Response about : "There are calls for more schools to allow children to wear cheaper "off the peg" uniform."

The article is taken from:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/6958858.stm

Can your attire be a problem? I think majority answered yes, especially for women. Picking the right dress for a party could take quite a long time to finish. Dressing neatly for business meeting is important since your dressings reflects your attitude. But is it the same for uniforms? I suppose uniforms are meant to make everyone looks somewhat equal in their levels. It doesn’t really matter from which brand it came from or the cloth’s quality. When I was digesting this article using my belief, I’d rather puzzled and shocked. This article shows to us indirectly that there is no country in this world not affected by some minor yet complicated issues. I say this because I consider this uniform problem is simple, since the source and the problem itself is clear enough, but complicated altogether, since the problem has spread out rooted deeply inside the school’s system in UK.

The way uniform used to drain the newcomers is actually legal. The problem is that many parents felt choked as when they paid the uniform bill. The way of squeezing out their money is legal, but it’s not ethically OK and not competitive. From my perspective, this practice makes a stain in UK’s education, and most probably many countries experienced the same thing. Children going to school are to pursue their studies, regardless their background whether you come from an elite or a poor family. The purpose of wearing uniform is to cover these gaps between the rich and the poor so that they may look and dress equal while they’re studying. From this argument I believe that the price of the uniform should be as low as possible, so that it’s affordable for those poor families.

The survey conducted by Citizen Advice Bureau is rather staggering. The number of schools applying this method is numerous. Parents forced to buy their children’s uniform from the designed supplier, or maybe from the school itself. It’s common that the suppliers or the school itself stacks a higher price than average, since the parents have nothing else to choose with. I support the action which has been taken by Office of Fair Trading, but I’m afraid whether it gives effect or not. The OFT must take their action immediately as a proof that there’s a commitment in exterminating those practices. This policy will stick unless the government takes a concrete action.

Not only parents who get the bad impact, the retailers which sell uniform also get. Although they sell uniforms far cheaper compared to uniforms which are sold by schools, they still experience huge deficit because of lots of reasons. 87 % people still buy from specialist supplier, which leaves only 13% buying from these retailers. The limited costumers results in a very tight competition which sometimes could become unhealthy. The consequences could ruin the carrier of these retailers

Uniforms are meant in upholding ethos in schools. Since it’s so, it’s the schools’ responsibility to make it not too expensive to buy