School Uniforms?!?!?! Question

[VanVivCam]

Hello Everyone. I would like all opinions regarding school uniforms. Are you for/against. How does your children feel about these. Do they feel "safer" knowing everyone wears the same thing? Did they lose a little bit of their freedom having to wear what everyone else wears? Is this cheaper for you to have your child were uniforms? Also, If you don't care, let me know the ages of your children if they do wear uniforms.

Our school is looking into changing to uniforms. Just wanting to get some different opinions regarding the matter.

Thanks in advance,

Vanessa

[Dancing Lotus]

I like it because it takes all the pressure off to buy things.. On Friday they have dress down days where they can wear what ever they want. I think it's great because they get to be themselves and She only needs two or three great outfits to feel like she is one of the cool kids. She likes it too. I think at her young age they just like dressing alike.

[Hoosier Momma]

My two older kids go to a Catholic school, where they wear uniforms (they are in third grade and kindergarten this year). It makes life incredibly simple for us. There is no worrying about wearing the latest fashion or what is going to be worn the next day (they do have free dress days throughout the year, like today). It seems to help with discipline for some reason.

I grew up going to Catholic schools and wore a uniform from grades 1-8 (the Catholic high school had a dress code, but not uniforms). It didn't bother me at all. We still had the weekends and summer breaks to dress as we wanted.

I know of public schools that have gone to uniforms, and it seems to make a huge difference in discipline and the overall attitude in the schools.

[mom2matty]

Our school district tried to impliment a uniform policy throughout our schools but it didn't pass the vote.

[forHISglory]

As both a parent and a teacher, I loved uniforms.

As a parent, there was no hassle over what to wear, and have just 2 or 3 shirts and pants meant that clothing costs were low. There was little to no peer pressure over clothing. My son wore uniforms all thru grade school.

As a teacher, uniforms definitely helped the academic atmosphere and discipline.

[justpeachy92]

I think it depends on the type of uniform and how strict it is. When we lived in Florida my kids then in 2nd grade and 6th grade had uniforms. My kids weren't bothered by them because they still had choices in how they dressed, though my oldest wasn't fond of having to tuck the shirt in. For the oldest she was allowed to wear black, dark blue or khaki pants, capris....these were allowed to be jeans as long as they were plain, nothing on them like patches, embroidery, etc. The shirts had to be red or white, with a collar and tucked in, nothing on them unless it was the school logo. She was in a magnet school that focused on health care, so she was also required to have a set of scrubs for field trips and lab work. I don't remember if she had rules for shoes or not. The 2 kids I had in 2nd grade, were allowed dark blue or khaki bottoms, could be pants, skirts, skorts,plain denim or shorts. The were allowed red, black or white tops, and had classroom tshirts made they were on Fridays and field trips. They were allowed to wear polo style shirts or tshirts, if they wore tshirts they had to have the school logo on those. I didn't feel we spent any more on clothes then we do now. We have always purchased plain denim, because no one is going to notice if you wear the same jeans twice a week but they do notice if you wear the same shirts, so for clothes we all have more tops than bottoms. Considering they could wear the plain polo tshirts I didn't have to get clothes at the uniform store, has we could get those cheap enough at walmart and target. The school sold tshirts in the office with the school logo on them for around $5, so allowing each kid a couple of tshirts wasn't a budget breaker. My oldest also had a uniform for PE class, you bought that at the school for $8, was a pair of red shirts and school logo tshirt. I don't feel my kids lost on freedom by wearing uniforms, it made the morning routine much easier, because they were limited to what they could wear. Though their uniforms weren't as strict as some schools, so all the children didn't look the same on the school yard.

[champagnium]

I LOVE schopol uniforms and think they should be implemented everywhere. I wore one when I was in private school, and actually found it hard to go back to having to wear regular clothes everyday. I always laugh when peopel say kids need to be allowed to wear their clothes to express themselves.
As for not liking the uniform rules, sure, we pushed them...the headmistress used to measure the distance between our knees and the hem of our skirts...lol..we used to roll them up all day then roll down when she was around. Kids will always test, but I think they need to learn that there's lots of times we wear stuff that's not our choice. Heck, I'd rather be wearing yoga pants and a tank top when I'm sitting at my desk all day I wish more schools here would bring in uniforms. They truly are an equalizer.

[frugalfriend]

My kids wore them at their previous (private) school. They got to wear jeans and a uniform shirt on Fridays though. They didn't like them that much, but I did! Everyone looked the same so there was no peer pressure about clothes. What was great was that twice a year the school had a "uniform exchange." It was AWESOME! You could bring in your kids outgrown uniforms and exchange them for bigger sizes, for FREE! All schools that utilize uniforms should do this!!! I volunteered my time to help set up and run it, and it was very easy. If you didn't have any uniforms to exchange (old ones were worn out, new to the school, etc.) then you could buy gently worn uniforms for a nominal price, like $2.00 or $3.00 for shirts, $4.00 for pants, etc.

The only downside for a parent, is the constant washing of them!! Unless you have quite an ample supply you can being doing laundry more often. I liked the navy and red shirts the best, because the white ones were always impossibly stained.

Now my kids wear regular clothes and of course, they love it.

[TheRootedNomad]

My various dealings and thoughts on the subject:

~I have a 4th grader and a 6th grader. They've always had to wear uniforms. Sometimes they complain that there aren't enough dress down days. (Once every couple of months in the elementary school - NEVER in the middle).

~ I have NOT found it more cost effective for my boys. It seems the law of supply and demand mean these items never clearence for what other shirts and pants do and they are almost impossible to find at a yardsale or thriftstore.

~ My sister was in my care when she was in high school. She HATED the uniform deal! I kinda liked not having to worry about what she was going to change into once she got to school.

~ It did seem to be more cost effective for this age group.

~ In high school an equalizer may be necessary but in elementary school I feel staff and parents should be aboe to weed out any OBVIOUS inequality.

[Lady_V]

DD is in private school too. The uniforms, although pricey at the gate, more than pay for themselves because they wear them at least 120 times a year!!!

They have gym once a week and wear a gym uniform, the other 4 days they wear their 'regular' clothes (uniform). Once a month, they have a fund-raiser day, 'tag day' and they pay $1 to wear street clothes. The kids think this is awesome, and look forward to it because there is usually some theme.

I like the idea of uniforms. I know what she will wear everyday, no disappointments is something isn't clean, no debates over what can be worn that day. The only thing DD doesn't like about the uniforms is she has to wear a jumper/dress... year-round, warmer weather (May/June) the girls can wear a skort and polo. The boys wear pants, shirt and tie- warmer weather is shorts and polo.

If it came to a point were her private school was no longer an option, I would be in favor of finding a house in a school district that has uniforms.

[Michelle68]

In our school district, only middle school students wear uniforms, but it is decided school by school. Our DD (now 19) wore uniforms to her school, but our DS (12 y.o.) goes to a two year old middle school. They had the parents vote on whether it should be a uniform school or not when the school opened and the parents vote against it. Basically, we've had it both ways and, personally, I don't really feel that uniforms are that much less expensive. We still, essentially, had to buy two sets of clothes-- uniforms and non-school clothes. It did cut down on the "What do I wear to school today?" decision time, but it really did not save us any money.


--Michelle

[momof2joys]

I have never personally had to do the whole uniform thing, but all of my cousins on my moms side have to wear uniforms to school. All three families go to catholic schools and the uniform is mandatory. There are several different dress options for all the schools, polos, dress shirts, jumpers, dresses, pants, shorts, skirts, etc. The funny thing about it is, two of my cousins can switch thier clothes with two of my other cousins from a different state. They have the same plaid color pattern. All of my aunts all have daughters, so the uniforms get passed through all the kids and passed onto the other set of cousins!!!!
All of these schools have dress down days, they get pictures done in uniforms and street clothes, they have special days throughout the year when they get to wear their street clothes. I know my cousins have complained about having to wear them, but they do like not having to impress anyone with fancy clothes.