My school is now closed, all bar the paper work.
I've cleared out my personal belongings, tidied up, and left a hidden graffiti message to be found when they knock it down.
We've had the big party, and a lot of folk (including me) have sobbed on a lot of other folk's shoulders.
But...
I still don't know how I feel about it.
It's such a big, involuntary change in my life, I'm tempted to liken it to a car crash or sudden bereavement. I'll get it straight in my head eventually, but it might take months.
Watch this space.
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 July 2011
Monday, 11 January 2010
Uniformity
How many school kids complain about their uniform?
"I want to be an individual!" they proclaim.
Untrue.
Look around you. Humans need to belong to groups. They need to be identified as part of that group, even if they are not with that group.
Look at the football terraces, seas of red, green, yellow, checks. Watch the supporters walking to the match, nodding and smiling at strangers who wear the same colours, frowning at the other group.
Look at a school on a "non uniform" day. Look at the groups of kids, all keen to express their individuality by dressing exactly like their friends, or like those they want to be friends with, of those they want to be like.
The girls all wearing the same skinny jeans and lumpy bangles from the same fashion chain.
The boys all wearing the Animal hoodies.
Jocks, cheerleaders, geeks, nerds, emos, punks, rockers, mods, new romantics - they all have their own uniforms.
They may want to be unique, but they need to belong, and they only have one way to show it.
And if they turn up in the "wrong" outfit, suddenly they don't belong. Suddenly they are unique, but unique in a school means outsider.
So, a school that wants to be a community, with all its pupils belonging, needs a uniform.
Nothing complex, nothing uncomfortable, nothing strange, just uniform.
Uniforms are also great levellers - it brings down the snobs, it lifts up those who cannot afford cutting-edge fashion.
In the long-run, uniforms are good for the environment as well.
Somebody expected to wear a uniform needs to own fewer clothes, so fewer clothes need to be made.
Some of the money that would be wasted on soon-to-be-discarded fashion items gets spent on uniform that is used to its full extent, worn 'til it can be worn no more, then passed on to younger siblings. The rest can be spent on more important things - food, shelter, the latest Seasick Steve CD...
Kids may not want to wear a uniform, but they need to. It's good for them.
"I want to be an individual!" they proclaim.
Untrue.
Look around you. Humans need to belong to groups. They need to be identified as part of that group, even if they are not with that group.
Look at the football terraces, seas of red, green, yellow, checks. Watch the supporters walking to the match, nodding and smiling at strangers who wear the same colours, frowning at the other group.
Look at a school on a "non uniform" day. Look at the groups of kids, all keen to express their individuality by dressing exactly like their friends, or like those they want to be friends with, of those they want to be like.
The girls all wearing the same skinny jeans and lumpy bangles from the same fashion chain.
The boys all wearing the Animal hoodies.
Jocks, cheerleaders, geeks, nerds, emos, punks, rockers, mods, new romantics - they all have their own uniforms.
They may want to be unique, but they need to belong, and they only have one way to show it.
And if they turn up in the "wrong" outfit, suddenly they don't belong. Suddenly they are unique, but unique in a school means outsider.
So, a school that wants to be a community, with all its pupils belonging, needs a uniform.
Nothing complex, nothing uncomfortable, nothing strange, just uniform.
Uniforms are also great levellers - it brings down the snobs, it lifts up those who cannot afford cutting-edge fashion.
In the long-run, uniforms are good for the environment as well.
Somebody expected to wear a uniform needs to own fewer clothes, so fewer clothes need to be made.
Some of the money that would be wasted on soon-to-be-discarded fashion items gets spent on uniform that is used to its full extent, worn 'til it can be worn no more, then passed on to younger siblings. The rest can be spent on more important things - food, shelter, the latest Seasick Steve CD...
Kids may not want to wear a uniform, but they need to. It's good for them.
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