Should school uniforms be abolished ?

Iomib

School uniforms are very expensive, Most secondary schools these days require crested jumpers that are €60 each, Skirts that are €50 each, This is huge burden on parents. Ireland must only have school uniforms because the uk have them, No country in mainland europe has school uniforms.

FlutterinBantam

NO

Logical Fallacy

If we get rid of the school uniforms i imagine my interest in teenage girls will drop.

So ..... no!

hondasam

NO because there would be to much competition on who was wearing what everyday.

TheDriver

imagine the burden on parents when Johnny comes home looking for expensive gear because everyone has a tommy shirt on. Fair enough you say no but then he is isolated and suddenly we are like USA.

School is for learning, growing up and being equal as much as possible. Weekends is for the fashion parades

MagicSean

No they should be mandatory. Cheaper to buy a uniform once every two years than try and keep your kid in fashion.

PhatPiggins

Iomib wrote: »

School uniforms are very expensive, Most secondary schools these days require crested jumpers that are €60 each, Skirts that are €50 each, This is huge burden on parents. Ireland must only have school uniforms because the uk have them, No country in mainland europe has school uniforms.

€110 , you think thats bad. Wait till they're looking for €110 every month to compete in the fashion wars that will go on if uniforms are gone.

Jimoslimos

No,

You think kids would happily let their parents dress them in cheaper clothes??

DetectivFoxtrot

Yes, uniforms have absolutely nothing to do with education whatsoever.

ShooterSF

No they should do away with crests so families can start buying a cheap blue (or whatever colour the uniform is) jumper in Tescos and not be forcing them to buy an expensive one in the local store with the exclusivity agreement on the uniform. Which defeats the initial reason for it.

Taco Corp

Absolutely not. They should all be standardised with crests available to buy from the schools for a few euro

ger vallely

My kids attend a uniformed school. i agreed to this when I applied for their positions at the school. My gripe is that this year the school have introduced a new crested tracksuit pants. They cost €45!!I think uniforms are a great idea. It cuts down on competition and could(should) save parents a few quid, what with teenagers looking for Hollister and all the other pricey brands. It ought to be acceptable at the moment, considering the financial stress put on people, that kids can wear a generic uniform. Navy jumper,navy trousers, blue shirt etc basic but still in keeping with the idea. I had already bought regular tracksuit pants for the first term. They are plain navy and cost €12.A month later I got the letter in the post informing parents of the new compulsory crested pants. Times are tough,money is not going as far as it did and uniforms are very expensive. The idea is great but the schools need to give a little leeway.

teol

Crested school uniforms should be abolished.

St.Spodo

I'm in favour of no uniforms. If the parents are dirt poor, tell the kids to become hipsters. They can maintain an air of superiority while wearing rags.

dermo88

Times are tough,money is not going as far as it did and uniforms are very expensive. The idea is great but the schools need to give a little leeway.

Because the Headmaster/Teachers/School are likely getting a kickback from the supplier. Its the same when schoolbooks are changed, Fianna Fail got massive kickbacks from Folens and Gill & MacMillan based on 'adjustments' to the curriculum. It was all one massive scam, and parents paid.

minidazzler

DetectivFoxtrot wrote: »

Yes, uniforms have absolutely nothing to do with education whatsoever.

Yes they do, they teach kids that they are not individual or special, they are lemmings who are to do what they are told and to follow the crowd because standing out in anyway whatsoever is bad.

But no, uniforms should be kept but they should not be allowed to cost so much.

Sir Oxman

ger vallely wrote: »

My kids attend a uniformed school. i agreed to this when I applied for their positions at the school. My gripe is that this year the school have introduced a new crested tracksuit pants. They cost €45!!I think uniforms are a great idea. It cuts down on competition and could(should) save parents a few quid, what with teenagers looking for Hollister and all the other pricey brands. It ought to be acceptable at the moment, considering the financial stress put on people, that kids can wear a generic uniform. Navy jumper,navy trousers, blue shirt etc basic but still in keeping with the idea. I had already bought regular tracksuit pants for the first term. They are plain navy and cost €12.A month later I got the letter in the post informing parents of the new compulsory crested pants. Times are tough,money is not going as far as it did and uniforms are very expensive. The idea is great but the schools need to give a little leeway.

I hope the parents got together and gave the school management a rollicking over that. Pure narcissism and tiger period crap still going strong (and no doubt, a nice earner for the school's supplier)

TheDriver

dermo88 wrote: »

Times are tough,money is not going as far as it did and uniforms are very expensive. The idea is great but the schools need to give a little leeway.

Because the Headmaster/Teachers/School are likely getting a kickback from the supplier. Its the same when schoolbooks are changed, Fianna Fail got massive kickbacks from Folens and Gill & MacMillan based on 'adjustments' to the curriculum. It was all one massive scam, and parents paid.

Give me a break, we get nothing from the uniform manufacturers except grief when we change things

Tonyandthewhale

I don't think it's a major issue but then again I don't think we'd be worse off without school uniforms. My secondary school didn't have a uniform and there wasn't any competition to have the latest tommy hil****er etc etc. We just wore whatever. It was nice to be able to choose what to wear though, made you feel like you were being treated like a reasonable adult.

snickerpuss

I went to a non-uniform school and honestly nobody ever cared what anyone else wore. It's a lame excuse as far as I'm concerned. Surely the kids wear regular clothes at home anyway? Much cheaper. I'm sure they'll be nagging you for trendy clothes either way.

flutterflye

Too expensive and too much hassle to wear normal clothes all the time, especially when kids are growing.
When they're older, there's that issue with labels and styles etc..

So, no I am not in favour of abolishing uniforms at all.

kelle

No, they shouldn't be abolished but they should be generic!

stovelid

No but kids should be able to wear generic uniforms and not ones with crests and the like. Or the school provides the crest and you can sew it on yourself.

flutterflye

snickerpuss wrote: »

Surely the kids wear regular clothes at home anyway? Much cheaper. I'm sure they'll be nagging you for trendy clothes either way.

Yes, but if worn to school they would need way more clothes.
They'd be ruined in the yard and pe etc...
As well as just normal wear and tear.
Clothes for growing kids cost a fortune anyway - no parent needs the extra financial burden.

7sr2z3fely84g5

No they should be kept,would drive a divide between the families who have and those who have not the money to buy new clothes.

But if was scrapped,it would probably work out in fave of scoobs a chance to wear their tracksuits.

ger vallely

I agree that somehow the school must be getting some money from the sale of the uniforms. As far as I can see all the other kids in my youngests class have the new crested bottoms. I didn't get them,being stubborn. Youngest doesn't mind either way. Only problem is that the school dishes out 'points' for infractions of the school rules,including not wearing the correct uniform. So tomorrow is the first day to wear p.e gear,so I am heading in to the school to say my piece. I hope to passively get through to the head how they are piling more pressure on already overstretched parents. The kids have school jackets which may as well be tissues, they are worthless against Irish weather and they are quite pricey too. It's all getting a bit much to be honest,I wouldn't mind too much but the uniforms are not of great quality anyway. What is the need of a skirt with one box pleat?Ridiculous,surely a plain navy skirt from chain shop would suffice? Box pleat my left eyeball.

MGMTea

As much as I hate my uniform they shouldn't be abolished, too much hassle getting other clothes tbh..

we just wear normal clothes for PE so it's grand yeno !

TheDriver

the only reason why we have certain jumpers etc is because some students like to buy clothes that are away too small for themselves such as tigh jumpers etc. You would be shocked at how many loopholes they find, especially girls.

stimpson

I went to a uniformed and non uniformed secondary school. I much prefered the non uniformed one. I do accept there will be fashion issues. Blue or black jeans and a white shirt. Problem solved.

alwaysadub

No but you should be able to buy your jumper wherever you want and iron or sew on the crest.
I'd do away with school jackets though, sure you're not allowed wear them in school anyway. (Well we weren't anyway)

FinnLizzy

There seems to be an attitude here that if you allow teens to wear what they want, they'll automatically turn into pretentious tw@ts who care only for brands.

Designer clothes too expensive for Saoirse and Eoin? Don't fcuking buy them! Let them LEARN that it doesn't matter! Since they're in school.

Teens with a sense of brand snobbery making fun of your son's basic functioning clothes? Tell him not to hang around with the snobs.

I wen't to a non-uniformed primary school and a uniformed secondary school. At an early age we accepted that people have their own styles.

Biggins

hondasam wrote: »

NO because there would be to much competition on who was wearing what everyday.

I agree with the above. The bigger problem is with the cost of books.
The politicians keep saying every year around this time, they are going to do something about the problem - and after a month of waffle, feck all is done.
The uniform problem/cost in minor to the much larger problem of material and book costs at the end of the day.

kylith

Iomib wrote: »

School uniforms are very expensive, Most secondary schools these days require crested jumpers that are €60 each, Skirts that are €50 each, This is huge burden on parents. Ireland must only have school uniforms because the uk have them, No country in mainland europe has school uniforms.

In fairness, this isn't an arguement for abolishing uniforms, it's an arguement for smacking schools over the head and saying 'do ya think I'm fecking made of money? Do ya?'

Was in Shaws with The Mammy a few weeks back and crested jumpers were €30, uncrested jumpers (exactly the same) were €15. My brother said he'd paid over €100 for a uniform for his 6 year old. I asked him why he wouldn't just cut the badge off the old uniform and sew it to a v-necked jumper in the same colour and tell the school to go feck themselves if they complained, like The Mammy used to do, and he started going on about how the kid would be picked on.

Schools need to cop on, and parents need to cop on and not buy the crested stuff unless it's a reasonable price. Send you child in in a plain jumper and if the school says anything tell them that they can fecking pay for a jumper, you're too busy trying to pay the bills.

FinnLizzy

Faced with a compromise. I'd be up for abolishing the horrible school jumpers usually found in Catholic schools. Wear short sleaves under it and BOOM! Rash central!

Maybe a cheap blazer and an a t-shirt with the school logo.

brummytom

PhatPiggins wrote: »

€110 , you think thats bad. Wait till they're looking for €110 every month to compete in the fashion wars that will go on if uniforms are gone.

This argument gets trotted out constantly.

I wore a school uniform for 12 years, then went into sixth form (at the same school I'd spent the previous 6 years). Sixth form at our school, like many others, is non-uniform.

I think people worried about how they looked for maybe a week. After that, people stop caring. Now I do go to a relatively good/well-behaved school, so I can't vouch for other schools - but at mine, no one has ever been bullied for the clothes they wear.

nicechick!

Iomib wrote: »

School uniforms are very expensive, Most secondary schools these days require crested jumpers that are €60 each, Skirts that are €50 each, This is huge burden on parents. Ireland must only have school uniforms because the uk have them, No country in mainland europe has school uniforms.

School Uniforms are expensive but think of the added cost of a child wanting to wear something different every single day a total of five different outfits in most cases!

Not all schools have the crested jumpers as they understand the cost involved my sister can get all her kids uniforms in Dunnes

Canard

Yes. Come on, they even make us buy shoes. As said before, no one cares about brand clothes and if they do, that rivalry is going to happen outside school anyway.

Or at least make them more comfortable, those jumpers cost so much and it feels like you're wearing a ****ing brillo pad all day, why not just let us have lighter clothes if we want?

KittyeeTrix

FinnLizzy wrote: »

There seems to be an attitude here that if you allow teens to wear what they want, they'll automatically turn into pretentious tw@ts who care only for brands.

Designer clothes too expensive for Saoirse and Eoin? Don't fcuking buy them! Let them LEARN that it doesn't matter! Since they're in school.

Teens with a sense of brand snobbery making fun of your son's basic functioning clothes? Tell him not to hang around with the snobs.

I wen't to a non-uniformed primary school and a uniformed secondary school. At an early age we accepted that people have their own styles.

Thank you so much for this comment

Wrecks my fcukin head lately that because some parents cannot say no to their kids that I am stuck paying extortionate prices for crested school uniforms......

Same situation with school lunches. Some parents would let their kids gorge themselves stupid on junk food everyday at school and because of this the schools now dictate what lunch the kids can bring to school. Poor kids are terrified if the teacher finds a feckin plain homemade bun in their lunchbox.....

FFS, I used to have a penguin bar for lunch now and again at school and it never killed me.

The Scientician

I remember in primary school there was a huge bullsheet oneupmanship over the runners kids wore. It always seemed like it was the poorer kids with the snazzier runners.

FinnLizzy

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Thank you so much for this comment

Wrecks my fcukin head lately that because some parents cannot say no to their kids that I am stuck paying extortionate prices for crested school uniforms......

Same situation with school lunches. Some parents would let their kids gorge themselves stupid on junk food everyday at school and because of this the schools now dictate what lunch the kids can bring to school. Poor kids are terrified if the teacher finds a feckin plain homemade bun in their lunchbox.....

FFS, I used to have a penguin bar for lunch now and again at school and it never killed me.

Yeah, it's a weird issue and I never thought uniforms would be popular. Mine were uncomfortable and roasting during the start of the summer.

I get sick of such nanny state type issues. Same with the school lunches as you said. I used to get a cream bun and a can of Coke from our caff (1.80eur) and when I realised that I was getting cramps during PE, I made a decision to stop. Now we have a school dinner cafeteria with crappy healthy dinners that cost way more!

Eric Cartman

i say keep the uniforms, how else am i supposed to know who to hit on at half 3 every day

FinnLizzy

The Scientician wrote: »

I remember in primary school there was a huge bullsheet oneupmanship over the runners kids wore. It always seemed like it was the poorer kids with the snazzier runners.

Nothing to do with class. I always found it was the kids without brothers/sisters that had the best stuff. And with single parents. Just a generalisation, but I just refer back to Cartman, .

Paddy Cow

I went to a school without a uniform and what we wore was never an issue. There will always be kids who have more expensive things than other kids - who has the beat phone, i-pod, best christmas and birthday presents etc. Dressing kids the same isn't going to do away with who is richer/poorer and they will always find something to be competitive about.

If they must insist on uniforms, then the uniforms should be generic and affordable. It's ridiculous the price of some uniforms.

Paddy Cow

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Wrecks my fcukin head lately that because some parents cannot say no to their kids that I am stuck paying extortionate prices for crested school uniforms......

Same situation with school lunches. Some parents would let their kids gorge themselves stupid on junk food everyday at school and because of this the schools now dictate what lunch the kids can bring to school. Poor kids are terrified if the teacher finds a feckin plain homemade bun in their lunchbox.....

FFS, I used to have a penguin bar for lunch now and again at school and it never killed me.

If we wanted something and used the line "but such and such has it" we'd get "and if such and such jumped off a bridge would you jump after them?". Ha ha soooo annoying at the time but I survived

Helix

hondasam wrote: »

NO because there would be to much competition on who was wearing what everyday.

where does this actually happen? never came across anything like it in my days at school

Chuck Stone

Generic white shirt with grey skirt/pants I reckon. Maybe official sweater.

Anecdote time.

Our family moved to a new location and we started in a new school. The new school required wool blazers which were like IR£100 in the late 80's. My parents just could not afford it at the time as there were three of us starting in the same school simultaneously.

Anyhoo my Dad sourced a blazer which was quite close to the official school blazer in colour from another school except this blazer was about IR£20 and made from polyester.

The sourced blazer was close enough in colour to the official blazer that the school couldn't complain. I think within a year loads of people had slightly off coloured blazers and the whole blazer thing collapsed \o/

That school then adopted an official jumper with generic grey pants and white shirts which makes more economic and practical sense.

whydoibother?

Let them wear whatever they want unless it's offensive.

I always find rules based on the fact that other kids might pick on them such a cop-out. Sort out school discipline. If another kid is picking on somebody, then use detention, suspension, expulsion as appropriate imo. To change rules to avoid the predicted behaviour of some little 10 year old bully, is completely twisted. Get rid of the little f$cker.

kelle

Biggins wrote: »

The bigger problem is with the cost of books.
The politicians keep saying every year around this time, they are going to do something about the problem - and after a month of waffle, feck all is done.
The uniform problem/cost in minor to the much larger problem of material and book costs at the end of the day.

I agree with you there.

FGS, it's not as if school is a lifestyle choice - it's compulsory, and forcing parents to pay big bucks for what are essentials is sickening!

Of course it's different if parents have chosen to send their child/children to a private school, they don't really have grounds to complains about uniform an book costs.

KittyeeTrix

Paddy Cow wrote: »

If we wanted something and used the line "but such and such has it" we'd get "and if such and such jumped off a bridge would you jump after them?". Ha ha soooo annoying at the time but I survived

Haha, you got lightly!! My mam would tell me to "eff off out of the kitchen before she thumps me"!!!:D

Alice1

Seanbeag1 wrote: »

No they should be mandatory. Cheaper to buy a uniform once every two years than try and keep your kid in fashion.

How on earth do you manage to make a uniform last two years? I have two daughters in secondary school this year and the younger one is taller and broader than her older sister. They are both growing (like weeds) and despite my buying uniform with "growing room", it looks like I will have to buy another uniform after Christmas.

While in Primary School, I had loose crests and I used to attach them with velcro to the school shirts and the same two crests did me for years! However, I really don't think that would work with the school jumper and polo shirt they are obliged to wear to secondary school.

I don't agree with the abolition of the uniform, however, like many others said, I wish it could be generic. Plain grey/navy/maroon jumper or cardi, plain blue/white/cream blouse or shirt and a suitable skirt or trousers. This crested lark is getting out of hand.

TheDriver

whydoibother? wrote: »

Let them wear whatever they want unless it's offensive.

I always find rules based on the fact that other kids might pick on them such a cop-out. Sort out school discipline. If another kid is picking on somebody, then use detention, suspension, expulsion as appropriate imo. To change rules to avoid the predicted behaviour of some little 10 year old bully, is completely twisted. Get rid of the little f$cker.

You need a BIG reality check on schools, its near to impossible to expel someone unless they threaten the health and safety of teachers or students, suspension can only be for 20 days before it can be appealed again and again and what if they don't bother coming to detention, see above.

School discipline is tough and parental support isn't always there. uniform makes it a lot easier in many educational ways