Stone Soup by Jan Eliot for September 03, 2012

Smart thinking! Love that look in the last panel, :)

School uniforms are the answer to that dilemma, although it seems that American schools don’t have them. There is no competition amongst the girls regarding their clothes; and the children do look smart in their uniforms.

Some American schools do have them, but it is not common. A friend of mine has a granddaughter in a school that has uniforms, and she says it’s insane what the girls will do to stand out, be ‘cute’, etc. Wacky shoes, hair, jewelery, and the older girls with the makeup. She says the one really good thing though- the boys are not wearing saggy jeans! They have to wear belted slacks, and at the normal waistline level, or else.

That I think would be reason enough for a uniform policy!

Why not just go straight to prison jumpsuits for uniforms?

School uniforms are great for discipline. I saw a video clip where the kids were wearing uniforms, and they were all polite and obedient. It was a little hard to follow though, since it was in the 1930’s and they were speaking German.

Gotta love that autumn brown shirts don’t you Louie?

Good to be homeschooled…

As kids grow, they;ll need clothes. You either pay for uniforms or mall stuff. Shoes/socks/coats/hats are another matter. What are you there for anyway?Uniforms are best because: you can buy them used, hand-me -downs, and fewer choices. the schools won’t have to tell you that you can’t wear “that”! Skirts can only be so high. One too high can be spotted easily-and it’s usually a girls school anyway. Public schools can sometimes put you in a family way, quickly if they’re too high!!Boy’s shirts cannot have messages on them, so are not sent home or get beat up. Uniforms are more interchangeable. I don’t believe it costs $250 for a school uniform-maybe three.And you can’t outgrow a backpack!

I wore uniforms to school until I was in the tenth grade. No way to tell who was rich or poor, and a navy skirt, white blouse, and red sweater can be bought any place and worn anywhere. And I don’t know you got $250! For a pair of Air Jordans, maybe, but not a pair of loafers or saddle shoes.

Showing my age here….I remember being miserable because girls had to wear dresses. I was in 7th grade before they let us wear pants.

Inspect what Holly picked out, Val! It’s probably some skimpy outfit with a rude saying on it (sort of like what rollsroyce said up there)

I once went into a children’s store to see about uniform prices. Nothing significantly different from K-Mart, Kohl’s or other stores.In my day, schools had these things called “dress codes.” Boys had to wear shirts with sleeves and collars, and trousers (not blue jeans), and shoes with socks. Sneakers were for gym and nothing else. Girls had to wear dresses or blouses with skirts that were knee-level, socks and shoes. In junior high (“middle school” today) mini- and micro-skirts came into fashion. Although they were supposed to be prohibited, many girls wore them anyway. In my seventh grade year, fishnet stockings were all the rage. One thing never allowed was leather skirts.In technical high school it was the same with general ed. classes, but some of the shops had uniforms. It did help the learning atmosphere/environment, and it didn’t destroy anybody’s creativity, either.Besides everything else, kids do need to learn a sense of dress and propriety. If someones’ ego and character is so fragile that it can be ruined by having to dress to a standard, then they have nothing worth crying about.

School uniforms can be more expensive – especially if you buy them from the exclusive school. The whole idea here in the US schools is that no designer clothing or expensive tennis shoes worn will keep down problems. The school wear is plain, but well made and are made by many different manufacturers.

I hated it when I was in Catholic school, the corduroy was too hot for SoCal , and we couldn’t wear polo shirts r shorts. It has changed, now.

When one of my daughters was in school, she was always terrified when I took her to KMart, that one of her friends would see her patronizing such a non-cool place. I’d tell her, “Well, if your friends see you, that means that they’re here, too!” Made no difference.

Private schools student’s do wear uniforms. Place I worked out no school uniform with DOC for teen boys facility made sure no clothes realted to gangs with t-shirts and blue jeans, no sagging allowed.

Here is a treat for everyone. I am midst of class on-line. One class requires a service project, I chose one home made cookies.

I never had to worry about back-to-school shopping too much since I typically agreed with everything that my mom chose, and that saved us both a lot of stress.

My son was just as picky, if not more so, than my daughter. Every kid is different.

I wore uniforms for 12 years and loved it since I didn’t have to worry about what I was going to wear everyday. At the time, they were only available at certain stores and weren’t cheap. Now that a lot of schools in our area wear uniforms, they’re now available at stores like WalMart and Target.

School uniforms are a great idea because it keeps a lot of kids from being bullied and picked on because they don’t have the right jeans, or the most popular shoes. It levels the playing field for EVERYONE. You can still individualize your self with hair and make-up or funky jewelry. I saw it ALL the time in England. But no obscene t-shirts and no butt cracks showing THANK GOD!!!!

Very eloquently put, succinct and to the point. Not sure if you currently are in school, or have ever worn uniforms to school, but I would have to weigh in on the no uniforms side.

Becomes a different problem…keeping their underwear as UNDERwear not visiblewear & then the oversized pants….that is sooo 1990’s.