This question is asked quite frequently, and the answer is usually very predictable: a "yes!" from parents, and a "hell no!" from their children.
The topic recently came up on a forum I frequent, and I posted this in response:
"I personally think school uniforms are great. This is coming from someone who went to a school where there was no uniform.
As I was growing up, my parents didn't have a lot of money. This was made very obvious by the clothing I wore - the clothes I wore were okay, but they couldn't afford name brands. By "name brands" I don't mean designer items, I mean high street clothes shops - they simply couldn't afford to shop there, and as such I wore clothes from cheap catalogues.
This meant that I was the target of bullies for my entire time at secondary school, from year 8 to year 13 (age 12 to age 18 ). Had there been a school uniform, this could have been avoided. Such bullying did not cause on its own, but highly contributed to, the depression and suicidal thoughts I suffered from between the ages of 16 and 18.
The school's reasoning behind the no-uniform policy was that it "created a friendly atmosphere" and, along with the calling-teachers-by-their-first-names policy, was supposed to "make teachers more approachable". I feel the result was the opposite - it increased alienation of certain students and led certain trouble-makers to feel that school was nothing more than one long social event.
Just my two pennies' worth."
As I was growing up, my parents didn't have a lot of money. This was made very obvious by the clothing I wore - the clothes I wore were okay, but they couldn't afford name brands. By "name brands" I don't mean designer items, I mean high street clothes shops - they simply couldn't afford to shop there, and as such I wore clothes from cheap catalogues.
This meant that I was the target of bullies for my entire time at secondary school, from year 8 to year 13 (age 12 to age 18 ). Had there been a school uniform, this could have been avoided. Such bullying did not cause on its own, but highly contributed to, the depression and suicidal thoughts I suffered from between the ages of 16 and 18.
The school's reasoning behind the no-uniform policy was that it "created a friendly atmosphere" and, along with the calling-teachers-by-their-first-names policy, was supposed to "make teachers more approachable". I feel the result was the opposite - it increased alienation of certain students and led certain trouble-makers to feel that school was nothing more than one long social event.
Just my two pennies' worth."
I don't know why this particular topic even appealed to me, but I think it may be because my opinion deviates from the norm. Being 21, I've reached the point where I'm no longer at school, but school wasn't so long ago it's become a distant memory of times gone by. I'm generally very negative about my experiences at school. Sure, I didn't struggle in the vast majority of lessons (with PE being the exception), but the level of bullying and ostracising I recieved have made me the person I am today: very insecure and lacking in self-esteem.
Let's be honest, there will always be bullying happening in schools. Nothing can eradicate it entirely. However I see no positives to there being no uniform, and only negatives (the increased bullying, the pressure on parents to provide "decent" clothes) so in my opinion, uniform is a must.
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