....and phase out school uniforms. It's no longer funny.
My youngest daughter’s school “donation” is about $195. The cost of the 3-day school trip is another $195. The cost of NZQA was $75…but the REAL killer is the school uniform at over $800 including the shoes she refuses to wear anywhere else. I can clothe her better in clothes she can wear anywhere every day for a lot less than that. School uniforms are a rort. I don’t save a penny as I still have to buy her all the other clothes she wears when she’s not at school.
I’m paying nearly $1500 / year to send my daughter to a “free” public school. When both daughters were in college, it was nearly double that, all up.
Maybe it’s time we saved hard working parents several hundred dollars and got rid of school uniforms. They are a faith system that has no place in education.
I grew up in an environment without school uniforms. The excuse that "pressure to conform" is justification for schools *compulsorily* emptying parents pockets doesn't stand up.
Only weak and/or stupid parents would fall for nagging to buy expensive fashion labels they can't afford. Most kids wouldn't be into that anyway, judging by what I see them wearing when they aren't at school: holey old jeans and t-shirts.
Forcing me to spend $800 a year (per child), or I'm not allowed to send them to school, is an odd way to save me money and avoid "peer pressure". It's coercion on a scale that makes a bit of teenage peer pressure look positively attractive by comparison.
Here's the nub: School uniforms are a faith system of unfounded beliefs, not a real need. Like any faith system, reality doesn't matter. Which is a shame....and expensive.
Teaching kids not to waste a parent’s earnings on peer-pressure-driven clothing “requirements” is drop-dead easy for any parent and child with clues. It can just as easily - and truthfully - be asserted that waring their own clothes helps teach them independence. How to stand up for themselves. How to compose their own image. Those that can’t learn this lesson go into fashion and design and slavishly copy what everyone else is wearing for the rest of their lives.
Getting rid of school uniforms would save me $16 / week next year. Hey, that's a tax cut!
General Debate 06 October 2025
1 hour ago
Steve, I couldn't agree more.
ReplyDeleteI always hated uniforms at school and did my best to subvert them.
Remember "desert boots"? I started wearing them in my senior years and started a revolt that the principal was helpless to stop.
Uniforms breed uniformity. I think school's hard enough, so let the kids wear a pair of jeans and comfortable shoes.
I'm not in favour of school being a fashion competition - that can get expensive too, but strong denim and good sports shoes with a clean top or shirt is cool enough.
Its an unusual logic. "We want to remove the pressure on children to conform so instead we will make it a rule that they all wear the exact same clothes."
ReplyDeleteI reckon we should all be like star trek, and everyone gets around in a one-piece body suit. Now that's what I call democracy!
Marty: Glad you agree. :-) Your suggestion sounds great. Certainly more versatile (and therefore more likely to be cheaper) than the existing regime.
ReplyDeletericky vegas (ii): I'd go for the one-piece idea provided we all look like "7 of 9" or Captain James T Kirk in his prime. ;-) The "Danny Crane (Shatner on "Boston Legal" today) would kill the idea stone dead.
I think uniforms may be cheaper in the long run with the way kids are with fashion. I personally don't like them and was disappointed that our local highschool switched to a uniform a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteI think uniforms should be easy to wash and wear and unisex too. Skirts are useless for schoolgirls so they get "culottes" which are almost as bad.
THP: Kids who are going to be like that about fashion are like that outside school anyway. I can't think of a single item I would NOT have bough for my daughters because they have a school uniform.
ReplyDeleteI get your point truthseeker. You sound like such a nice dad.
ReplyDelete