Cape Town - For the past 12 years I have woken up every weekday to put on a shirt, tie, smart pants, black shoes and a blazer.
Now that I have reached an age where backchatting is now called my opinion, here it is.
We are told that the reason we wear school uniform is to instil a sense of pride within us, a feeling of belonging to an organisation, a unit where discipline and obedience is vital.
This is education, not war, even though the lines blur from time to time.
The Oxford Dictionary defines pride as: “A feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements, the achievements of one’s close associates, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.” Pride comes by itself and cannot be forced, especially on rebellious, hormonal teenagers.
We are also told that uniforms prepare us for wearing smart attire to work every day. What about those in the creative industry? My art and design teacher always wears something funky and different with vibrant colours, while her colleagues, who taught me other subjects like maths, would wear the same formal wear every day (and rightly so, I wouldn’t want to be taught maths by a person in a tiedye with dreadlocks).
It is proven through practice that allowing a creative individual to express themselves with regards to their image helps improve their work ethic as they feel more comfortable while working.
Counteracting this is that a uniform helps to create a working mindset for some students. Once a student is dressed in a specific manner he or she will act accordingly. Looking smart, acting smart.
I personally cannot stand my uniform – the second I get home I peel it off like a life-threatening virus before I can even think of homework.
If a school that has always embraced a uniform is to suddenly allow its pupils to wear their own attire, classes will become obstreperous. It would be like giving a child who has never been allowed sugar a box of candy bars: chaos until the novelty wears off.
Another quick response constantly dished out by the powers that be is that students don’t have to worry about peer pressure when it comes to the clothing if everyone is wearing the same thing. Valid point. Yet if you turn your attention to the sports field where all the pupils are in sports uniforms, peer pressure exists between who has the best cricket bat. The second a pupil graduates and forms part of the working society where they have some choice in what they wear, peer pressure will still exist. Rather allow it to happen under the supervision of teachers so that it can be addressed and dealt with.
In an ideal world the school would have a “uniform guideline” that says what colours must be worn and what items of clothing cannot be worn, leaving it up to the pupils to decide. This would help them determine their own identity within society. On that note what is the point of schools being so against girls wearing nail polish? In my school, girls may wear hair accessories (within reason) granted that they are in school colours. What is so wrong about showing some school spirit and painting your nails in school colours?
And what about those families who can barely afford school uniforms in the first place? How can we add more pressure to them by insisting on uniforms?
With most school uniforms coming from a single supplier with custom-embroidered badges, I am not surprised they are so expensive. Parents who opt to buy uniform items from other shops often have their children reprimanded by the school because their shirt is the incorrect shade of blue. If students could choose their own clothing parents could shop around for better prices.
One of the main problems with allowing pupils to wear their own clothing is that it will highlight the socioeconomic status of the family. Many children are raised in homes where their school clothes are their best clothes because they can’t afford anything else.
Yet what happens to these students when they graduate from school? Society’s judgement is inevitable. Now imagine the world we could build for our children if we encouraged those families who could afford extra clothing to donate it to those who could not.
Children should be taught to embrace charity from a young age. In the words of American comedian Louis CK: “The only time you should look in your neighbours’ bowl is to see that they have enough to eat.”
If we are all unique, why should we dress like we aren’t?
Justin Pedersen
Matric pupil, Milnerton
Cape Argus
* The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of Independent Newspapers.