Uniformed

Christchurch, NZ (May 27, 2008)

I mentioned it before, Christchurch is full of students. Surprisingly enough for an Italian living in US like me, these students were all wearing uniforms. I know that this is true in several other english-speaking countries (and not only, Japanese schools also require uniforms), but I still find it interesting.

When I was a kid I had to wear uniforms only in primary school: an over-all designed to protect the regular clothes and keep them clean. From middle and high school there were no uniforms. Apparently now the uniforms are not even required in primary schools, even though there are talks to re-introduce them. The reason given for the re-introduction is that if uniforms are required, everybody would wear the same, regardless of the spending power of the families. I guess that would appeal to many parents of high school teenagers caught in the peer-pressure fashion arms-race. Enforcing the same uniform is certainly more democratic.

A chess game in Christchurch, NZ (May 27, 2008)