School Uniforms - the "Great Equalizer"

I'll start off by coming clean, so to speak. I spent the first twelve years of my formal education attending schools that mandated uniforms. It wasn't so bad at St. Anthony's School; we were young, innocent and frankly not bright enough to realize, at the time, that not everyone else in the world had to wear the same outfit every single day. It really wasn't until seventh grade that a lot of us girl had the same, collective light bulb go off in our parochial brains: these uniforms were not only really ugly, but also did nothing to display our rapidly blooming girlish charms. (Which, frankly, was the intention. The good nuns of the Order of St. Francis were not stupid. When they wore their 'uniforms', they looked strangely romantic in them, especially the young, beautiful blue-eyed ones directly over from Ireland. They also knew that adolescent girls were apparently incapable of knowing how to dress as the Lord would have us dress - hence, uniforms.) Brown jumpers paired with either short-sleeved or long-sleeved blouses, depending upon the weather, our feet firmly planted on the ground in shapeless brown loafers. Even the prettiest of girls looked strangely lackluster in that uniform.

It really became an issue, however, in high school. We no longer attended classes with the boys; we had our own high school, and they had theirs. In retrospect, that was a very good thing. Our high school uniforms were even uglier than our grammar school ones. I know, it sounds hard to believe, but they were. We were now housed in shapeless dark green jumpers with the same beige blouses, only this time, our feet were clad in the most Godawful type of strapped shoe. We looked like wayward milk maidens who had strayed right out of the fields. To make matters worse, not only were the uniforms mandatory, so were the hem lengths. Every jumper had to have a hem that was a full three inches - yes, 3" - below knee length. No debate there; the nuns actually measured the hems on our jumpers at least every other week. At a time when many teenaged girls go through the trials and tribulations of body image issues, we were pretty darned certain that no young man would be interested in approaching any of us, shrouded up the way we were - so, why bother? We didn't have a choice when it came to what we wore to school. The choice had been made for us.

What we did have were our nasty little secrets. (For anyone fostering any schoolgirl fantasies, don't get yourselves overly excited here.) Once we were literally off the school campus and on our way to the buses, we hiked up our hems - quite often, very high. Dumb as we were, we hiked them up by using a safety pin on each side of the jumper's waist. Not only did we look like schoolgirls who were still in incredibly ugly uniforms, we now looked like girls who were too oblivious to notice that our hems now dragged, sagged and swayed from side to side. But we were young and foolish back then. I remember the angst I felt my first day at college: what on earth to wear?

I don't want to make light of the situation of a school mandating a dress code. It really does serve several important purposes. Wearing a mandated school uniform is the great social and economic class equalizer. (Of course, people can always 'dress up' with expensive accessories like designer handbags or jewelry.) But when the young man whose father is a prominent surgeon is standing next to his fellow classmates, who could pick him out of the crowd? For once, being 'in the crowd' is not such a bad thing. Having a set uniform saves both time and money for parents and kids. Every school day, you know exactly what you will be wearing; your only responsibility is to make sure that it's clean and presentable. Parents don't have to deal with 'keeping up with the Joneses' or the Trumps or anyone else for that matter. Everyone's child is dressed - and looks - alike. In a society that judges us unfortunately on 'first impressions', when everyone is dressed alike, it levels the playing field. Everyone looks equal, everyone looks the same. Parents who otherwise could/would/be hard pressed to provide a child's school wardrobe not only save a ton of money by buying only a few sets of uniforms, they don't have to pay seemingly outrageous sums to make sure that Johnny or Susie have the most stylish, most up to date, the most coveted fashions.

Another positive is that having all students dressed sets limits. Girls aren't allowed to wear short shorts to school, nor are they allowed to wear jeans that just hug their hip bones or skirts that are only several inches long. No baggy jeans, cargo pants or, in some situations, 'gang' colors or styles are allowed as well. The Camden, New Jersey school district was one of the first in the nation to implement a dress code for their students. The student population in Camden is largely African American and Hispanic. While there was some difficulty in adjusting to the idea of wearing a uniform at first, Camden students are now several years into what has turned out to be a highly successful dress code program. Other nearby school districts who have also implemented what amounts to a 'uniform' code of dress policy include Willingboro, Pennsauken and the city of Philadelphia.

In Burlington County, New Jersey, the Palmyra school board very recently implemented a dress code for their high school and elementary school. While uniforms aren't mandatory, a number of clothing items are banned forever. BOE member Bernadette Russell stated for the record that "I have a son who is going to be a senior, and no, we don't agree on it, but I'm in favor of the dress code. I'm looking forward to not seeing any more boobs and boxer shorts."

Acceptable clothing at the Charles Street Elementary School and Palmyra High School now include black or tan dress pants and khakis, black or tan Bermuda or walking shorts and skirts that are no shorter than mid thigh, red or white collared dress shirts, polo shirts, golf shirts, sweaters and turtlenecks with only Palmyra High School logos, headwear specific to religious affiliations, and rubber or hard-soled shoes or sneakers.

What's on the 'out' list? Denim, hip huggers, mini skirts, cargo and painter's pants, and low-cut shorts, as well as sweatshirts, midriffs, mesh shirts, tank, tube and strapless tops. Also outlawed is any clothing identifying gang affiliations or made of fishnet, sheer, see-through, shiny nylon, corduroy or tight-fitting, stretchy materials. No longer will students wear heels higher than two inches, flip flops, shower sandals and open toed shoes. Banned as well are hats, scarves, headbands, visors, bandannas, wave caps (whatever they are), and sunglasses while in the school building.

Palmyra's interim Superintendent of Schools Walter Rudder said that the dress code policy was the result of the district's recent safety committee recommendation and study. "The main reason is it would help with security." Interestingly enough, while the Palmyra police department stands firmly behind the dress code policy and has pledged their support, support did not come from former BOE member and town Councilman Robert Bostock. "I don't agree with having the same standards of school districts that are failing academically. Philadelphia has uniforms and it hasn't stopped the violence there." Town resident Anne Harris noted that "I know the kids hate it, but when you get out into the workforce, there's going to be a dress code. You can't go to work in a mini skirt. There's not a board member up there (on the podium) wearing booty shorts." (Amen to that!) When the final vote was cast by Board members, a lone, unidentified voice in the audience shouted out "Thank God!"

Isn't it great to be an American, to live in a country where whether you're a parent or a student, you can at least express your opinion about school uniforms and dress codes. We're all entitled to our opinions on this rather interesting facet of life. And as the woman in the audience at the Palmyra school board meeting said, "Thank God!"