Comments on: Neptune’s School Uniform Policy In Effect February 2 http://thecoaster.net/wordpress/2009/01/29/neptune%e2%80%99s-school-uniform-policy-in-effect-february-2/ Your Community Newspaper covering the central Monmouth County area Mon, 21 Sep 2009 20:13:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Paul Zerzan http://thecoaster.net/wordpress/2009/01/29/neptune%e2%80%99s-school-uniform-policy-in-effect-february-2/comment-page-1/#comment-37779 Paul Zerzan Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:52:43 +0000 http://thecoaster.net/wordpress/?p=5096#comment-37779 Please take a stand against mandatory school uniforms. For one thing they actually work against school order and discipline. This is because when children are not individually dressed they cannot be easily identified. Imagine you are a teacher and you see a kid in the distance throwing rocks. If he is wearing green pants and a red shirt you can probably idnetify him. If he is dressed the same as all the other students, there is nothing you can do. You can't identify him so you can't report him. This is why in some schools fewer incidents of disorder and hooliganism are reported after the schools go to mandatory uniforms. Not because they don't occur, but because the students cannot be identified and apprehended. The school uniform superstition is damaging in other ways. The lesson of school uniforms is this "you will be punished if you are different". This increases bullying and intolerance. It makes the atmosphere of the school penal and punitive. The arguments for mandatory school uniforms are the same that can be used to argue we should all go to the same church and belong to the same political party. They are based on false assumptions that are contrary to traditional American philosophy. I have been around the world 6 1/2 times. I have detailed, first-hand knowledge of schooling in different countries and the effects of educational philosophy on the spirit and character of a nation. Please, take it from me, mandatory school uniforms are contrary to the American traditions that have made it a great nation. Please take a stand against mandatory school uniforms. For one thing they actually work against school order and discipline. This is because when children are not individually dressed they cannot be easily identified.

Imagine you are a teacher and you see a kid in the distance throwing rocks. If he is wearing green pants and a red shirt you can probably idnetify him. If he is dressed the same as all the other students, there is nothing you can do. You can’t identify him so you can’t report him.

This is why in some schools fewer incidents of disorder and hooliganism are reported after the schools go to mandatory uniforms. Not because they don’t occur, but because the students cannot be identified and apprehended.

The school uniform superstition is damaging in other ways. The lesson of school uniforms is this “you will be punished if you are different”. This increases bullying and intolerance. It makes the atmosphere of the school penal and punitive.

The arguments for mandatory school uniforms are the same that can be used to argue we should all go to the same church and belong to the same political party. They are based on false assumptions that are contrary to traditional American philosophy.

I have been around the world 6 1/2 times. I have detailed, first-hand knowledge of schooling in different countries and the effects of educational philosophy on the spirit and character of a nation. Please, take it from me, mandatory school uniforms are contrary to the American traditions that have made it a great nation.

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