The Great Equalizer
Today is the first day of school. Can I tell you how quiet it is? Even with just Red gone? He is my tease. He likes to tickle and torment his younger siblings. It's his job. I know this because I too am an oldest child. It's just how it works.
Anyway, we took Red to school this morning and he was very nervous. He was up at 5:30 because his tummy had butterflies in it. Then he fell back asleep and had a hard time getting going. We got to school and were surrounded by hundreds of kids and their parents. The kids that are going to school are easy to pick out: they are the ones in uniform. Not the strict button shirt, nice slacks or skirt kind of uniform. The dress code is: navy blue, hunter green or white shirts (button up, t-shirt, or polo - but no logo's and no tank tops) and for the pants/skirts/shorts they can wear khaki, navy blue or white. Who puts white pants on a kid? Anyway, there are some people that complain about the uniforms. Me? I love them! As I looked around I couldn't tell if this kid was wearing designer shorts or the ones from WalMart. And for us, it's cheaper. Red has a few clothes that he wears for after school things and play time. But guess how much a plain blue t-shirt is at WalMart? $3.50. They're $4.50 at Target. We got shorts at Kohl's for $6.00. Guess how much the Tony Hawk polo was that Red REALLY wanted? $18.00... on sale. Normally $32.00. And you can't tell the Target polos from the ones bought at Macy's. They're all dark blue polos. Little Bug goes to a different school. No uniforms. Which, is actually a really good thing for him...
I'm curious... what do you think about school uniforms? Do your kids have to wear them? Do you think it's a good idea? Or a bad one?
12 comments:
i think it would be cheaper and easier to have uniforms on kids. everybody would look the same. you wouldn't be able to tell who is in a gang and you wouldn't have the richer kids outshinning the normal kids with their assortment of fine and expensive clothing line.
kids can be so mean. i think uniforms would equalize things better.
kathleen
I don't have unforms, but I would love them. How easy tha would be!
P.S. Dedee knows me!
Yeah, my kids' school does the same thing- no logos, no branding, nothing in the shirts- khakis, dark blue pants and jeans are ok for us, but they have to have a belt on and completely cover thier undies. All shirts must be tucked in, all that.
Frankly, I LOVE it. We chose to go to this school, and I appreciate the standarts that are set. I especially like the rules about skirts and shorts- must come to the knee, and no tank tops of any kind. Since it's k-8, it keeps the young women and men dressing appropriately for schoool.
Like I said, I LOVE it.
I'm all for uniforms...depending on the uniform, though. Modesty in dress is an issue, after all. =)
I get bored. I love dressing my kids (they will only let me do it for a few more years). Dressing them in the same thing everyday would just be dull.
I do like the idea of cheap, and easy though!
I think uniforms is a great idea--then you don't have problems with the kids who have less feeling bad about not being able to keep up with the others. It helps as they get older deal with the immodesty issue as well as the shirts with inappropriate sayings on them.
My daughter's new school has uniforms and I LOVE IT! Not only does it save me money but it makes things so much easier getting ready in the morning. LOVE IT!
I wish our schools would do uniforms. I think it is easier on everyone and that here isn't all that in style stuff going on
my kids never had to do the uniform thing but i always thought it was a good idea. and for the reasons you stated... with uniforms, no one knows where you do your shopping and kids don't get judged by what they wear. that and it's cheaper on the parents.
The teenage me would have said "Like what, no way, I'm not wearing uniforms, how lame is that..like gag me with a spoon"
However, the grown up me (or at least the one I'm pretending to be) would love it. The great equalizer. Kids can be mean enough without adding ammo. I hope our school will have it when my son starts next year.
I'm not into uniforms although I do see why people love them. I just like the choices I get to make with my kids and the conversations that come up as we explain why people have different things. And when I taught, I knew of kids who picked apart other's uniforms because they didn't come from Eddie Bauer but Wal-Mart. And that was in Kindergarten!
Life isn't fair. Someone will always have something better than you (car, house, clothes, boat, whatever) and it's important to teach our kids that now so they wont be disappointed later.
But when my son wants to tuck his polo shirt into his track pants? Yeah, could use a uniform then!
I lead the charge to get standardized dress in the elementary school because of huge economic disparity. We have kids in million dollar golf course home at the same school as those coming from government subsidized apartments.
We lost by about 20 votes every single year. Now, my kids are at home and they wear appallingly yucky clothes with rips and stains since they're shielded from the public eye. I like the standardized dress more than straight out uniforms. it gives you more choices and is usually cheaper since you have a few more options and aren't limited to a certain supplier.
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