School uniforms are but one example of a dress code, and dress codes are nearly universal - almost every social situation has one, so schools are no exception in this regard. Those who fight school uniforms to defend individuality (which as Carrol aptly pointed out is a totally meaningless but feel-good buzzword) would use their energies better is they concentrated on the school's _unique_ contribution to instilling uniformity and deference toward authority - multiple choice test.
The essence of the multiple choice test is to select the "right" answer form the limited range of options. Both the right answer and the range of choices are pre-defined by the test-administering authority. Thinking of any sort while taking such tests is penalized at least twice. First, thinking takes time and results in fewer items the test taker can answer, given the rigid time constraints of any standardized multiple choice test. Second, thinking may lead to correct answers that differ from those pre-defined by the test-administering authority, and thus having them marked wrong.
My favorite example (cited by my cognitive sociology professor at Rutgers) is a test item for children asking to identify items that are similar form the presented list. The presented list included the following: bus, car, sailboat, and airplane. The test-administering authority pre-defined bus and car as the right answer, on the ground that both move by rolling their wheels. The kid selected bus and airplane on the grounds that to enter them, you need to show a ticked - and of course that answer was wrong as inconsistent with the choice expected by the authority.
Standardized multiple-choice tests make the US schools more fascist than all uniform-enforcing Maoist and Catholic schools combined.
Wojtek
> 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
> > >
> > > ___________________________________
> > >
> >
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> >
> >
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> >
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