It’s Official! Uniforms for All

About a million years ago, we ran an article written by Cindy Webb about school uniforms for elementary students in Tulsa Public Schools. The debate was raging. Uniforms won out. Last night, the last nail in the coffin or champagne toast (choose your metephor, depending on which side you’re on), was pronounced by the school board — uniforms for all!

I never had much of an opinion about uniforms. For those of you who know me, it’s very rare for me to NOT have an opinion. My son, who tends toward the strict, type-A, orderly, predictable category liked uniforms. My middle daughter, who is messy and all over the place, wanted uniforms for a different reason — she didn’t like thinking about what she had to wear every day. And my youngest would have disliked uniforms, but would have put it off as unimportant. Now that she’s in college, she buys all her clothes at Goodwill.

I guess uniforms do make for a more egalitarian atmosphere. But, from my observation, kids know who the rich people are anyway. They’re no fools. And unless you ban Cole Haans, Coach purses and the like, you aren’t really going to ever get to a class-blind student population. Oh, wait, did I say class? We don’t have those in the United States, do we?

As for those who say that their creativity and independence is being stomped on. Maybe. But maybe it takes more creativity to be a unique individual in a uniform than it does in that outfit you got at Cheap Thrills.

Since I no longer have kids in TPS, let me know what you think. Uniforms or no?