BE YOU AT SCHOOL - join the campaign to allow kids wear their own clothes at school

It is not natural to put children into uniforms for all of their childhood. Be in no doubt that they sap some of the light and levity out of the child and out of the school.

They introduce fear and conflict because they involve enforcement, punishments, reprimands, and alienation.

Schools become that bit more hostile to many children.

Teachers waste enormous amounts of time enforcing and harassing and haranguing students about the clothes they are wearing and very stupid things like the colour of their shoelaces.

They are expensive, restrictive, uncomfortable, oppressive and outdated. They reflect a right-wing conservative need for ultra-conformity to control children. In France it is Le Pen's neo-Nazi's who want to introduce uniforms.

They are counter to modern educational philosophy which values plurality, problem-solving, creativity and self-expression.

Ireland and Malta are the only two EU countries with this widespread practice, both with a British colonial past and a widespread smothering conservative, Catholic control of schools.

It is a myth that uniforms protect children for bullying. In the wider European continent, out of 40 countries, uniforms are the norm in eight, and all eight of those report above average levels of bullying (Statista 2018).

Rather than trying to make everyone look the same (impossible anyhow) by enforcing ridiculous dress and appearance rules, better for school to focus on developing children's ability to be resilient, accept themselves and other people for who they are in all their wonderful human diversity.