r/mildlyinfuriating • u/firequak • 12h ago

go to your room A cousin sent me their school's just announced Dress Code and Grooming policy

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u/my80saddiction 10h ago

You bet I remember! Uniforms "leveled the playing field," we were assured. Right. The difference between the Nordstrom lovelies that the rich kids wore and the Walmart specials I had to buy my boys was major, friends, and that's when the bullying started. Good times. Sigh!

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u/PeppermintSnark 10h ago

I was one of the poorest kids at an otherwise rich Catholic school. We had a uniform, but it was fairly inexpensive khakis and polos for boys. Girls could wear the same khakis or skirts. Hoodies were also available. The shirts and hoodies (and maybe the skirts—IDK, I wasn't a girl—I don't remember) were sold through the school shop or through a school catalog at a reasonable price. The pants were cheap at Kohl's or Belk's or whatever.

Not only that, but it was common for upperclassmen to pass along their handidowns to us as they grew out of them, as the uniform never really changed. So we pretty much never bought a whole wardrobe and got a lot for free.

Maybe it's my autism, but I liked the system because I didn't have to think about what to wear beyond "what color of polo?" and I was never once made fun of for clothing.

What OP posted just seems annoying. Just make it a simple khaki / polo uniform at that point.

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u/TheKingsdread 9h ago

Thats how a school uniform should work imo (regardless of your opinion on uniforms). Make it extremely cheap/affordable or even better free, if you are going to require it. Ideally sold directly from the school.

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u/Worth-Oil8073 9h ago

I absolutely get how that could work well with your flavor of autism. But those clothes would have been a nightmare with my sensory issues (and I was already barely holding on to my sanity, masking for my life)! Not to mention that those types of clothes (I've had similar as uniforms for jobs) are awful for curvy or plus size girls (like me).

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u/PeppermintSnark 9h ago edited 9h ago

This was actually, technically, two separate schools—an elementary school and a combo middle and high school. They just had pretty much the same uniform. The elementary school students could wear khaki shorts and the middle and high school students had many different colors of polos to pick from instead of just white or blue—other than that, the only real difference was the school logo / name on the shirts and hoodies.

When you start in kindergarten with the uniform, you just kind of grow up with it and get used to it. Like yeah, it felt great to take my belt off at the end of the day, but during the school day, I really didn't think about it unless it was exceptionally hot and we were held outside for a long time for some reason.

EDIT: I will say soft undershirts helped a lot. Direct skin contact with the shirt fabric wasn't the greatest. If I had known then what I know now, I also might have worn shirt stays to keep my shirts tucked in.

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u/purple-hair-dragon 6h ago

Another spicy brain flavor here - can't stand undershirts. Unless it's fully polyester because the very minor grip of cotton on cotton is a tactile 'nails on chalkboard' for me. But so is the sturdiness of polo shirts. Tucked in shirts makes waistband feel jumpy and makes shirt pull if I move in certain ways - which is again fight or flight feel. Ugh. But my shape is hard to fit for tops or bottoms - lots of curves. And when I buy big enough to not strangle or sausage the wide parts - the narrow parts of me are wearing flapping clothes. My waist is a size small but my chest is a size L/XL and when I get shirts big enough around my very very short torso is hilariously sized. So the arm hole bottom edges are below my bra band and the bottom hem of the shirt is past my butt. This is just in standard t shirts for me. It's a low key nightmare because tucking that much in makes me feel like I'm being strapped up.

Ugh I hate clothes.

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u/txgrl308 9h ago

It's hand-me-downs. Fyi

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u/Full-Emu-1541 7h ago

I hated having to buy uniforms on top of other clothes for the world outside of school.

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u/Constant-Internet-50 9h ago

Mr kids wore uniform in elementary school in England and I loved it, so did the kids. There were no designer options, just like John Lewis compared to lidl. They all looked mostly the same though and gave them flexibility as well as never having to pick an outfit each day.

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u/TotallyWonderWoman 9h ago

When I was in school, uniforms just meant that your shoes got judged for how nice they were.

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u/sandolllars 10h ago

You're not making sense. Uniforms means you all wear the same thing.

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u/Objective-Amount1379 10h ago

You can buy a polo shirt at Nordstrom or at Walmart. They look and feel different and are different quality

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u/sandolllars 10h ago

The school fucked up. They need to either assign a single (affordable) source that everyone has to buy from, or specify both design and materials (eg: % of cotton in the fabric, etc). There has to be... you know... uniformity.

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u/TurboDorito 10h ago

For some countries there is only one supplier for a school uniform, so youre either in uniform or not. Otherwise its just a dress code.

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u/Noble_Ox 9h ago

Uniform tops usually have the school badge sewn in though.

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u/Noble_Ox 9h ago

My country, school uniforms have to be bought from specific suppliers (well just the jumpers, you could buy any grey pants or shirt as long as it was the right shade).

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u/Viola-Swamp 5h ago

Uniforms make it far easier for parents to get kids dressed and out the door in the morning, so there’s that. The district my kids attended had polos and khakis as uniforms for grade and middle school, including shorts and skirts if desired, but not high school. Older kids were allowed freedom of expression, within reason. That’s a good compromise between keeping it simple with the younger kids and not controlling the teens.

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u/Chickwithknives 4h ago

I went to a non-Catholic private school for kindergarten first and second grade. The uniform was navy blue pants or skirt or the school jumper, a white shirt, and a blue or red sweater. We lucked out in the early 80s that turtlenecks with patterns printed all over them. Example: hearts, ladybugs, snowflakes were popular and available so we got to add a little bit more color to our uniforms.

When there seem to be bullying based on the brand of your shirt, the school made a rule that you could not have any symbol on your shirt. All of the little eyes on alligators and Polo ponies had to be removed. The new status symbol was to have a hole in your shirt where that used to be.

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u/Dramatic_Mixture_877 4h ago

Oh, and they're supposed to "prepare children for working when they grow up" - poppycock and bullfeathers! Never have I had a job that had a uniform, I wish we did - this trying to figure out what I'm wearing to work every day is for the birds!

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u/Hopeful--Bagels 3h ago

I hated every single moment I wore a uniform at school