I had a quick look at the website for the primary school my toddler will likely attend to see what I’ll be in for. For what I’d consider the basics – two T-shirts, two pairs of shorts, two pairs of track pants and a jumper – the total cost at that school is $230.
Now, at face value, that doesn’t seem like a huge amount. That’s a pair of decent sneakers. But when you can go to Kmart and buy two polo shirts, two pairs of plain knit shorts, two pairs of track pants and a hoodie for $37, that couple hundred dollars seems astronomical in comparison.
I bring this up because, let’s be real here: if you’re on a tight budget, Kmart is probably where you’re getting all your kids’ clothes from. Hashtag not an ad - fast fashion has its own ethical dilemmas that you’ve got to weigh up when purchasing those items. But that’s a different column for a different day.
Still, you really can’t get cheaper anywhere else. Heck, I’d struggle to find seven new-looking items of clothing at an op-shop for under $40.
To be fair, the school uniform clothing items are probably (hopefully) going to be of a much higher quality than those shirts.
But those cheap polos are $3.50 each, and are easily replaceable if the young wearer gets grass stains all over them while playing tiggy or bullrush. Do kids still play bullrush? I never know whether it’s in or out. Anyway. You could buy 10 of those polos for the price of one uniform T-shirt and have change left over.
That’s quite a price difference.
And yet, there are some parents who will defend uniforms to their dying days.
People in the pro-uniform camp argue that uniforms are great because then kids can’t compete over who has the coolest clothes, parents don’t have to stress about buying appropriate school clothing, and uniforms will nurture a sense of pride in your kids for their school.
The detractors don’t like school uniforms because of the costs, the clothes themselves often being impractical and/or uncomfortable (particularly gendered uniforms or rules requiring kids to wear shorts in summer and pants in winter, regardless of the actual weather on the day), and because they’re stressful for parents to manage – imagine what it would have been like this week, for example, for parents without a clothes dryer.
Given the worsening socio-economic situation for so many New Zealanders today, I don’t understand why so many of our schools enforce uniforms. I swear it wasn’t always this way.
Let me don my rose-tinted glasses for a moment.
Back in the good old days of yore when I was a youngster and phones were attached to the wall with a cord (truly, you can still see them in museums if you don’t believe me), school uniforms were the jewel-coloured woollen jumpers and knee-high grey socks worn by Catholic schoolkids and college students.
Everyone else mostly wore their siblings’ hand-me-downs, from what I remember. New clothes were for the weekends and for birthday parties, certainly not for the schoolyard.
Today, it seems like every primary-aged kid I see walking home from school is wearing a uniform, and I’m not so sure that’s a good thing in times such as these.
Uniforms and other back-to-school costs have become such a drain on some family finances that charities all over the Bay of Plenty have been chipping in thousands of dollars to make sure our kids can go to school without their parents having to get a second mortgage or sell their kidneys.
St Vincent de Paul Western Bay of Plenty spent $45,000 on school uniforms in the last financial year.
Te Tuinga Whānau Support Services spent about $5000 on back-to-school items this month. Kaitao Intermediate has made school uniforms and stationery free to its families.
Those are all pretty darn impressive interventions. And I’m sure that’s just a snippet of the help that is being provided, too. There are so many individuals and organisations that fly under the radar, but without which this world would be a much darker place.
Despite my gratitude for the incredible work these and other charitable organisations do, a part of me can’t help but wonder how many more people could be helped if they didn’t need to spend so much money on uniforms. Or how many people wouldn’t need the helping hand?
Just imagine: if we got rid of uniforms, we might even see the return of hand-me-downs to the schoolyard. Wouldn’t that be something to see?
Whatever the answer, just remember this - it’s Friday.
Put the kids’ uniforms in the wash. You’ll thank me on Sunday.
Sonya Bateson is a writer, reader, and crafter raising her family in Tauranga. She is a Millennial who enjoys eating avocado on toast, drinking lattes and defying stereotypes. As a sceptic, she reserves the right to change her mind when presented with new evidence.
