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

[mike larkin]

This is why I'm not a socialist. After all the
condemnations of capitalist oppression, it always
seems to end up with kids marching around in identical
uniforms and other such atrocities. No wonder
everybody in East Germany headed for the shopping
malls when the gates were opened, instead of sitting
around listening to homilies about "third way"
socialism.

Thank heavens for the anarchists. They're the only
reason the left has any vitality these days. 

 
--- joand315 <joand315 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Miles Jackson wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, 22 Aug 2003, mike larkin wrote:
> 
> >>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!
> 
> > Go to a mall and look at the clusters of 13 year
> olds and
> > what they're wearing.  Can you say with a straight
> face
> > they're expressing their unique individuality? 
> Bullshit.
> > As Wojtek emphasizes, it's a
> corporate-garment-industry
> > mandated uniform enforced by incessant ads and
> peer
> > pressure.
> > 
> > School uniforms stifle "individuality" no more (or
> less)
> > than current corporate standards for teen clothing
> do.  (Buying
> > corporate brands to "fit in" is not the unique
> expression
> > of a person's individuality!)
> 
> I have to agree here that school uniforms don't
> stifle "individuality". 
>   When I went to Catholic school, we found a way to
> make them ours. 
> There is enough latitude in sock type, skirt length,
> blouse type, to 
> make your personal stamp.
> 
> I know that in Chicago people began thinking about
> "school uniforms" for 
> public schoool kids, after inner city kids were
> being shot for the 
> jackets or shoes they wearing.  Also, parents were
> lobbying for their 
> kids to have "school uniforms" for this same reason
> and also because 
> they thought it would save them money.  One thing
> that "school uniforms" 
>   do is help to eliminate classism in school.  Kids
> have to find some 
> other way to group themselves or ostracize one
> another besides the 
> clothes that they, the kids, wear to school.
> 
> 
> 
> > Miles
> > 
> > ___________________________________
> >
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk
> > 
> 
> 
> ___________________________________
>
http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com