DON’T JUDGE ME BY MY UNIFORM ☺

“School uniform.”

What do you imagine?

White shirts, ties, knee length skirts, grey slacks, leather shoes, blazers…?

In the city I spent 4 of my high school years; that kind of uniform only applied to those who went to private schools.

So what about state public schools?

Uniform means a unisex polo shirt in the school colour and the logo and the rest, i.e. the bottoms and accessories, is not specified by the school. But obviously, if you want to fit in, there are certain rules on how to dress within a school. They are invisible, not written down anywhere, but created by the students. It’s a social norm. And like, you all wanna fit in right? HELLO, THIS IS HIGH SCHOOL. YOU DON’T WANNA, YOU GON GET BEAT UP BAD – just like any other society.

Anyway, so I’ll give you an example of how to dress like a public school kid.

Girls.

First, purchase a shirt at least two sizes smaller than what the lady at the uniform shop recommends. Next buy a pair of the shortest shorts you can find. If they’re not short enough, just trim off about 5 centimeters of the material – remember, you want to put half your ass on show to the world. For the make up, cake on some foundation and bronzer, then apply a shitload of eyeliner and mascara to get a ‘Jersey Shore’ look. Now put on some silver jewelry, mess up your hair like you just got back from a wild night, slap on some shiny lip-gloss and you’re set.

Boys.

Purchase your school shirt two sizes larger than the lady recommends. Next, get hold of the baggiest pair of trackies you can find, and wear them so that half your boxers show. Also grab a Nike cap, and place it towards the back of your head so that the peak stands vertical. Make sure your rattail is tightly plaited. If the length isn’t enough, you can even get hair extensions. Finally, slip on a pair of kicks from a famous sports brand, a gold necklace and a constant supply of spit to release onto the streets and you’re ready to go.

Now boys and girls, with this uniform, you must engage in certain activities out of school. This involves underage drinking, excessive partying, loud and attention-seeking behavior in public, an experience in drugs, and other makes-your-mother-cringe acts. Oh, and never forget, a few incidents with the police wouldn’t look too bad on that resume either.

Why?

Because you are an actor. By wearing that uniform, others expect you to behave in that way.

We are made to create an identity, not only through how we perceive ourselves, but our reaction to fill the expectation of how others view us. It’s an inescapable loop – as long as others judge the children in public school uniforms, the children will continue acting in a certain way.

So to all of you out there, don’t judge, because some of us do get onto higher education. Some of us do succeed.

by Marina Sata Khan

3 thoughts on “DON’T JUDGE ME BY MY UNIFORM ☺”

This is so true!!

This post surely got my attention!
Because of the way it is written, I really felt that you want to make people see, that it’s all just prejudices they have, when seeing a High Schooler from a public school. What country are you referring to?
I personally don’t have any experience with uniforms though, so I never had to experience pressure concearning clothes to this extent, although it did happen. Only nobody could judge if I was from a public or private school, so I never cared too much.
Also according to my experience everybody tried to fit in at first but after a year nobody really cared anymore. People who were “uncool” (me included) did everything they could come up with but in the end it didn’t do anything. So eventually you just stay yourself with your little group of “outsiders”.
And after a year or two our whole class became something like a community where everybody accepted eachother the way they were … Probably sounds like something out of a book, but it doesn’t always have to be like “fit in or die” in school.
And I don’t think that everybody from outside school thinks in this black-and-white pattern about students … although I support the idea of telling everyone who still does to stop and consider every high schooler an individual, whom they shouldn’t judge by their uniform.

I agree with your opinion.
I went to a public junior high school and a private high school. Both my junior high school and high school had school uniform. When I was a junior high school student, I would go to juku, cram school, after school, where students from various junior high schools got together. I could tell from what school a student was from by looking at his or her school uniform. Since my junior high school was famous for its smart students who got better grades on the standardized tests than those from other schools, I kind of felt good to wear my school uniform. Though students at the juku can wear whatever they want to, I almost always wore my school uniform for that reason. Now that I’m a college student, I have no school uniform and so have to find a way to feel good other than wearing something special!

yutaro Nishioka says:

November 21, 2011 at 11:53 pm

This is so true!!

julia0at0rits says:

November 22, 2011 at 11:47 pm

This post surely got my attention!
Because of the way it is written, I really felt that you want to make people see, that it’s all just prejudices they have, when seeing a High Schooler from a public school. What country are you referring to?
I personally don’t have any experience with uniforms though, so I never had to experience pressure concearning clothes to this extent, although it did happen. Only nobody could judge if I was from a public or private school, so I never cared too much.
Also according to my experience everybody tried to fit in at first but after a year nobody really cared anymore. People who were “uncool” (me included) did everything they could come up with but in the end it didn’t do anything. So eventually you just stay yourself with your little group of “outsiders”.
And after a year or two our whole class became something like a community where everybody accepted eachother the way they were … Probably sounds like something out of a book, but it doesn’t always have to be like “fit in or die” in school.
And I don’t think that everybody from outside school thinks in this black-and-white pattern about students … although I support the idea of telling everyone who still does to stop and consider every high schooler an individual, whom they shouldn’t judge by their uniform.

yutaro nishioka says:

January 9, 2012 at 6:32 pm

I agree with your opinion.
I went to a public junior high school and a private high school. Both my junior high school and high school had school uniform. When I was a junior high school student, I would go to juku, cram school, after school, where students from various junior high schools got together. I could tell from what school a student was from by looking at his or her school uniform. Since my junior high school was famous for its smart students who got better grades on the standardized tests than those from other schools, I kind of felt good to wear my school uniform. Though students at the juku can wear whatever they want to, I almost always wore my school uniform for that reason. Now that I’m a college student, I have no school uniform and so have to find a way to feel good other than wearing something special!