I was recently told about a child that was sent home from a local school because they didn't have the right color socks on! I always find this sort of pedantic bullying that children have to put up with from schools quite depressing. We wonder why children have no respect for adults - well this sort of thing illustrates why.
In fact I find the whole idea of a school uniform quite unreasonable. Whichever way you look at the arguments in favor of them they just don't hold water. It all essentially just amounts to one group of people forcing their will upon another. For a start “smartness” is just a matter of opinion. What one person feels looks smart another may feel looks scruffy, and vice versa. The only reason we have this idea that shirts, and suits and shinny shoes are smart is because we associate those things with wealth and status. It's all purely superficial.
I also often hear people make the argument that school uniforms stop bullying because they stop children from getting picked on for dressing differently. However under scrutiny this argument just doesn't hold up. It's like saying that everyone should have white skin, because if everyone was the same color there would be no racial prejudice. Or that all Jews and Muslims should be forced to convert to Christianity, because then there would be no religious tension. Surely the problem that needs solving is the bullying, not peoples differences.
I also don't understand this obsession people have with ties and their belief that everyone should wear one. As if a tie is some sort of magical talisman that miraculously changes the wearer from a jibbering slob into a fully functioning member of society. It's just a bit of material. If it does hold any symbolism surely it's the symbolism of a noose around the neck. Like a modern day sword of Damocles, hanging over people just in case they step out of line or show some individuality.
Ties are also really impractical. All I can remember from school is children using them to choke each other. In fact this highlights the general lack of intelligence that goes into the rules that we're all forced to live by each day in society. Children aren't allowed to wear earrings or studs or bracelets at school because of health and safety, yet spending the entire school day with what's essentially a piece of rope tied around their neck is seen as being perfectly acceptable.
In my opinion everyone, both adults and children, should be allowed to wear what they choose. So long as it's within the rules of health and safety. Surely we'd all enjoy going to school and work a lot more if we could just relax and be ourselves, instead of having to keep up a charade that's as unfair as it is outdated.
