Creating Clone Clusters?

Is School Uniform engulfing all our hopes for individuality?

Every mirror, in every bedroom, in every street, in every town holds a students face, staring gloomily at the repulsive sight that meets their eyes. No matter how hard they try, despite any last minute alterations they have attempted to make it will still be the same old school uniform, the one they really hate, the one that they feel is a breach of their freedom. Every day, in every classroom, in every school students slump embarrassed into their seats, too busy worrying about their appearances to concentrate on the work in front of them. Is this what the teachers want? Isn’t the point of school for the students to be concentrating on their learning?

We all know that feeling, when you just wish the ground would open up and swallow you whole, when you know the person opposite you is whispering about how awful you look to your friends. It almost seems pointless that school uniform should exist; it seems just an excuse for teachers to give more detentions, to get satisfaction out of torturing students in uniform detentions while they complete their own compulsory marking. 

Nevertheless, would the situation improve without uniform? There would still be that awful prejudice towards different groups of people, that hint of stereotyping that lingers in the air. Is being individual going to help the problem, or is a student’s individuality going to make them stand out even more, and highlight any negative parts of their personality?

Personally, I am mystified as to whether we should have school uniform or not, however I would hope that we could come to a compromise between a strict school uniform and complete freedom as to the clothing we wear. It would not be fair to steer completely towards either, though at present it seems as if we are. Just by looking within my school contact book, I can see a whole double page with the purpose being to lay down all the rules about school uniform. Surely, the people with the power to alter the rules are getting a little carried away with what they can control about our appearances.

All the do’s and don’ts it become too complicated to cope with. I read in my planner “No extremes in hair dye or style, no extreme commercial logos.” How can we as students determine what extreme means? When does the sensible become the extreme? Just the other day a friend of mine began sixth form on a warm summer’s day wearing a pair of shorts. Oblivious to the fact that these were not allowed she was banned from coming to school that day to receive her education and instead spent the day at home, furious about the nonsense of school uniform rules.

Despite all these complaints, I have just made about school uniform, without it we would all be a sloppy mess of students, perhaps without a serious attitude for learning. Uniform is essential to create the right attitude and atmosphere within students who feel studious and eager to learn. We need to be united, but still keep our individuality. Who cares if you wear nail varnish, isn’t that your choice? Who cares what style your hair is in, is this going to affect your attitude to learning? Who cares if your coast isn’t plain and school style, as long as it keeps you warm- its doing its job. Uniform should stay, but it doesn’t need to include small petty things such as hair and accessories - as far as I’m concerned the present rules for these are a breach of our freedom- they should be the students choice, to allow them to lay out their own sense of identity and let them be who they want to be. After all, we don’t want to become yet another in a continuous cluster of clones………..