{"id":582,"date":"2013-04-01T08:17:06","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T12:17:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/?p=582"},"modified":"2016-01-18T21:07:15","modified_gmt":"2016-01-19T02:07:15","slug":"a-uniformed-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/2013\/04\/01\/a-uniformed-education\/","title":{"rendered":"A Uniformed Education"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Honeybun\u00a0starts Kindergarten in August and while this transition is scary enough for any parent, what had me up for 2 hours the other night was the uniform policy. \u00a0Honeybun\u00a0will be attending our neighborhood public school where there is a strict uniform policy in place.\u00a0 I am adamantly against uniforms for so many reasons (and luckily hubby wholeheartedly aggrees); I even changed my mind about which preschool to send her to after learning our first choice required uniforms.\u00a0 I will clarify that I am all for a strict dress code which outlines what fashions are acceptable and which are not but a prescribed uniform where every child looks the same bothers me.<\/p>\n<p>I realize school uniforms have been the norm in many other cultures for years.\u00a0 But I still don\u2019t see the benefit in them.\u00a0 Even after living in Ireland for years and seeing all the school children walking around in their matching outfits (and especially after hearing how much my friends have had to spend on USED uniforms), I\u2019m still not a believer.<\/p>\n<p>We are allowed to opt out of the required uniforms by filling out a form within the first 10 days of school, which we intend to do.\u00a0 I have been obsessing over what we are going to write on the form under the \u201creason for exemption\u201d line.\u00a0 Technically, per school board policy, our request cannot be denied but I am still worried about the push back we\u2019re going to get from the school.\u00a0 After meeting with the principal a few months ago and attending the \u201ckindergarten round-up\u201d it has become more apparent that this particular school does not like non-conformers.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the reasons cited by the Elementary school for why uniforms are required (and my response to why it\u2019s nonsense):<\/p>\n<p>Research suggests that school uniforms<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Improve discipline, self-esteem and self-respect<\/b>:\u00a0 You mean by taking away every ounce of a child\u2019s ability to outwardly express themselves?\u00a0 Just one more way to perpetuate the \u201csit down, be quiet, do what you\u2019re told\u201d mentality.\u00a0 I want my children to learn respect and self-discipline by being taught it and seeing it modeled by adults, not by being forced to conform.<\/li>\n<li><b>Focus the student towards learning<\/b>: What does wearing comfortable clothes in colors other than blue and white have to do with learning? Honeybun\u00a0has sensitive skin and constantly complains about itching.\u00a0 You really think wearing the stiff uniforms is going to help her focus when all she can do is think about how her clothes are itching?<\/li>\n<li><b>Eliminate the fear of whether their clothing choice will be acceptable by peers<\/b>: This is a problem society has created.\u00a0 Instead of promoting self-expression and supporting children in making their own choices, we allow teasing, bullying and other forms of harassment.\u00a0 This one to me is just an excuse to be lazy and not take time away from the academic curriculum to teach moral and character building skills.\u00a0 I truly believe learning to be respectable, responsible people who can tolerate and work well with others is way more important than any academic topic.\u00a0 Aside from reading and writing, you can google most anything you need to know!<\/li>\n<li><b>Strengthens school pride<\/b>: So in this line of theory we, as Americans, should walk around wearing only Red, White and Blue.<\/li>\n<li><b>Identify student population from strangers on school grounds<\/b>:\u00a0 Totally get this one: for High Schoolers.\u00a0 You mean to tell me a 5-10 year old wandering around on campus not in uniform is going to be a red flag for a stranger?\u00a0 At the elementary level I think it is more important for the STAFF to be in uniforms to identify themselves, not the children.<\/li>\n<li><b>Cost effective:<\/b> Not generally a curser, but BULL S***.\u00a0 Since Honeybun\u00a0was a tiny little peanut in my belly I have had a rule of five.\u00a0 I spend no more than $5 (or 5 Euro or the equivalent) for a single piece of clothing (I will admit I splurge a little on fancy dresses, but still try to keep it reasonable).\u00a0 I will spend $10 on a two-piece set or up to $25 on a set of 5 onesies for example.\u00a0 But even everyday dresses (an all-in-one if you will) I do not spend more than $5.\u00a0 I realize this will not last forever and plan to increase with the child\u2019s age ($6 for a 6 year old, etc.) but you can find some pretty great things on the clearance and sale racks if you just keep your eyes open every time you wander by.\u00a0 I have amassed nearly an entire 5 year-old wardrobe for Honeybun\u00a0and do not have any interest in spending $10+ each (cheapest I can find) for 5-6 uniform bottoms and $10+ each for 5-6 school polos\/t-shirts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Oh, and by the way\u2026as for that \u201cresearch\u201d that they are using to justify their policy?\u00a0 Every research study I\u2019ve ever seen on school uniforms blatantly states that NO benefit has been proven for Elementary aged students.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, if Honeybun\u00a0decides she wants to fit in and wear the uniform like every other child, I will not prohibit it. \u00a0But I will also not run out and spend a lot of money on uniform clothes, I will\u00a0continue\u00a0to obtain the necessary as I always have. \u00a0Something tells me, though, that the little girl who loves being the silly one with seaweed at snack time might also like being the only one in bright colors on the playground. \u00a0Now to figure out how to get out of kindergarten homework (another unbeneficial, unnecessary\u00a0and unproven practice which has become compulsory for all grade levels)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC07866.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-583 alignleft\" alt=\"SONY DSC\" src=\"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC07866-300x199.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"199\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC07866-300x199.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC07866-600x399.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC07866-376x250.jpg 376w, https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC07866-1024x680.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC07866-390x259.jpg 390w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Honeybun&#8217;s\u00a0size 5 wardrobe. \u00a0I&#8217;m guessing in total this ALL cost less than $150, a little more than 1 weeks worth of uniforms (assuming we would want 6 full outfits to limit the need for\u00a0excessive\u00a0washing). \u00a0Upper right shows what in the pile meets the school uniform policy (a total of 2 white t-shirts).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Honeybun\u00a0starts Kindergarten in August and while this transition is scary enough for any parent, what had me up for 2 hours the other night was the uniform policy. \u00a0Honeybun\u00a0will be attending our neighborhood public school where there is a strict uniform policy in place.\u00a0 I am adamantly against uniforms for so many reasons (and luckily [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[284],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-home-school-zone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10053,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582\/revisions\/10053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beyondmommying.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}