Should school uniforms be abolished?

Should school uniforms be abolished? In short: no.

It is an issue of contempt among children and parents as to whether schools should have uniforms or not, I never had an issue with wearing a uniform when I was at school, looking back I am glad I wore one.

Uniforms provide a number of functions, the main is to provide a sense of identity and belonging to a school.

If schools were to abolish the uniform, it would give students free reign to wear what they choose, this is fine perhaps for the first week of term, but I should imagine that it would quickly become a competition, who can wear the best and most expensive designer clothing? Who has style and who doesn't? Who can wear a different outfit every single day?

I'm sure a small percentage of children would be overwhelmed with the decision, but I certainly as a child wasn't from a well off family, my mum couldn't afford to buy me designer clothing, and a pile of washing every single day.

Children from poor, or less well off families, will quickly be identified and no doubt be the centre of bulling campaigns and ridicule. Certainly in a school environment the uniform can remove socio-economic class barriers., if you all wear the same clothing, nothing immediately says 'that child has rich parents' or 'that child is poor'. (Imagine school/class photo days!)

The flip side I eluded to is the washing as well, school uniforms are generally designed for prolonged and extended wear and a high level of durability.

Many parents complain about the cost of a school uniform, when you take into account how long a child will actually wear it for, considering growth (getting bigger). An example being do you really want to spend X number of pounds on a pair of shoes that the child will grow out of in 3 or 4 months time? I think it is worth it.

I wore a blazer to school, over a white shirt and tie, I loved my blazer because of the ample number of pockets, it allowed me to conceal my days supply of jelly beans! for the tedious lessons, and I now as an adult I also know how to tie a tie without thinking about it.

One final point is that as a child I had no dress sense, and was fairly lazy in my choice of clothing, so the uniform(s) saved me a great deal of deliberation time.