Things that piss you off that shouldn't

[sidcow]

3 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Why do kids have to wear school uniforms at all? Why can't they just wear their normal clothes, a thing that happens in just tons of other countries without the sky caving in?

Every time this question gets asked, the most common answer seems to be 'so kids don't get bullied about their clothes', which 1) seems very much like tackling the symptom not the disease, and 2) surely creative bullies can just pick on kids' haircuts or shoes or pencil cases or mobile phones or parents' car or acne or like a million other things if they want to bully someone.

It is to stop kids turning up in rags and being bullied. My kids school won't even allow branded coats for that reson. 

You'll never stamp out bullying in school but you can take one reason away. 

Also it encourages a sprit of identity and togetherness. It's good for discipline and orderliness to look smart too. 

[Genie]

7 minutes ago, bobzy said:

You do realise it’s bullying about the disparity in wealth rather than just “clothes”?

Unless they are ginger  

Edited September 5, 2021 by Genie

[Xela]

6 minutes ago, sidcow said:

It is to stop kids turning up in rags and being bullied. My kids school won't even allow branded coats for that reson. 

You'll never stamp out bullying in school but you can take one reason away. 

Also it encourages a sprit of identity and togetherness. It's good for discipline and orderliness to look smart too. 

Glad that rule wasn't in place when i was at school. Would have never been able to rock this badboy

[HanoiVillan]

3 minutes ago, bobzy said:

You do realise it’s bullying about the disparity in wealth rather than just “clothes”?

Uniforms make complete sense to me. It doesn’t matter your background, you’re all wearing the same thing. 

 

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

It is to stop kids turning up in rags and being bullied. My kids school won't even allow branded coats for that reson. 

You'll never stamp out bullying in school but you can take one reason away.

Well as I said, there's tons of markers of wealth. Shoes, haircuts, phones, toys, cars - these can all show whether a kid comes from money or not. I remember being a kid, and I remember that it was easy to tell, in loads of different ways, whether another kid's parents were moneyed or not.

And as I say, it seems to me like if you want to stop bullying, then the thing to do is to discourage and punish bullying, rather than the round-the-houses idea of a uniform policy. There's a difference between *hopefully removing one of the ways the problem might manifest itself* and *actually tackling the problem*.

7 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Also it encourages a sprit of identity and togetherness. It's good for discipline and orderliness to look smart too. 

I think this is a big reason why schools have uniform policies - probably a much bigger reason than the bullying idea - and it's why I find it hard to sympathise with parents a lot of the time about this, because this just boils down to 'I find it aesthetically pleasing', and if that's the way parents feel, then unfortunately it makes sense that they have to pay for that. Kind of sucks for the kids though.

[sidcow]

5 minutes ago, Xela said:

Glad that rule wasn't in place when i was at school. Would have never been able to rock this badboy

God, I had completely forgotten about Naff clothing. 

I think this was my favourite coat for 5th year

[Mark Albrighton]

I was always under the impression uniforms are used partly so kids from a school can be readily identified.

Basically if they’ve been up to hijinks it can ascertained by the colour of the uniform, so the correct school can be notified that it’s their loveable scamps that have been up to no good.

I remember my school went so far as to give individual years slightly different colour ties (the main colours were kept constant throughout the school, but with additional thin lines to differentiate the years). Help narrow it down was my understanding.

[bickster]

2 hours ago, Genie said:

They also have PE several times a week, and on those days they wear their PE kit all day so 1 set isn’t enough.

What form of PE is it that you don't break sweat?

Thats bloody minging

[Genie]

7 hours ago, bickster said:

What form of PE is it that you don't break sweat?

Thats bloody minging

I agree.

I’m not sure if it’s a Covid thing, but on PE days they wear PE kit rather than uniform all day.

Its the same if they have dance or drama. So this week is PE kit Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday. 

Part of me wonders if it’s a drive to get parents to buy several sets of the over-priced PE kits that can only be bought from this lucky supplier.

[Ingram85]

I’m all new to the school thing in terms of parenting but getting the step lad ready for secondary school has been eye opening. The school want £40 a year that goes to the upkeep of the school, £20 a term for use of a laptop that would be his and the rules on shoes/socks etc… it’s barmy. 

I declined to pay for the laptop, they kept sent me 2 letters about it asking for payment details so I went there myself when dropping him off for the activity week and told them they can give him the website to use on his laptop we have at home, if he is using a laptop at school then it’s provided by the school and parents shouldn’t be strong armed into being charged for this. I haven’t heard anything since so I think I’ve won for now. 

[Genie]

10 hours ago, Xela said:

Glad that rule wasn't in place when i was at school. Would have never been able to rock this badboy

And a pair of these at the school disco?

[mjmooney]

10 hours ago, bobzy said:

You do realise it’s bullying about the disparity in wealth rather than just “clothes”?

Uniforms make complete sense to me. It doesn’t matter your background, you’re all wearing the same thing. 

Yeah, this. I never minded wearing school uniform, it took away any decision making first thing in the morning (and I was never much into 'fashion' anyway). I liked the fact that I could change out of it and into 'mufti' when I got home, which made a good psychological break between home and school. It was exactly the same as for my Dad, who worked all day in oily overalls, and put on a shirt and tie when he got home. 

[Ingram85]

Yeah I agree, the uniforms themselves aren’t the problem but they need more standardisation and less rigid elitism around it. Schools are too uppity and anal about their rules and they need to use common sense more and relax a little bit. 

Edited September 6, 2021 by Ingram85

[BOF]

On 04/09/2021 at 13:31, PussEKatt said:

Do you realise that eating vegies can be fatal ?

They did a study in the USA and out of 10,000 people that died,9998 had eaten vegies in the week leading up to their death. 

On a similar note, the vast majority of car accidents are between perfectly sober people.

[blandy]

13 hours ago, bobzy said:

You do realise it’s bullying about the disparity in wealth rather than just “clothes”?

My first day at big school I got bullied because I didn't have a blazer (they weren't compulsory, just the dark trousers and white shirt and grey jumper were. So I had a jumper and every other kid, with no exceptions had a blazer. I soon got a blazer when I said what had happened. I don't think my parents were happy at forking out the extra 20 quid or whatever it cost at the time.

[BOF]

15 minutes ago, blandy said:

My first day at big school I got bullied because I didn't have a blazer (they weren't compulsory, just the dark trousers and white shirt and grey jumper were. So I had a jumper and every other kid, with no exceptions had a blazer. I soon got a blazer when I said what had happened. I don't think my parents were happy at forking out the extra 20 quid or whatever it cost at the time.

So you've always been different gravy.

[HanoiVillan]

While we're doing anecdotes on this, I went to a secondary school in which wearing a uniform was compulsory. I was bullied repeatedly, but it didn't have anything to do with my uniform. I sure remember being made to a lick a waste bin on pain of a punishment beating if I didn't do it though.

After I left, I went to a sixth form college. There was no uniform, and there was no bullying either.

I say this not because I think not having a uniform led to an absence of bullying, but because I think they're completely uncorrelated. If people want to bully someone, they'll find a way.

[bobzy]

3 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

While we're doing anecdotes on this, I went to a secondary school in which wearing a uniform was compulsory. I was bullied repeatedly, but it didn't have anything to do with my uniform. I sure remember being made to a lick a waste bin on pain of a punishment beating if I didn't do it though.

After I left, I went to a sixth form college. There was no uniform, and there was no bullying either.

I say this not because I think not having a uniform led to an absence of bullying, but because I think they're completely uncorrelated. If people want to bully someone, they'll find a way.

People will certainly bully others, it will always happen.  All a uniform does is take away one way in which a child could be bullied.  It "evens up" what people wear.  The cool kids can't pick on someone else for what they wear (as you say, they may well find a way, though) because it's exactly the same.  Those from poor backgrounds who own rags have the same clothes as those affluent kids who show off etc.

r.e: Sixth form college and no bullying, I think that's more likely because a] kids have grown up and realised bullying isn't cool and b] let's face it, a certain type of child won't be attending sixth form college and may well be responsible for bullying.

[mjmooney]

5 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Sixth form college and no bullying, I think that's more likely because a] kids have grown up and realised bullying isn't cool and b] let's face it, a certain type of child won't be attending sixth form college and may well be responsible for bullying.

Bingo. Most of the bully types left after the fifth year. And those that made it into the 6th form found themselves in a changed world, where wit and sarcasm ruled the roost, rather than fists. 

[blandy]

15 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

I say this not because I think not having a uniform led to an absence of bullying, but because I think they're completely uncorrelated. If people want to bully someone, they'll find a way.

As soon as I got my blazer I was left alone - there's definitely an element of kids picking on "different" and school uniforms removes one reason for bullying, as people have said, but it can't stop bullying obviously.

Now, if you don't lick the bin, I'll give you a chinese burn.

[HanoiVillan]

8 minutes ago, bobzy said:

r.e: Sixth form college and no bullying, I think that's more likely because a] kids have grown up and realised bullying isn't cool and b] let's face it, a certain type of child won't be attending sixth form college and may well be responsible for bullying.

For sure, that will be a part of it. But bullying doesn't magically stop at 16; I've been in workplaces where bullying was happening. I'm not trying to say you would expect *as much* bullying in a sixth-form college as you would in a secondary school, just that it is perfectly possible to have an education environment in which there are no uniforms and also no bullying. IMO what really matters is whether the instiution creates a positive learning environment, which has little to nothing to do with what students are wearing, and much more to do with clear rules that are consistently enforced.