School Uniforms: For or Against?
Parents in the UK are paying £50 million too much for their school uniform, according to a new report.
The Office of Fair Trading also found that too many head teachers weren't giving their pupils enough choice in where they could buy the items from.
Some items of uniform sold by schools were found to cost more than double the amount they could be bought for in the supermarket.
Some people believe that school uniforms should be scrapped because they cost far too much money and many pupils think that they can express themselves more when wearing their own clothes.
Some people believe that school uniforms should be scrapped because they cost far too much money and many pupils think that they can express themselves more when wearing their own clothes.
We all know school uniform can be costly – but it wasn’t until new reports really emphasises how HOW expensive. This is what some children had to say about it:
"School uniforms should be kept as they actually help us concentrate and keep us from being bullied even more if we don't wear 'fashionable' clothing."
"I think we should have school uniform to keep our best clothes for the weekend but for the shops to lower their prices."
"I think uniform should stay because in my old school we didn't have uniform and I never had enough clothes. Having uniform means I don't need to spend as much on clothes."
"I don't wear school uniform and I think I concentrate better than others."
"We should scrap uniforms so our parents won't take embarrassing pictures of you on your first day!"
"I think we should scrap uniforms as it costs our parents so much money, and we grow out of them in a few months, so we have to keep buying them."
Fifty children were sent home from a school in Kent because they were not wearing the correct uniform. Reasons for turning children away from Hartsdown Academy included "inappropriate" shoes and "skin-tight" jeans and skirts.
Some parents have said their children were upset when they were sent home and that the rules are too strict. Head teacher Matthew Tate says a letter was sent out in July outlining the rules for pupils and that sticking to the uniform leads to better behaviour and grades.
Fifty children were sent home from a school in Kent because they were not wearing the correct uniform. Reasons for turning children away from Hartsdown Academy included "inappropriate" shoes and "skin-tight" jeans and skirts.
Some parents have said their children were upset when they were sent home and that the rules are too strict. Head teacher Matthew Tate says a letter was sent out in July outlining the rules for pupils and that sticking to the uniform leads to better behaviour and grades.
Alongside the school in Kent we’ve seen outrage over a new gender-neutral uniform for a Sussex school, compelling all new starters – boys and girls – to wear trousers.
A 14-year-old boy from a Gloucester school has been threatened with isolation because his Kickers were ‘too much like trainers.’ Plus an Isle of Wight couple has removed their children from primary school in protest against a transgender child being allowed to wear a dress.
Pupils at one school in Essex got hot under the collar when they were told they couldn't wear shorts, despite the sunny weather. Instead of wearing long trousers, one teacher joked that they could wear skirts. So around 30 of them did just that... The head of the school said "Shorts are not currently part of our uniform for boys and I would not want to make any changes without talking to both students and their families. However, with hotter weather becoming more normal, I would be happy to consider a change for the future."
In the United States and throughout Europe - it's pretty normal to be allowed to wear your own clothes to class. In fact some schools are so relaxed, even pyjamas are allowed in the classroom. Many schools are bringing in an anti dress code.
In 2017, Evanston Township High School in the state of Illinois brought in a dress code which allowed students to wear everything from crop tops, and torn jeans, to hats, and even pyjamas.
In the United States and throughout Europe - it's pretty normal to be allowed to wear your own clothes to class. In fact some schools are so relaxed, even pyjamas are allowed in the classroom. Many schools are bringing in an anti dress code.
In 2017, Evanston Township High School in the state of Illinois brought in a dress code which allowed students to wear everything from crop tops, and torn jeans, to hats, and even pyjamas. The idea seems to be spreading, a school in California is introducing a similar policy for this school year.
The school said it was embracing an 'anti-dress code' where nearly everything is allowed. It says the idea is that pupils can dress without "fear of unnecessary discipline or body shaming". The only rules are that private parts of the body must be covered by a non see-through material, and clothes showing a violent or offensive messages are banned.
Over In Europe it’s the same – hardly any schools have uniforms at all. And the jeans and t-shirt wearing teens that come over on the return visit are almost always far more impeccably behaved, respectful and hard-working than the English children they have awkwardly twinned with for a fortnight.
Talk to any parent or teacher, or indeed member of society in the likes of Scandinavia, Germany or France about the 'issue' of school discipline and performance being connected to what the children wear and they will look at you with bafflement. Children in Normandy, Saxony, Denmark or Poland don't go to school looking like thugs every day, and they don't skip class just because they are wearing jeans.
Headteachers, parents and maybe a lot of the older generation will throw their hands up at the prospect of pupils being allowed to 'wear what they want'. But how good would it be be to say to young people, 'yes, you can wear what you want, but you still have to behave within the rules’.