What does your school uniform do for you?

Ask a student what they think of their school uniform and I doubt you will get a very cheerful response.

Heaps of people believe that a school uniform creates order, discipline and respect.

A school uniform is intended to unite the students under one common element yet it has this funny tendency of doing the exact opposite while simultaneously looking hideous.

Kudos to uniforms for being so negatively versatile.

Multiple schools around South Africa have adopted this system where students are awarded different coloured blazers or scrolls based on their academic, sport or cultural achievements.

This is where the pro-uniform argument of ‘uniforms rule out competition and clothing-based peer pressure’ comes into question.

Last time I checked, giving only a minority of students rewards for being’ better’ places them on top of some kind of social hierarchy and is like a kick in the teeth to those who are not ‘good enough.’

Yes, maybe some students’ talents deserve to be singled out and maybe others should try harder to receive acknowledgement.

But what if a student’s talent is not recognised by the school and so they therefore cannot get credit for it?

It almost seems as if schools tell children what to be good at and then use uniform variations to enforce this.

The role of the modern school uniform has shifted from a means of ensuring neatness and pride to that of social classification.

It encourages division and more often than not puts a group of students above the rest.

Yes, uniforms teach students how to dress neatly and yes, they also help outsiders identify the school.

But all these arguments tend to sound selfish on the school’s behalf. Neatness and identity have become increasingly important to schools which have started to be run like businesses. It has become all about competition.

How can we get more students into our school? How can we get people to recognise and acknowledge our school?  The original intention of a school; education; seems to have been lost along the way. Is this not unfair on the students?

While the generic blazer, shirt and tie do something for the image of the school, they do little for the students who intend to wear them.

Uniforms are unflattering – to say the least – and depending on one’s size and shape, they can also be very uncomfortable.

Feeling uncomfortable may play a huge role in hindering a student’s learning ability.

We should be allowed to wear what we feel comfortable in; ensuring that it follows a basic dress code, of course.

Feeling comfortable will allow us to pay full attention to our education and ultimately get the best out of our school experience.

Gone should be the days where ‘uniform’ is associated with ‘school’.

It is time to break away from a conservative component of school which detracts from a student’s individuality and move towards a more liberal and unique system that better suits our ever-changing 21st century society.