So what does everyone think about the possibility of school uniforms within the Asheville City system? There is a picture of the proposed uniform over on that other newspaper website.
Pros? Cons? What options would you like to see?
I am for the uniforms. I was raised in an enviroment that taught if you show up dressed to learn that is what takes place. I do think they are going to have to go with a darker colored pant and lighter colored shirt, khakis tend to get dingy over time even with the best washing routine and the maroon tops will fade. I do have some questions though before I am all in… How much? This is not of great importance for me, I feel like if I buy the uniforms I will have to buy a few less articles of regular clothing and it will basically even out. Where will the uniforms be made? I think it would be so great if we could go local and help keep the money in WNC, although I think far fetched that our school board would come up with such a fantastic idea. Will they choose something flattering? Hey I was the fat kid in school and I didn’t tuck my shirts, etc.. I hope they give some consideration that kids come in different shapes, sizes, heights… I’d really like to see a pant, shorts, capris, and skirt available for the bottoms and two or three different style shirts both short and long sleeve.
I’m all for it and believe it is an important step in correcting the way we teach children in this country. I’ve always thought that fashion was a distraction to the process of learning, uniforms would go a long way to level this aspect of the playing/learning field.
Except it won’t. Kids will know who is from what neighborhood and who’s parents they see at the grocery store and who’s they don’t.
The real progress in education is when we move from massive schools to smaller and more localized community schools. Putting Johnny and Susie in a polo shirt isn’t going to help that much.
This is ridiculous. School uniforms? I mean come on…public schools should promote the fostering of unique personalities, not the homogenization of our children. Let the private schools do that. If they impose this upon our kids, they damned well better provide the uniforms free of charge, and they better be ready for the protests.
They won’t. There is no money for schools. Mainly because we’ve conditioned an entire generation of dolts like travalah, Ralph Roberts and rationalinfidel who seem to think any taxing is bad. So we take money away from schools and then wonder why our children grow up to be stupid and violent.
This is ridiculous. School uniforms? I mean come on…public schools should promote the fostering of unique personalities, not the homogenization of our children. Let the private schools do that. If they impose this upon our kids, they damned well better provide the uniforms free of charge, and they better be ready for the protests.
School is for education it’s not a place to make a fashion statement or worry about the inability to make one. There is enough time outside of school to “foster a unique personality” or to strut around feeling self actualized because of the threads on their back. Too much pandering to the immature ego is counterproductive for the desired outcome of education process.
What’s the desired outcome? I’d say I reached it without resorting to uniforms. Once again, this is a bad idea. This is a “feel good” measure that has little to do with actual teaching and more to do with trying to put a band aid on a hatchet wound.
This is ridiculous. School uniforms? I mean come on…public schools should promote the fostering of unique personalities, not the homogenization of our children. Let the private schools do that. If they impose this upon our kids, they damned well better provide the uniforms free of charge, and they better be ready for the protests.
School is for education it’s not a place to make a fashion statement or worry about the inability to make one. There is enough time outside of school to “foster a unique personality” or to strut around feeling self actualized because of the threads on their back. Too much pandering to the immature ego is counterproductive for the desired outcome of education process.
I am going to agree with this statement. I think if you have an active parenting role this occurs out of school and that out of school is where it should be happening. I will agree with Jason too, smaller community schools are needed. Having 4,000 people in a high school is absurd.
I must have missed the original article, because I’m not sure what issues school uniforms are trying to address. Someone please tell me why it is dangerous for my 5 year old to wear whatever pants and t-shirt he wants to wear to school, so long as he is not disrupting the learning environment?
In the hopes that parents will come to places like this when they receive the school surveys I would like to put in my 2 cents. As a parent of 2 school age children, the oldest a freshman at AVL High, I am adamantly opposed to uniforms. Human beings should not have to wait until they are 18 to express themselves, childhood and adolescence are when you discover yourself, and there are enough rules already. I am an actively involved parent, and it is my right to decide what my children should (or shouldn’t) wear, I realize that not all kids have someone who monitors appropriate behavior/dress, but I am tired of losing rights due to a lack of common sense on the part of others! Also, do so few adults remember being a rebellious teenager? I know that personally, I would have flouted this rule no matter what my age because it would have seriously pissed me off, resulting in an otherwise well behaved, high scoring student getting in serious, repeated trouble.
...I am tired of losing rights due to a lack of common sense on the part of others!
I can’t agree more. School uniforms are not a way to attack the problem, they are a misguided effort to make helpless parents feel like they are doing something about the problem (what is the problem, exactly?), while stifling self-expression amongst our children.
I’m glad you agree. I haven’t heard a good enough explanation for what problem this is intended to solve. If it’s socio-economic differences, they are fooling themselves, no one is sharper than an image conscious teen about spotting who has money, just a look at shoes and accessories will tell them that… are those next on the chopping block?
I’m glad you agree. I haven’t heard a good enough explanation for what problem this is intended to solve. If it’s socio-economic differences, they are fooling themselves, no one is sharper than an image conscious teen about spotting who has money, just a look at shoes and accessories will tell them that… are those next on the chopping block?
M -
Since my son is only just three, I haven’t had to worry yet about what he will wear to school.
Speaking from my own experiences, I don’t remember it mattering much who wore what to school (as long as it didn’t smell) until maybe around 7th grade. Then, I remember all the girls getting caught up in the “designer jean” craze. Gloria Vanderbilt and Guess! jeans were all the thing then. If you didn’t have that designer brand, you just weren’t cool. I don’t know that it mattered to the boys as much, but the girls at my school could be really mean. (Naturally, my father refused to spend the $$$ on “designer” jeans, so I was somewhat an outcast several years. Made me the person I am today….lol.)
Freshman year of high school, I ended up at a private Catholic day school where there was a uniform. Kids, of course, found some ways to “express themselves” within the dress code (socks, shoes, jewelry, hair - there were pretty clear guidelines, but, as teens, we pressed right at the lines). My experience there was pretty positive. Kids still grouped into cliques, to an extent, but I think that the uniforms helped the students feel more unified as a group and, to an extent, facilitated learning.
So, right now, I kind of lean toward the idea of uniforms for public schools.
Parents have to spend $$ either way for clothes for their children. With the buying power of several thousand students, I could see the right uniform being both practical and affordable.
Imo, there is plenty of opportunity, outside of school, for young people to “express themselves” and uniforms can mitigate some of the “peer pressures” of adolescence.
Peer pressure will be there no matter what kids are wearing. It’s a fact of life. I worry much more about my kids being pressured to drink, have sex, do drugs, drive too fast, and skip school than I do about having to have the latest fashion.
Anecdotal stories aside, I’d still like to see some solid evidence that kids who have to wear uniforms somehow turn out better than kids who don’t, or that they have an easier time with less peer pressure to deal with.
