 At a recent poker night with a bunch of jeans-clad parents (age 35 to 55) I heard the following comments:
"I like uniforms for school kids
because it removes the competition over dress and makes it easier to
get them dressed and off to school in the morning."
"The kids might as well get used to it. They're going to face dress codes of one kind or another the rest of their lives."
"I don't think suits and ties are necessary any more, but I think
people should dress properly at work -- sloppy dress is a sign of
disrespect towards the customer."
"One thing I hate is being in a store or restaurant and not being able
to pick out the employees -- they at least should have to wear a
uniform, and a distinctive one."
"What they allow on the golf course now is ridiculous -- jeans and
frayed short shorts and t-shirts don't belong on the golf course."
"All I know is the people at work who dress the most conservatively get
promoted fastest and most often, so until that changes I'm wearing a
suit and tie."
"Where I draw the line is the t-shirts that have political or drug messages or profanity. That's too much."
What happened to these people when they grew up? Talk to young people
and they almost all would prefer if life were free of dress codes and
uniforms. Is this really just "a phase they're going through". Or do we
really get inculcated with the conformist propaganda of our culture as
we get older, and go from being part of the solution to part of the
problem? And is there perhaps a bit of jealousy involved ("I have
to/had to wear a uniform so it's only fair everyone else should too")?
The official propaganda
from the US Government is that uniforms for schoolchildren improve
discipline and concentration and reduce violence, theft, and peer
pressure, and also 'red flag' outsiders and gang members. There is
absolutely no compelling evidence for this claim (and even some
striking evidence to the contrary), so why would the government make
such claims? Because they want their citizens to be obedient, passive, and as much alike as possible.
This is why the military demands uniforms, taken to an extreme degree,
even though varied attire would be harder for enemy troops to spot.
Employers, of course, want the same thing. So, I suspect, do a lot of
parents.
What is the matter with us that we don't see uniforms and dress codes
for what they are: An attack on our freedom and individuality, an
attempt to make us conform and behave as much alike as possible, to be as much alike as possible? It shows how perceptive ee cummings was when he wrote:
to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing
its best, night and day,
to make you everybody else
means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight,
and never stop fighting
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MADE IN CANADA
trust your
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