School uniforms, your opinion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our in-zone DCPS is a school with a uniform policy. I could live with it if they were honest about the reasons for it--taking away some opportunities for status jockeying, keeping kids focused on schoolwork, etc. Instead they say that it "injects a note of professionalism into your child's day." Call my crazy but I don't think my kindergartener needs "professionalism".

Also seeing those Charlottesville Nazi rally pics reinforced my gut reaction to uniforms, which is that they're a form of preparation for fascism.

Huh? That's a leap...

Ah, no? enforced uniformity is a standard part of any authoritarian playbook, and getting people used to it is a dumb idea.

I recently visited the facist countries of England and Australia. I thought the children all looked so smart in their public school uniforms. But my god, the facism!

[Anonymous]

I know many parents who would be quite happy with uniforms. And the parents I know whose kids already wear uniforms love them because they are so much less hassle. But I guess any petition would be met with very strong resistance by the anti-uniform parents. Even if they are in the minority, they would be a very unhappy and loud minority. Too bad, as I really don't understand why they think uniforms are so awful.

[Anonymous]

I always wanted uniforms in my older kids public schools. I love uniforms. My rising 2nd grader goes to a public charter and has to wear a jumper in the school's plaid and a Peter Pan collar shirt. All the little boys in K-4 wear gray polos with the school's emblem and navy pants, so they don't get too dirty. I remember kids making mean comments about my clothing and shoes as early as K. My older kids would come home one day and decide they could never wear a certain top or pair of shoes ever again just because of what someone else said. I just like being able to not deal with that anymore. My kid likes that she wears a uniform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Dd is starting 3 grade in Alexanderia, VA next month.Public School in mount Vernon area.I am not happy about the school and I will be sending her in uniform.I want her to be clean cut, serious and on point.I have no time and cash to waste on name brand clothing and shoes.I will be researching and applying to private schools for 4th grade.

What does "on point" even mean for a nine year old? How ghastly. Why not send her to military academy?

[Anonymous]

I'm not a fan. My kid already has clothes; I'd rather not buy more that he/I don't even get to choose. It's like the school supplies lists.
He would definitely hate it, since he lives in athletic shorts and t-shirts. He changes out of his khakis & polos immediately upon retiring from church. He's 8 and has no clue or preference about brands. I realize some kids do, but they will find ways to know who has more/less, etc regardless of uniforms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Dd is starting 3 grade in Alexanderia, VA next month.Public School in mount Vernon area.I am not happy about the school and I will be sending her in uniform.I want her to be clean cut, serious and on point.I have no time and cash to waste on name brand clothing and shoes.I will be researching and applying to private schools for 4th grade.

What does "on point" even mean for a nine year old? How ghastly. Why not send her to military academy?

Dd is very smart and needs a place that's foucus and challenging.I made a mistake moving from Montgomery county at the end of June for a new job.Our local Elementary is full to capacity and got transferred to Cora kelley in Alexanderia.Military Academy sounds great...

[Anonymous]

Where my niece goes to school, they have uniforms and the kids can easily tell who has the cheap khakis and who does not. Who has the hand me down shirts and who does not.
They still bully and tease. Unless everyone gets the same brand and new clothing each year,, kids aren't dumb, they no the differences.

[Anonymous]

I love school uniforms and I'm bummed that our new school (APS) does not have them. I loved not having to mess with what they are going to wear each day and I loved that the classroom wasn't filled with kids wearing sweatpants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have no dog in this fight, as my children aren't in elementary school. However, I direct a childcare center and the teachers' children are the lower economic group that this is supposed to help. They have the following complaints:

1. you need to buy MORE clothing - regular for weekend wear (nobody wears uniforms on weekends!) and ALSO uniforms for school.

2. the uniforms are often only sold through Lands End and wherever - so instead of "any white shirt and blue shorts" it's THESE white shirts and blue shorts, inevitably from Lands End/other expensive uniform place and they are very expensive.

3. the uniforms are ALWAYS really light colors on top - and that means the shirts get so dirty every single day when your kid is 3 to 6 years old. So they can't get two wearings from any shirts because one drop of lunch will make the white or light blue shirt dirty. So they do more laundry ($ and finding time during the week) OR they own many more uniform shirts and shorts so they don't need to do laundry. For kids under 2nd grade, they wish the shirts were dark blue, dark green, dark red....

4. kids grow so fast, they grow out of their uniforms so buying 7 or 8 shirts to handle the "must have 5 clean ones per week, can't get to laundromat until weekend" issue, they grow out of them before they get worn out. Expensive!

5. they wish there were uniform exchanges/sales (we had these when we were girl scouts) so they could get clothing less expensive.

6. they wish their kids could wear "any colored green shirt and any navy blue shorts/pants" rather than requiring them from a specific (expensive) place. If that were true, they'd get their's from Target or Walmart.

We have a swap shop at my school; I pay $5 per item, or $0 if I have some to swap.

You need fewer weekend clothes, and since the uniforms are all the same, you only need enough to cover your laundry frequency and the weather. You buy fewer clothes, not more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Love uniforms. They look nice, wear well and eliminate arguments about what to wear to school. I wear uniform skorts from Lands End myself, almost every day. I'm in favor of uniforms for all school children.

My daughter's school is all kids in rumpled, worn, ill-filling combos of beige, navy, and white, which is fine by me but they are definitely not a tidy uniform crowd.

Yes, their pants are always wrinkled. The navy shirts are all washed out by Oct. and the white shirts start getting worn with faded yellow-ish stains in Nov.

The private school my kids attended didn't let that fly. You couldn't look sloppy. Stained and faded clothing items weren't allowed. Pants full of wrinkles were a big no-no and you'd have to go iron them. Blazers also had to be approved for fit; no kids wearing their big brother's or dad's hand-me-down blazer that was too large.

just curious-how did they do PE in blazers and starched dress clothes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know many parents who would be quite happy with uniforms. And the parents I know whose kids already wear uniforms love them because they are so much less hassle. But I guess any petition would be met with very strong resistance by the anti-uniform parents. Even if they are in the minority, they would be a very unhappy and loud minority. Too bad, as I really don't understand why they think uniforms are so awful.

I think most suburban parents see school uniforms as an "urban, poor, bad school" signifier. They don't want any perception that their school quality is low. Bad for property values. And public school uniforms just were never really a thing most places. So, inertia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know many parents who would be quite happy with uniforms. And the parents I know whose kids already wear uniforms love them because they are so much less hassle. But I guess any petition would be met with very strong resistance by the anti-uniform parents. Even if they are in the minority, they would be a very unhappy and loud minority. Too bad, as I really don't understand why they think uniforms are so awful.

I think most suburban parents see school uniforms as an "urban, poor, bad school" signifier. They don't want any perception that their school quality is low. Bad for property values. And public school uniforms just were never really a thing most places. So, inertia.

Really? If anything I think its seen as NYC prep school type schools. I think the PP who said those who are against them tend to not have experience with them. I used to be adamantly against them but never wore them, was always shocked when my college friends who wore them said they loved having uniforms! I think I had a knee jerk reaction to them being "oppressive" somehow which seems crazy now.

[Anonymous]

Kids are in school to learn, not make fashion statements. Uniforms make life so much easier, not to mention far less expensive.

[Anonymous]

The difference between public school uniforms and private school uniforms is usually that you can buy public school uniforms anywhere. My son's private school uniforms comes mostly from Lands End since a lot of the pieces have school monograms which are more expensive. I work in a Title One school and they can buy the polo shirts anywhere. No logo needed.

[Anonymous]

So much time is wasted on clothing issues at school. Uniforms almost totally eliminate the issues, giving teachers more time to teach and eliminating many (most) assistant principal disciplinary meetings. ...so tired of dealing with cleavage, butt cracks, see-through leggings, flip flops, etc.