School uniforms > equal footing, “shot at meritocracy” ─ Sachdev

Re-reporting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

Should schoolchildren have the right to wear what they want?
Mathematics teacher Sapna Krishan says, No, You’re not going for a party!

“Everybody wants his or her children to [learn discipline],” Sapna Krishan said. “As a parent I would love my son to be disciplined. Discipline starts in school. School has certain rules laid out. Wearing uniform is one of them. It leads to uniformity amongst the children.”

The conspicuous disparity effect in students’ wearing what they want is seen when “in certain schools children come from different sections of society. Four children: A, B, C, and D. A and B come from industrialized families; D comes from working-class families, professional [class]. C’ and D’ parents move all over the world getting various things from different parts of the world. A’s and B’s parents do not because they do not travel so much all around the globe. What happens? Some have branded [brand-name] jeans. Others do not have and they feel, ‘Oh, she’s wearing branded jeans, why can’t I wear it.’”

Schools are places for concentration and study, she says.

You’re going to school, you’re going there to study. You’re not going for a party!
So when you go to study, you concentrate on what is happening in the class not what others are wearing.
This definitely effects how students are treating each other: Competition comes and difference is created.

Journalist Chhavi Sachdev writes, “Even if we didn’t think so [while] in school, there really is a rationale behind wearing these uniforms. Uniforms may be stifling to the kids but they inculcate them with fundamental values of respect and discipline.

“Uniforms give kids a chance to be seen on equal footing with everyone else ─ at least, for the time they’re in school.”

Nearly every schoolchild in India is required to wear a uniform. Chhavi Sachdev grew up in India, wore a uniform, and hated it.

“I wanted to wear jeans to school,” she said. “I wanted to wear my new earrings, and wear my hair open, not confined in silly braids. Back then, I desperately envied the expat kids who went to the American School and could wear whatever they wanted. They got to show off their own identities while ours were hidden behind the sameness of grey tunics and blue ties.” Sachdev later saw the wisdom behind the school uniform rule.

“[E]ven with uniforms on, you can tell who’s stinking rich and who’s not so well-off, but these bland outfits give the have-nots a fighting chance to blend in, to achieve without worrying about unvoiced, even unknown prejudice.

“[E]specially where the chasm between the haves and have-nots is so wide and so glaringly obvious, little things like standardized clothing are what give us a shot at being a meritocracy.”


Source and notes
Chhavi Sachdev is a writer and independent journalist.
“Uniformity and equality” (Chhavi Sachdev), The State We’re In - India Edition, Radio Netherlands Worldwide, December 12, 2010, http://static.rnw.nl/migratie/www.radionetherlands.nl/thestatewerein/otherstates/tswi-081212-unifroms-india-redirected