[lbo-talk] school uniforms (was: Ehrenreich responds to BDL)

[mike larkin]

--- Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu> wrote:
> Budge:
> > You missed Daddy Clinton's push for school
> uniforms in the
> > public schools?  I think there were even federal
> carrots to
> > encourage it?  Around here it seems to have caught
> on at
> > some of the inner city PS's, but not in the
> 'burbs.  Jerry
> > Brown is a big fan of them too (but then I think
> he's a
> > closet fascist...)
> > 
> 
> It seems to me that you never had kids in school and
> had to spend
> hundreds of dollars every few months for the
> "uniforms" pushed on kids
> by the marketers.  Kids who do not wear those "hip"
> $50 per garment
> clothes are often ridiculed and ostracized by their
> peers.  I was lucky
> that my own kid was an urban punk, but for my wife
> it is a constant
> struggle.
> 
> School uniforms are a much preferred alternative to
> the products of
> sweatshop-exploiting garment pushers.  Not to
> mention the fact that they
> would give a chance to low income families who
> simply cannot afford
> spending $25 on a T-shirt with somebody's name
> printed on it.
> 
> Wojtek
> 
Can't agree.  I went to Catholic school, and uniforms
are oppressive, just a total snuffing of creativity.
I've heard of studies where Catholic school graduates,
however succesful, are much less creative than public
schoolers.

As Katha Pollitt has pointed out, uniforms are also
demeaning to women forced to wear skirts, etc.

As for the idea it saves money: I disagree. Again
citing Pollitt, what are kids supposed to wear on the
weekends? Combining the cost of out of school clothing
with uniforms, it wouldn't be surprising if many
parents end up paying more.

Dress codes that accomomodate individuality are one
thing, and a fine way to curb all that sexy 11-year
old Lolita stuff.  But uniforms? If you're a Maoist!

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