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#14684270
I do not know if there is already a topic related to this, so if it is ... I am more than happy to continue writing in there.
If not, I do explain here, why I put this topic in here (Australia)

Me and my wife (who is from Australia) are planning to move to Australia. We live in Belgium now.
She told me that in Australia, it is not uncommon for schoolkids to use an uniform. The general idea is to prevent that other children would make fun of someone that can not effort Armani, of any other brand that is 'more fancy' than a jeans created by mrs. Cheap.

I am against uniforms, as there is also the weekend, the soccer club, the karate club, or whatever kids do after school hours.
Kids can even come across other school kids in the supermarket; or just outside in the city ...

Beside this I think, that you should take care of the behaviour (which is making fun of someone else that is not wearing "expensive" clothes).
If you can do something about that, uniforms are not a need.

So, what do you men/women think?
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By Harmattan
#14684288
Personally I find the idea of imposing uniforms to kids as revulsive as the idea of imposing them to adults. I would hate to wear one (although one can argue that a suit is somehow an uniform).

There are only a few circumstances where uniforms are legitimate: security (make police remarkable and threatening, and soldiers identifiable), protection (hard hat, fireproofing, ...), signaling (waistcoat to allow customers to spot salesmen).
By Sphinx
#14684300
I am in favour of de-schooling society. Schools were designed after the factory model: feed in some raw materials to get commodities that all look the same. This kills individual identities.
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By ThirdTerm
#14684326
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Australian school uniforms are not especially fashionable and they make you look like a crocodile hunter. I sometimes came across Aussie schoolchildren in uniform on a bus, who looked peculiarly Australian. The girls' uniform below looks especially cheap and out of fashion, which is something their great-grandmothers wore in the 19th century.

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Australian schools do not allow mini skirts which are especially common in Japan. What you see in Australia such as culture and fashion may have their roots in the nation's founding in 1787. I think it's better to send your children to European boarding schools if you're wealthy.
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By Godstud
#14684417
School uniforms are fine. They do nothing to steal individual identities. That's simply rubbish. My 5 year old son wears them to school every day. All the teachers know the kids by name. How is that killing their identity?

Uniforms promote social equality among students.

If students can’t even follow the simple uniform rule in school, how will they cope in the real world?

Plus they look good...
Thai university uniforms. (They can adjust the uniforms to a degree, as you can see)
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By Drlee
#14684446
I think I am a fan of uniforms. I remember even way back in the 60's how I felt because I did not have the latest fashion to wear to school.

My era saw the first appearance of the mini-skirt and the bra burning craze of the 60's. So it had its compensations. Nonetheless. A decent conservative uniform for boys would be nice and for the girls white blouses, plaid skirts with knee soc...........I have to go now.
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By Hong Wu
#14684460
Back in high school, I was a goth and wore all black. The teachers were discussing and debating whether or not to enforce school uniforms, they were really close to doing it. Some of them asked me for my opinion and were surprised that I said I was in favor of it, since I didn't dress like everyone else. I explained to them that I wasn't a goth to be rebellious but because I felt like the other kids were too shallow and materialistic; I was actually a goth out of a "conservative" principle.

The whole faculty burst out laughing and then they canned the uniforms idea.
By layman
#14684465
I find the idea of imposing uniforms to kids as revulsive as the idea of imposing them to adults.


Bit over he top no?

I remember seeing a programme about french in schools and one of the perv teachers was talking about the cleavage of one of their students and how great it was that she was this "expressive" and "confident"

School uniforms make things more equal I think. We certainly want to keep them in the army, firemen, police etc too so they are easily identified. It also gives them a strange sort of pride I think and puts them in character.
#14684469
I went to a rather poor school system in a rural area of the United States.

No uniforms. There was no pressure to dress like anyone else as everyone's clothes came from the same single clothes store anyway. If you came to school wearing, say, a nice clean white shirt, you'd probably get a lot of gruff about thinking you're better than anyone else. It was much more a race to the bottom. We'd proudly show how we fixed our shoes with duct tape and stitched holes in our clothes with dental floss.

I don't see the uniforms flying in such a district simply because there is no mechanism for it. If the schools had to buy them it would be an extra cost in a school system that was already horribly underfunded. If the parents had to buy them, there would be a revolt as it was a poor area anyway.

It's not so much that I'm against them per se, it's that the entire concept is hopelessly inconceivable to my experience.
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By Rancid
#14684612
I knew Godstud would post some photos.

I went to inner city schools. Initially there were no uniforms. However, right around the 8th grade, they started imposing uniforms in all the schools in my area. It never bothered me much.

For the record, I did see kids making fun of other kids for wearing say, shoes that weren't Nike, Adidas, Reebok, British Knights, etc. etc.

You guys remember British Knights in the 80s/90s right? You remember seeing people rock this shit?

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By Heisenberg
#14684616
I have no problem with school uniforms. I had to wear them at every school I went to, and I think that's true of more or less every school in Britain - so it just seems normal to me. I agree that they are less distracting and probably prevent less well-off kids from being picked on.

Harmattan wrote:There are only a few circumstances where uniforms are legitimate: security (make police remarkable and threatening, and soldiers identifiable)

I know this is off-topic, but I think the bolded portion is precisely the opposite of what police uniforms should do. Police officers should be approachable, with a calm air of authority. They should not look like thuggish bullies.
#14685352
Political Interest wrote:School uniforms are normal. They represent collectivism, order and equality.

They should be mandatory.


But what do you do, when those kids become adults and find a job?
Somehow, somewhere ... there comes a time that equality no longer is related to clothes you wear?
So why, letting children believe that clothes are relevant in relation to equality?
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By Heisenberg
#14685358
The idea of a uniform is specifically to take focus away from the clothes people wear. If everyone's wearing the same thing, you don't spend much time thinking about it.

And, let's face it, most office jobs have an unofficial "uniform" of uncomfortable business suits anyway. If we lived in a world where people really didn't care about what everyone else wore, I can't imagine anyone actually choosing them.
#14685362
James Sonny Crockett wrote:But what do you do, when those kids become adults and find a job?
Somehow, somewhere ... there comes a time that equality no longer is related to clothes you wear?
So why, letting children believe that clothes are relevant in relation to equality?


Within a public institution they are. In their private lives people wear whatever they want. When they are on duty they are in uniform.

If they work for a private company then it is different.

Uniforms symbolise equality within the public sphere and not the private sphere.

Having students or staff in uniform says "we are all comrades".
#14685396
Political Interest wrote:Within a public institution they are. In their private lives people wear whatever they want. When they are on duty they are in uniform.

If they work for a private company then it is different.

Uniforms symbolise equality within the public sphere and not the private sphere.

Having students or staff in uniform says "we are all comrades".



I don't think the behaviour of people should be different. There should not be a difference between being in a private surrounding and a public surrounding.
And if they are, there is no need to enforce equality by use of uniforms.
User avatar
By Heisenberg
#14685399
James Sonny Crockett wrote:I don't think the behaviour of people should be different.There should not be a difference between being in a private surrounding and a public surrounding.

Public behaviour is different from private behaviour. It always has been, and always will be. There is no "should" about it. It's a simple fact of human nature. The only way to change this would be to abolish the principle that people are entitled to a private life, which sounds horrifying.

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