Indignity Vol. 2, No. 72: What does the school uniform teach students?

BACK TO SCHOOL DEP'T.

Erosion of Conformity

IT WAS NOT even the first day of middle school and already I was underachieving, on my child's behalf. His new middle school is known for being the good school; it used to have selective admissions, but now kids get into it through the New York public middle school lottery. When the school phoned to tell us to come to orientation, back in the spring, the person on the other end of the call said Congratulations to me, and I said, Thanks, we feel very lucky, and the person said, Well, yes, it was a lottery. I did not say, Hang on, you're the one who started the whole congratulations thing, I was just following your dang lead. 

That wasn't the underachievement, just background for the underachievement. The school was convening a week before the official first day of school, for a two-day session introducing the students to how it all worked. The instructions were for the children to bring their personal school supplies, their classroom supplies, and their completed summer homework—and to show up dressed in their school uniforms. 

The school no longer has selective admissions, but it does have uniforms. Our child, however, did not have a uniform.