Fla. Lawmakers Debate School Uniforms

[Firecat]

http://www.local6.com/news/10872692/detail.html


I'm all for this. I actually wrote a paper on this a few years back. It's not a policy that can be enacted immediately at all levels, but slowly integrating it into the system could make the change less troublesome.

Students do need discipline, and perhaps parents can't provide that. This is a step in the right direction.

[ioynerien]

I do agree with the fact that children need more discipline, but uniforms don't work (altough I like them).

I went to 3 different schools which all used uniforms (one had nuns in charge, the other two monks). Individuality will emerge, groups will be formed and there will be signs to show to wich group one belongs. (this can be trivial stuff such as shoes, socks, hairstyle, brandnames and so on).

Clothes don't teach people discipline! Strict and justifiable punishments are the way to go.

More importantly: parents shouldn't hold schools responsible for teaching their kids discipline, it's the parents job to parent (<= hint) their offspring. Behaviour in school can be very, very different from behaviour at home!

One harvests what one grows. (good seeds + ignorance = bad harvest)

[YF19pilot]

Florida debating school uniforms? What else is new...

Seriously, I remember wondering if the next year I was in middle school if I'd have to wear a uniform. Actually, I do think my middle school has a uniform now, or at least one of those "strict dress codes", you know, plain T-shirt and khakis.

I haven't been adamently against uniforms, but I don't condone them either. I'd prefer the "strict code" rather than a uniform, mainly because school uniforms often times cost a bit more than normal clothing. Shirt and pants should be good enough.


Though I do remember a friend of mine getting into trouble for wearing one of those Make 7...Up Yours shirts...

[Peter3hg]

I like school uniforms really as long as they are sensible, i.e. no stupid things like blazers, proper ties etc. A jumper, pair of trousers, shoes and a polo shirt are perfectly fine.

[Blayde]

Good thing they're really lax about our uniforms, tie isn't a necessary thing, neither are the right shoes but when we have practical training at the airplane, maybe then...

Uniforms in general don't really work as a sort of discipline, it just means everything looks uniform. I'd rather have a better system than a uniform for discipline.

[No Boss]

At the end of my penultimate year of high school, they enacted uniform laws. It really sucked because I had to buy all the trousers, dress shirts, polo shirts, and what not for only one year. (the shirts were embroidered with the school districts logo, so I couldn't wear them after I graduated... I could have, but I would have looked like a clot.)

At the time I was very VERY against the uniform policy, but I think that just becuase I had come from 9 years of Catholic education where I had to where them. And then switching to public school, I was really enjoying that freedom of wearing whatever I wanted.

Now, it seems like a lot of schools have uniforms, or at the very least, a dress code. It's a good move in my book. Principally because kids need to realize that they aren't going to be able to wear what ever they want when they get a real job. So go for it, I say.

[Blayde]

Dress codes work well, better than uniforms, cos then not everyone looks the same, and you can go somewhere after school and not look like you're some geek.

rant

We now have to wear those stupid shoulder things, making us look like bloody pilots, but theyre so tacky, it's like everyone came dressed up as the same thing on Halloween.

/rant

[nomix]

I don't aprove of dress codes. In the 60s, they kicked young people out of schools for having long hair, I don't see the difference. If young people with to wear something strange, let them. If someone tell me that I can't use a t-shirt with Iron Maiden because it has a skull and a couple of guns on the back, I'd wear it just because it's my right. If I want to wear my Pink Floyd T-shirt, I will. And I think it's cencorship if a school punishes students for wearing what the reciever thinks of as offensive. What's next, then? Long hair might be percieved as offensive. Religious symbols, away with the crosses. Political views, those might be offensive. But the way we dress, the way we wear our hair and what we say is part of our right to express ourselves. That's just the way it is.

As for uniforms, I think it's OK as long as you don't force anyone to wear them. If some of the students wish to wear uniforms, I won't deny them that, that's their choice. Giving people a uniform won't give them disipline, there's a reason why the US Army keeps their shouty and strict drill sgts, if the uniform was enough, they'd get rid of them, right?

Killing off individuality, is allways bad.

And girls in a classic catholic school uniform, only thing that would happen here, is boys lifting the girls skirts.

[zenkidori]

when I was in school I would have freaked out had they tried this, but then again I wore combat boots and had a mohawk. However looking back, I would say it's a very good idea. There was a lot of division amongst students at the highschool where I spent most of my years based on appearance. each group had thier own areas and whatnot, and even tho you may have had friends in various groups, you'd only really talk to them when you were both away from your respective groups. a lot of artifical importance was placed on dress and clothing and I think most things would have gone more smoothly had there been uniforms.

[Momentum57]

I love girls in school uniforms! Then i found out rather by accident that girls love guys in school uniforms. I was wearing a blue button down oxford shirt with khakis, and my friend said it reminded her of her schools uniforms for boys. I was breaking up some weed with my back to her, I looked in the mirror in front of me and she was looking at my ass. So all for it, more power to them.

[bartboy9891]

Making kids dress in uniforms isnt discipline, its just a rule. Discipline is just stressing the fact that rules have to be followed. Me wearing a uniform to school tomorrow isn't going to make me want to become a better person who always follows the rules.
In fact, i would find wearing a uniform distracting. I like to dress very relaxed, and wearing a suit in school is just going to annoy me. I couldnt see myself surviving in Calculus for an hour and 45 minutes on a hot day in a school uniform.

[Cobol74]

School uniforms are not the US way in public (US meaning of the phrase) schools, dress code would do IMHO. We have uniforms, do not think it makes much difference, just our tradition.

[cvrefugee]

[Cobol74]

Yes cvg that's the sort of thing I was on about, now why would Florida want that?

[YF19pilot]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Yes cvg that's the sort of thing I was on about, now why would Florida want that?

Because:

1) Florida is not gay.

2) We really need to change people's perception to think of Florida as a bit more than just "Disney and Retirees".

3) Why not?

[nomix]

Why should anyone need a dress code?

[cvrefugee]

Originally Posted by nomix

Why should anyone need a dress code?

Gang affiliation was a big reason we had a dress code at my junior high school.

[nomix]

So you can't see who's in a gang? And as allready stated by others, small things can be used in the same way as i.e. colours.

What a dress code does, is kill of individualism.

[NecroJoe]

Originally Posted by nomix

So you can't see who's in a gang? And as allready stated by others, small things can be used in the same way as i.e. colours.

Soo...have the "uniform" code include selected colors...White shirts, and black pants. there you go. Problem solved.

Originally Posted by nomix

What a dress code does, is kill of individualism.

That's like saying "What the law says about 'having flashing strobe lights in the outside of your car while your driving' does, is kill individualism."

Why do you have to be an individual every moment of your life? When I go to work, I don't wear what I do at home, because it's not appropriate. When I my team listens to music while they are working, they know that there are some things that, while they can listen to it at home and in the car, it's not appropriate for the work place.

While you may feel like you have your "idividuality" threatened, it puts everyone on an even keel: from the financially elite, to the people who come from the "other" side of the tracks.

[zenkidori]

Originally Posted by nomix

So you can't see who's in a gang? And as allready stated by others, small things can be used in the same way as i.e. colours.

What a dress code does, is kill of individualism.

and gang colors are banned by schools in those areas. also, you wouldn't be able to wear gang colors with a uniform, seeing as they'd all be the same color.

all US public schools already have a dress code. a uniform wouldn't "kill individualism" but take away the focus on dress which can actually be pretty detrimental to the overall school experience so that kids can make thier mark in another way, perhaps academically.

there's definately division amongst different types of dress, I saw this every day since for most of my high school career I refused to believe that punk was dead, however when certain functions demanded we all dress more or less the same, a LOT of new communication was done between students of different groups, por ejemplo:

I was one of two "alternative" kids in an honors english class, I was pretty punked out and my friend was a big metalhead. the rest were mostly academics and whatnot, seeing as it was honors english(called AP english elsewhere). most of the time I wore clothes fit for skateboarding or various pieces from the army surplus, along with my mohawk and combat boots. my friend was always wearing cradle of filth t-shirts and whatnot, we kinda freaked everyone out, and yes, we kinda liked it that way. on a few occasions we had to go see plays(real plays not school plays) and this required us to dress nicely, so we wore slacks, button-ups, ties and nice shoes like everyone else was required to, I even combed down my mohawk(it was long enough for me to look normal when it was combed down). I enteracted a LOT more with my fellow students when that barrier of dress was taken down, I wasn't a different person and it didn't make me any less of an individual, but without that false separation I was able to interact with my fellow students quite a bit more, we were free to discuss the various parts of the play, during our lunch break I sat and chatted with quite a few girls who had thought me scary just the previous day, all sharind ideas on writing and books etc. perhaps I'm nuts, but I think this would be wonderful.

I have quite a few more examples than this strung about my years in highschool, but I can't be bothered to type them up. I think I've made my point anyway. Uniforms do indeed work and there's good reason a lot of schools do this with good results.

I'm all for it.