Editorial: Uniforms the best option

OPINION: It's that week of the year when many parents will be feeling a degree of ambivalence.

Especially in the case of those parents who stay at home to look after the kids, there will probably be a good deal of relief that what sometimes seems like an endless summer break is over, with schools heading back this week.

Where the ambivalence comes in is that for many parents, especially of those children starting out at new schools, and particularly those going to high school for the first time, packing them off to school has left a sizeable hole in the bank account.

As Saturday's story in the Herald indicated, getting children to school is an expensive business these days, especially when they're heading into high school and the days of uniforms consisting of shorts and polo shirt are past.

This isn't a new story. It's one that crops up in the media in this week every year. School uniforms, for most, are simply a fact of life, and that hefty outlay is not something that can be avoided.

That said, however, before we get too up in arms over the cost of, particularly, a new high school uniform, we should weigh up whether or not we would actually be better off if uniforms weren't required.

One thing about the uniforms worn to high school, like those of the two girls featured in Saturday's story who were heading in that direction for the first time, is that the garments are of good quality, which they need to be if they're going to be worn day in and day out.

And that's an important point. Uniforms are worn each day of the school year. Providing alternative civilian clothing for those roughly 200 days would be a decidedly expensive exercise for parents.

Especially when the question of peer pressure, and children's consequent need not to be embarrassed in front of their classmates, is brought into the equation.

Wearing a uniform provides a child with an identity; it's evidence that they're part of a greater whole and it's arguable that it's a strong contributing factor to school spirit, which is why so many schools come down relatively hard on those students who refuse to wear their uniforms in the manner dictated by the school.

Naturally, there's a disciplinary element to the wearing of uniforms.

A uniform also means that socio-economic differences within a school's student body are not emphasised as they would be if every student was allowed to wear mufti each day.

There would plainly be those who would have more clothes, and more expensive clothes, to trot out at school.

Going to school is an exercise in learning, not an ongoing fashion parade, so while a uniform may be an expensive initial outlay, in the final analysis it's our best option.

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