Post by hollister on Jul 31, 2007 3:51:23 GMT -7
Polish School Uniforms Highlight Poland's Class Differences
Warsaw, Poland 31 July, 2007 The requirement that Polish students wear uniforms in Poland's public schools has backfired and instead of masking differences it is straining the budgets of some families and highlighting differences between students from well to do and poor families.
The law, proposed by Minister of Education Roman Giertych, was passed by the Polish Parliament very quickly and with little debate, No one voiced concern that it would harm the poor. They failed to predict how the people would react to its provisions.
The school districts approached the law very democratically and allowed the people to pick the materials and design of the uniforms to be used in their district.
Generally parents voted to use the cheapest materials.
The result is that many school districts have low quality uniforms made with synthetics as the standard. They wrinkle easily and do not look good.
So parents who can afford it are taking things into their own hands and having uniforms custom made for their children. They use the school designs but they use different cloth and have them made by firms that stress quality.
Suddenly it is now very easy to distinguish a student whose family can afford custom made clothes from one whose can't.
Prior to the uniform policy, the distinction was not as apparent.
Some poor families are stretching their budgets by getting custom uniforms made for their children to try to prevent the peer problems that occur due to differences.
The Government is now examining ways to minimize the impact of developing class distinction based on cloth. Nothing has yet been agreed to.
In uniform or not, style still counts.
Warsaw, Poland 31 July, 2007 The requirement that Polish students wear uniforms in Poland's public schools has backfired and instead of masking differences it is straining the budgets of some families and highlighting differences between students from well to do and poor families.
The law, proposed by Minister of Education Roman Giertych, was passed by the Polish Parliament very quickly and with little debate, No one voiced concern that it would harm the poor. They failed to predict how the people would react to its provisions.
The school districts approached the law very democratically and allowed the people to pick the materials and design of the uniforms to be used in their district.
Generally parents voted to use the cheapest materials.
The result is that many school districts have low quality uniforms made with synthetics as the standard. They wrinkle easily and do not look good.
So parents who can afford it are taking things into their own hands and having uniforms custom made for their children. They use the school designs but they use different cloth and have them made by firms that stress quality.
Suddenly it is now very easy to distinguish a student whose family can afford custom made clothes from one whose can't.
Prior to the uniform policy, the distinction was not as apparent.
Some poor families are stretching their budgets by getting custom uniforms made for their children to try to prevent the peer problems that occur due to differences.
The Government is now examining ways to minimize the impact of developing class distinction based on cloth. Nothing has yet been agreed to.
In uniform or not, style still counts.
