School uniforms are an outdated tradition. School uniforms have been around for many years, but in this day and age, isn’t it time schools begin to phase out uniform and allow students to make their own decisions on what they wear to school? The main topics are comfort, cost and respect. I believe that allowing mufti in schools is in the best interest of the students and families. Comfort is one of the leading reasons for preferring mufti to uniform, because let’s face it, in order for students to be able to gain a decent education, they must feel comfortable.
The main aspects of this are; feeling comfortable in your own skin, and being comfortable across all four seasons of the school year. Self expression is a basic human right. The years that you are made to wear a school uniform are often the years that you’re finding out who you are as a person. Unfortunately, for the most part, school uniform policies are unnecessarily strict and deprive students of expressing themselves through what they wear. For example, a majority of schools will not allow any jewelry, and those who do are very selective on what you can and cannot wear.
Here at Hauraki Plains college, although wearing a taonga or spiritual necklace is acceptable, it must be out of sight. How is this encouraging us to be who we are if we are required to hide away something that is so important to us? School is supposed to be a place where diversity is celebrated, so shouldn’t we be encouraged to be proud of who we are and what we believe in? Because of being forced to hide away taonga and spiritual jewelry due to uniform policies, students often feel like they can’t show who they really are and as a result, feel uncomfortable in their own skin.
Here in New Zealand, the school year stretches across all four seasons. This means that students are exposed to both the heat of the summer and the chill of the winter. Unfortunately, many schools don’t have a separate school uniform for summer and winter. Because of this, students are forced to make do with a jersey on cold days and simply suffer through the hotter days. This is not ideal for students or schools for many reasons. For example, wearing uniforms not suited to the weather conditions means that students will be more likely to perform poorly in assessments which will impact poorly upon the school’s academic reputation.
This is because, on uncomfortably hot and cold days, students will find it exceptionally hard to concentrate on the information they are getting taught in class. When it comes to the assessment day, the fact that students were unable to concentrate due to the weather conditions will be evident in their final results. Cost has a very important part to play as to why parents would prefer that their children wore mufti rather than uniform, The main aspects for this are affordability and quality.
Purchasing a school uniform can put a huge financial burden on a family. For example, this year at Hauraki Plains college, students purchasing a new uniform would have paid well over $150 all up. For a family already struggling to get by, this cost would have quite literally broken the bank and forced them to put other important payments such as medical and electricity bills on hold. Public schools are supposed to be a minimal cost to families, and to charge hundreds of dollars for a school uniform is just plain unfair.
By paying such a large amount of money for a school uniform, you would think you would be receiving a top quality product, right? Wrong. Not only do school uniforms cost a lot of money, but the quality is also terrible. For example, this year my new school tie broke within three days and the pocket on one of my school skirts wasn’t even sewn on. For the amount of money my parents paid for these two things, you would think they were of better quality. This means not only did they fork out a lot of money for it, but they also had to spend time mending it as well.
For a public school, cost wise, it would be far more beneficial for students to be able to wear mufti. Finally, Mufti allows students to learn respect. Respect is a vital skill for everybody to learn and the best place for somebody to develop this skill is at school. The main aspects of this are learning to respect others for who they are and also learning to dress respectfully for a workplace. People who condemn school uniforms oppose the idea of mufti because they are afraid that it will be a direct portal to bullying. But it can actually work in the opposite way.
These people have been fooled into thinking that uniform will protect students from the wrath of bullying, but this is not the case. Bullying is caused by the inability to accept others for being different from yourself. Getting rid of uniforms in schools and allowing students to wear mufti could actually help to minimise bullying in the long run. For example, by allowing students to wear mufti, they will be surrounded by fellow students that have different ways of expressing themselves. This will allow students to gain an acceptance for people that have different views and ideas to themselves.
This is because by being exposed to fellow students who each have different ways of expressing themselves, students will be able to realise that everybody is different and they will learn to respect that. A school is essentially a workplace for students. These days, the majority of workplaces don’t even require employees to wear a uniform, instead, they are required to dress in respectable attire. If this is the case, why shouldn’t we be able to practice how to dress respectfully for the workplace at school?
Allowing students to make their own mind up regarding what they will wear to school will help them to develop a range of skills that will help them succeed in their future careers. For example, by allowing students to wear mufti, students will be able to gain a sense of respect for workplace dress codes. This would be beneficial to students because they would be able to make decisions on what is appropriate and inappropriate wear. Also, students would learn that if they make poor decisions, they will suffer the consequences.
This is a skill that many students would be unable to develop while wearing a school uniform because somebody else makes the choice of what they wear for them. To conclude, mufti allows students to be comfortable in their own skin and across all four seasons. Also, it teaches students respect and is cheaper than school uniform in the long run. Because of this, mufti is far more beneficial than a school uniform is. So let’s phase out school uniforms and allow students to make their own decision on what to wear to school.
