School uniform in the modern world.

I suppose when I started secondary school it would be inevitable that the only trouble I would get into would be about uniform. This great foresight into the future was most likely triggered by one of the first things my head of year ever said to me 'this is against the rules blah blah blah, blah blah blah'  as she snipped the friendship bracelet off my wrist. I was 12 at the time so this damage to a piece of string she had just done felt rather brutal, I still look back on that moment and think "why is the world so full of people who have nothing else to do aside from think about other peoples appearance than think about something more important?" ,but I suppose I should thank her because if she hadn't of revealed the ignorant sides of education in old-fashioned countries like England I wouldn't be the student I am today. 

Personally I'm the kind of person that of you tell me not to do something, I'll do it. So this stupid rule and a constant nag from the teachers around me has lead me to do one thing throughout my whole secondary education and that is, not wearing the correct uniform. The reason why I'm so fascinated by toying with the rules is due to the fact that it hasn't put me in any danger (aside from the yanking by the jacket or the screeching - but you get used to that) it's never affected my grades, how I preform in school in fact, I believe that the days in which I'm comfortable with what I'm wearing I tend to work better. 

In certain circumstances I can sympathise with the rules about not offending anyone with your appearance but  when you're young, you don't really want to wear a something 'offensive' to school because you're too concerned about how you look and trying to be 'normal' so that excuse is utterly useless in most cases. I often hear teachers throw in the respect card, you know when they say something along the lines of "I can't believe you're still wearing that to school, after all the times I've told you not to. It's just disrespectful." that sentence acts like emotional blackmail. 

The efficacy of uniforms has become a huge debate with some people believing it gives a student a sense of pride about their school and it abolishes any sense of class divide in the school community and all these points are brilliant, but it makes me question is a pair of shoes or a necklace a real reason to send someone home at worst circumstances? 

I'd really love to hear peoples opinion about this because I know it's quite a dodgy subject so leave a comment or mail me at wewantshops@yahoo.co.uk 

B.x