The debate about school uniforms that has started in Catalonia leaves us with a new perspective that I could hear yesterday afternoon in a radio talk show. Are school uniforms a way to favor the authority of teachers?
It was already taking time to put teachers in the spotlight on an issue where we have little to say, the truth. One of the guests said that this is the case, and that in the same way that the military is uniformed under the command of their superiors as an equal measure, in the school if all students are dressed in the same way they are “leveled”.
As noted, as there are problems in many schools due to student attire (veil yes-veil no, caps yes-caps no, shorts yes-shorts no ...), with difficulties to reach agreements, this was a way for teachers not to have to enter into debates or "impose their authority" facing students.
However, I do not agree on this point and I think it deviates from the reality of the debate, since the issue of uniform, on the one hand, has not emerged mostly as a proposal by teachers. Remember that it is the parents who usually raise these issues, and in this case it has been a policy, the Minister of Education of Catalonia.
On the other hand, whether students wear uniforms or not is not an issue that teachers can decide but depends on the school board in which parents, students and all staff involved in the center.
But mainly it is that I am offended by this vision of the teacher as a military man who wishes to have soldiers at his service, and if you "misbehave" to go around the barracks.
Authority versus respect in school (and in life)
The authority in this debate was understood in terms of obedience and almost submission, which I disagree with. We assume that, in my opinion, the concept of authority in education should be banished (In fact, I don't think that many teachers try to “impose it”) and replace it with respect, which is the one that prevails today, although it is not always possible.
The teacher has to earn respect, the teacher has to respect the students in the same way that students must respect the teacher, as well as their classmates, their family ... An idyllic environment that of course we will not always find even in the classrooms, neither in homes, nor in parks, nor in the supermarket queue. But the one to fight for, especially in homes and schools.
In the program also came an interesting differentiation between "equality" and "uniformity", leaving some contacts in defense of the first but not the second, arguing that precisely desirable equality is possible thanks to the acceptance of differences. Instead, "uniformity" can mean filing differences, eliminating the different, when the different can be so positive.
That is my position in this regard, and I prefer that children go without a uniform, although I also understand that wearing a uniform does not have to mean going as sheep or soldiers to the service of anyone, nor going without it means equality and individuality.
If the clothes that our children wear (whether uniform or not) have more or less to do with this, it will depend mainly on the education received at home. And on the other hand, The teacher has little to say, "win or lose" with uniforms, it is rather a paternal question as you are demonstrating with your comments on this matter, by the way with much respect and less "authority" or imposition.
