Uniforms - those who learned to love them, those who never did?

[jhuber]

Hello to all -

I have had the unique pleasure of being in a school with uniforms (my former school in PA) and one without. I'd like to hear from uniform-adverse parents whose schools have uniform requirements for their children.

1. If you were against them at the onset (enough to question enrollment or possibly cause you to leave if the school added them) AND you learned to like / tolerate them, what changed your mind?

2. If you were against them at the onset, and your child's school made the transition AND you never learned to like / tolerate them, did you leave?

3. If you were against them at the onset, did it influence NOT applying to a school?

And, to any parent of my own school who is trying to read the tea leaves of this forum to look into the future - put down the Lands End catalog, nothing's going on right now.

[Anonymous]

Answering 3) narrowed down:

My husband and I are against school uniform policies that limit girl's choices to a skirt/skort/jumper and do not allow a pant/slack option. We feel those schools are sending a sexist message and also a message that the school has not kept up with the times. Therefore, we did not apply to schools that only offered a skirt/skort/jumper uniform for girls.

We realized some school's uniform policies are years old and tradition exists however, policies can change and still maintain a tradition. We also realize that even when there is a pant option, few girls select it (much to my dismay), but at least there is an option for the girls and the school is not sending the message that “women belong in skirts and men wear the pants”.

[Anonymous]

I think it has a lot of benefits. Except that back in the day the uniform was not weather appropriate and I just remember being cold.

[Anonymous]

I thought it was sexist too however my "sporty" daughter who hates to wear dresses and skirts happily puts on her uniform jumper for school everyday. She wears shorts underneath. I buy her pants every year (she can wear them in the winter) but she never uses them.
Personally I love the uniforms. And my kids have never complained.

[Anonymous]

I wore uniforms from around age 5 to the time I graduated from high school. Loved them. Made it really easy to get dressed in the morning with minimal fuss. Plus, I went to a girls' school from age 10, and there were very wealthy girls and those who were not. The uniforms and dress code (minimal jewelry, no makeup, loafers or lace up shoes) helped everyone fit in and reduced the clothing related issues. And it didn't stifle our creativity at all (I really think that's a bogus argument); we just channeled it into art, music, drama, and there were always weekends! I think kids in uniforms look so neat and adorable.

[Anonymous]

Hated my uniform in all its incarnations until I went to college and had to dress myself in SOMETHING different every day!!! Then I really missed it. I really fought against it in school, but it really was an equalizer (for at least the clothing part of adolescence) and that was much needed!!!

[jhuber]

Many thanks to the above respondents. Additional comments or thoughts are welcome.

[Anonymous]

i wore one from 6th through 12th grade. it made life really easy, took the emphasis off fashion, was an economic equalizer. i don't think it squashed anyone's sense of personal expression. i remember we used to love to fight the uniform, try to get lots of special exceptions, etc. looking back it was a pretty low risk kind of rebellion. it was really fun. i sort of wish my son's schools had uniforms. for me, the uniform wouldn't be a factor in decision-making with respect to a school