Thai editorial: Uniforms stand for equality

[webfact]

EDITORIAL
Uniforms stand for equality
The Nation

Students are entitled to protest against the mandatory dress code, but the rule serves, among other things, to reduce class differences

BANGKOK: -- A campaign launched by Thammasat University students against the mandatory uniform has sparked a debate on freedom. A provocative poster showing students in uniform in sexual poses got the attention not only of the university's management but also the public. Students say the uniform requirement impinges upon their freedom and contradicts the university's own stand. The dress code, they say, is an insult to their intellect and locks them in a socially constructed moral standard.

The students certainly have a point in terms of freedom of choice. But the proponents of a mandatory uniform take a different stand. Wearing a uniform, they say, makes all students equal. There is thus no difference evident between rich and poor. The uniform is also easy to identify, and thus helps protect students and maintains a certain standard. It's the same for other people in uniforms, like police, soldiers, security guards, nurses, doctors and airline crewmembers. These arguments, however, fail to convince the anti-uniform students.

There is no doubt that, in most situations, the freedom to wear what one likes is an undeniable right. Nevertheless, such a right is not absolute, like the right to life. Freedoms can sometimes be restricted, and any statement of rights is not absolute and must necessarily be subject to limitations. Freedom of speech and expression does not extend to defamation, slander or obscenity. Likewise, the exercise of one's rights is interrelated with the rights of others in society.

Whether you are conservative or liberal, enrolling in a university puts you on an equal footing with others to enjoy the rights and privileges that a student's life can bring. However, it also involves an element of duty to comply with rules and regulations. The same applies in wider society, where one has to follow public and workplace rules. Smokers have to puff in designated areas in their workplace in order to respect the rights of non-smokers. There are restrictions in every facet of our right to freedom.

Rights and responsibilities walk hand in hand, and a graduate student might enter a career that requires him or her to wear a uniform. This doesn't have to be a shackle, as portrayed in the student campaign posters. Uniform and other dress codes might not be the best idea in terms of fashion sense or freedom of expression, but they exist for a reason. Doctors, policemen and soldiers don't campaign to be released from their mandatory dress code. What if police officers shed their uniforms? Would we be able to identify them in any given situation?

There is nothing wrong with the students expressing their opinion, but perhaps the effort and energy spent on this advocacy could be better spent on other causes that could benefit society as a whole. Being forced to wear a uniform in a class might be restricting, but it also denotes a sense of identity and equality.


-- The Nation 2013-09-18

[Mister Fixit]

What it demonstrates is the Thai need for conformity and love of anything militaristic. Just look at a car park attendant here in quasi-military uniform, complete with tin helmet, high ankle boots and of course, the ubiquitous whistle ...

How come the world doesn't fall apart in UK, US or other Western universities where students wear T shirts and jeans, dress as they like and have FAR better education than any Thai university, are more creative than the Thai 'scared to anything in case they make a mistake' mentality, and embrace new concepts instead of staying in the same unthinking mind-set of many Thais?

Shame on you, Nation, for not supporting the Thammasat students in their drive to express some individuality and throw of the shackles of stifled creativity. It's that mentality which has kept Thailand and its thinking 50 years behind Western countries - and that's no exaggeration.

Edited September 18, 2013 by Mister Fixit

[NongKhaiKid]

What a pathetic excuse for wearing uniforma because they can heighten inequality and class differnces unless a universal dress code was implemented for all students and this would have to include not displaying a school name.

There's a world of difference between a young student whose uniform marks them out as attending a ramshackle rural school close to collapse and one wearing the uniform of a top fee paying school. There's no way the parents of students attending such schools would agree to anything that doesn't display their elite social position and the fact they can afford the best for their children.

[jaltsc]

I can't remember the film, but the quote by one of the female characters when her school decided that everyone was to wear a uniform: "If we all dress the same, how will everyone know that my daddy is richer than your daddy?".

That being said, it would probably be more effective if the education system throughout Thailand adopted a code of rigid academic standards and be concerned more about what is on the inside of the students' heads than what they are wearing on the outside.

[Curt1591]

The reasoning behind most school uniform policies is to take concentration away from fashion and put it on education. But, as is easily seen with Thai uni students, some like like school girls while others look like working women, even in the "same" uniform.

[Searat7]

I think uniforms for young students make sense but they are in serious need of updating- particularly the girls' uniforms which look they are from the 1950's. at the university level there should be no need for uniforms.

[arthurboy]

I can't remember the film, but the quote by one of the female characters when her school decided that everyone was to wear a uniform: "If we all dress the same, how will everyone know that my daddy is richer than your daddy?".

That being said, it would probably be more effective if the education system throughout Thailand adopted a code of rigid academic standards and be concerned more about what is on the inside of the students' heads than what they are wearing on the outside.

Yes, indeed. I wonder if school directors and teachers apply the same standards of 'equality' and fairness, irrespective of the parent's wealth and apparent status in society.

Perhaps, the authorities would be better employed ensuring equality of education opportunities for the school children of Thailand.

Edited September 18, 2013 by arthurboy

[bigbamboo]

It's true uniforms stand for equality for students... that was a key reason they were introduced around the world......but at eighteen they are already young adults. University students individuality at this age should be encouraged.

We want to see freedom of expression and independent thought from students not blind obedience and following orders. For those who must follow orders from above then in Thailand it is appropriate that uniforms should be worn, for example by the military, the police.... and cabinet ministers.

Edited September 18, 2013 by bigbamboo

[swifty5x5]

I can't remember the film, but the quote by one of the female characters when her school decided that everyone was to wear a uniform: "If we all dress the same, how will everyone know that my daddy is richer than your daddy?".

That being said, it would probably be more effective if the education system throughout Thailand adopted a code of rigid academic standards and be concerned more about what is on the inside of the students' heads than what they are wearing on the outside.

Yes, indeed. I wonder if school directors and teachers apply the same standards of 'equality' and fairness, irrespective of the parent's wealth and apparent status in society.

Perhaps, the authorities would be better employed ensuring equality of education opportunities for the school children of Thailand.

Yes indeed, where I come from if your the child of a policeman village head anybody with standing their children are treated special. Being dressed in a uniform does not make students equal it just makes them look all the same.

[johnkypri]

"A provocative poster showing students in uniform in sexual poses got the attention not only of the university's management but also the public."

It's extremely worrying that TV and the nation decided it was necessary to omit these images.

Wake up Thailand this kind of censorship of provocative sexual posters is both irresponsible and destructive.

[DocN]

In a country where everything is about status and class and money and social standing, it is school- uniforms, that are making the big difference?

What a sorry- a$$ excuse!

[Sunisalom]

If uniforms stand for equality then why aren't all the rice farmers donned with white suits full of badges and honours, that don't mean much, but that they could keep clean and be equal to all others when wearing it. Uniforms in Thailand stand far but from equality. Anybody who is high above the poverty line probably has some kind of uniform which places them far away from those below it, and it is used as a fear factor - the complete reciprocal of equality. The students have a point!

S.

[jmccarty]

A uniform is just that, uniform. Is it important to drive uniformity into the heads of the students? It is if you want them all to stay in the same box. School of any kind is about structure and uniformity. It's about thinking inside the box and following the structure exactly as it is presented, and then practicing it over and over until it becomes instinctive.

The uniform helps drive this structured system and discourages from straying outside of the narrow confinement of the system.

It is all part of a system that if rigid enough, will in the end, after many years, spew out people that are very good at being good students.

And that is the primary goal of the school system in this day and age.

[madmitch]

"Being forced to wear a uniform in a class might be restricting, but it also denotes a sense of identity and equality."

There is no such thing as equality in Thailand, whether you wear a uniform or not.

[Sunisalom]

"Being forced to wear a uniform in a class might be restricting, but it also denotes a sense of identity and equality."

There is no such thing as equality in Thailand, whether you wear a uniform or not.

Absolutely correct.

At Rangsit University, all students must don the same uniform. However, outside of the classrooms there are students with varying cars... one even has a brand spanking new (and legitimate) Ferrari. Others have Lexus, Benz, BMs all the way down to Vios, Jazz and then on to old Beetles and battered Nissans.... how is that a display of equality within the campus?

The uniform within the classroom environment sparks no equality, when all students know their class standing by what goes on 'outside' of the classroom.

S.

[cougar52]

The uniform is also easy to identify,

Another reason not to wear a uniform, because the Tech Schools all know which School you are from and can plan an attack at the rival School Students.

[animatic]

What a load of <deleted>.

The hi-so kids will always lord over the poorer ones no matter

whether they are in a uniform or not. It is ingrained in the culture.

This does nothing but paper-over the inequality, appearances shown over realities.

[tragickingdom]

Uniforms stand for equality? What a joke. Uniforms stand for a feodal system in which nobody is allowed to stand out from the crowd, Where everybody is taught to please the same powerful people and show the same cadaver discipline. The equality of wearing a uniform stops at the parking lot where the rich boys and girls have their Mercedes parked. Uniforms are a way to militarize society with just one thing in mind, to obey to the boss.

[bkk_mike]

I suggest they look at something like the World University rankings, and then highlight in the list, the Universities that have uniforms.

It might be enlightening...

As for not being able to tell rich from poor. - Are they going to ban mobile phones?

Edited September 18, 2013 by bkk_mike

[TackyToo]

In a country where everything is about status and class and money and social standing, it is school- uniforms, that are making the big difference?

What a sorry- a$$ excuse!

Uniforms stand for control!

Remember the sixties when all Chinese wore the Mao-frock? Looks like the author of this BS is just annoyed there are no uniforms for amateur editors- at least not yet.

“Wearing a uniform, they say, makes all students equal”

Certainly not in a society invariably based on medieval hierarchy.

“What if police officers shed their uniforms? Would we be able to identify them in any given situation?”

If not total control, what’s the need identifying a student in any given situation? This argument is simply ridiculous to defend leveling down in an education facility.

Addressing those advocating the uniform fad I’d like to cite a line of a Rodney Crowell song titled- It’s time to go inward:

Prison bars imagined are no less solid steel!

And now all those wistfully awaiting a barcode on their collars may go and complain about my post to their warden.

Edited September 18, 2013 by TackyToo

[mellow1]

The people that manufacture and control the uniform business wouldn't like that very much.

[h90]

I can't remember the film, but the quote by one of the female characters when her school decided that everyone was to wear a uniform: "If we all dress the same, how will everyone know that my daddy is richer than your daddy?".

That being said, it would probably be more effective if the education system throughout Thailand adopted a code of rigid academic standards and be concerned more about what is on the inside of the students' heads than what they are wearing on the outside.

If 50-70 % fail in the first year at university, they won't have too much time to think about whos daddy is richer. Rigid academic standards will fix that problem.

[nami]

What a pathetic excuse for wearing uniforma because they can heighten inequality and class differnces unless a universal dress code was implemented for all students and this would have to include not displaying a school name.

There's a world of difference between a young student whose uniform marks them out as attending a ramshackle rural school close to collapse and one wearing the uniform of a top fee paying school. There's no way the parents of students attending such schools would agree to anything that doesn't display their elite social position and the fact they can afford the best for their children.

You really nailed it. And I would add, not only the kid in the rural school wears a different uniform but in many cases a second or third hand one. Are they telling us that wearing a second hand uniform, using second hand books, having to work in the farm on weekends, etc makes them feel equal because the others are using a uniform too? What a joke!

Start by improving education so those people can get a better future and help shortening the gap.

Probably the journalist went to a international school and thinking this way makes him feel less guilty...

[Thai at Heart]

What's to worry. In Thailand, you can buy a complete copy of the most expensive clothes anyway....

[Artisi]

"Being forced to wear a uniform in a class might be restricting, but it also denotes a sense of identity and equality."

There is no such thing as equality in Thailand, whether you wear a uniform or not.

Absolutely correct.

At Rangsit University, all students must don the same uniform. However, outside of the classrooms there are students with varying cars... one even has a brand spanking new (and legitimate) Ferrari. Others have Lexus, Benz, BMs all the way down to Vios, Jazz and then on to old Beetles and battered Nissans.... how is that a display of equality within the campus?

The uniform within the classroom environment sparks no equality, when all students know their class standing by what goes on 'outside' of the classroom.

S.

exactly, not to mentioned the designer hand-bags, sunglasses, lap-tops and smart phones and posh accommodation, daily trips to the beautician etc etc. Wearing uniforms for equality is a badly flawed argument.

[Considered Opinion]

I can't remember the film, but the quote by one of the female characters when her school decided that everyone was to wear a uniform: "If we all dress the same, how will everyone know that my daddy is richer than your daddy?".

That being said, it would probably be more effective if the education system throughout Thailand adopted a code of rigid academic standards and be concerned more about what is on the inside of the students' heads than what they are wearing on the outside.

Absolutely. The rich/poor divide is classist BS in LOS. If you are rich, you don't go to a poor kids school.

Better to concentrate on crating students able to think for themselves, then, afterwards, worry about the little stuff.

An uneducated educating department is the biggest problem. And base corruption in education of course.

[Krataiboy]

When I was a schoolboy, my mother could not afford the optional school uniform and I can distinctly remember feeling left out. I was proud of my school - renowned for its sporting rather than academic achievements - and wanted everyone to know I went there.

Wearing the blue and white blazer with its colourful badge with its rather pretentious Latin entreaty Ingredere ut proficias (Enter That You May Benefit) would have identified me as part of a winning team and provided me with some much-needed self esteem.

As well as promoting a sense of camaraderie, the wearing of school uniform helps reduce the peer pressure which can be so destructive at a young age. Not all parents can afford the cost of sending their children to school in the latest designer gear.

School uniform also has the virtue of being the least distracting form of dress for the classroom - which, after all, is where one goes to learn, not form potentially dangerous liaisons with the opposite sex.

The voluminous skirts and blouses worn at school by my two school age daughters were obviously designed to minimise, rather than accentuate, their nascent physical charms. They are smart enough to understand the reasons and do not object.

Allowing girls to wear what they like at Tammasat or any other Thai educational establishment is unlikely to reduce the terrible toll of around ten thousand school-age girls who become pregnant every year in a country where abortion is illegal and there is no welfare state to help under-age mothers to cope.

Unsurprisingly (to me at least), two of the nations which have the worst records for school-age pregnancies are the US (bottom of the international league table) and the UK (fourth from bottom) which have no dress code. This may not be a clear case of cause and effect, but I suggest there is a link.

If wearing school uniform helps prevent just one young girl from getting pregnant prematurely, with the resultant devastating effects and her and the young father's life, then long may this old-fashioned Thai trend persist.

More important than any dress code, however, is for the Thai government to address the failure of sex education at Thai schools - which I gather amounts to a total of only about eight hours up to the age of 16. Talk about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing!

Thai parents must shoulder some blame for leaving their children's sex education to schools which have consistently failed to deliver the goods. Ultimately, it is THEIR job - not a teacher's - to ensure their children are protected from the consequences of sexual ignorance.

[Nacho]

When I was a schoolboy, my mother could not afford the optional school uniform and I can distinctly remember feeling left out. I was proud of my school - renowned for its sporting rather than academic achievements - and wanted everyone to know I went there.

Wearing the blue and white blazer with its colourful badge with its rather pretentious Latin entreaty Ingredere ut proficias (Enter That You May Benefit) would have identified me as part of a winning team and provided me with some much-needed self esteem.

As well as promoting a sense of camaraderie, the wearing of school uniform helps reduce the peer pressure which can be so destructive at a young age. Not all parents can afford the cost of sending their children to school in the latest designer gear.

School uniform also has the virtue of being the least distracting form of dress for the classroom - which, after all, is where one goes to learn, not form potentially dangerous liaisons with the opposite sex.

The voluminous skirts and blouses worn at school by my two school age daughters were obviously designed to minimise, rather than accentuate, their nascent physical charms. They are smart enough to understand the reasons and do not object.

Allowing girls to wear what they like at Tammasat or any other Thai educational establishment is unlikely to reduce the terrible toll of around ten thousand school-age girls who become pregnant every year in a country where abortion is illegal and there is no welfare state to help under-age mothers to cope.

Unsurprisingly (to me at least), two of the nations which have the worst records for school-age pregnancies are the US (bottom of the international league table) and the UK (fourth from bottom) which have no dress code. This may not be a clear case of cause and effect, but I suggest there is a link.

If wearing school uniform helps prevent just one young girl from getting pregnant prematurely, with the resultant devastating effects and her and the young father's life, then long may this old-fashioned Thai trend persist.

More important than any dress code, however, is for the Thai government to address the failure of sex education at Thai schools - which I gather amounts to a total of only about eight hours up to the age of 16. Talk about a little knowledge being a dangerous thing!

Thai parents must shoulder some blame for leaving their children's sex education to schools which have consistently failed to deliver the goods. Ultimately, it is THEIR job - not a teacher's - to ensure their children are protected from the consequences of sexual ignorance.

The article has nothing to do with grade school children, it's about university students (young adults and in some cases older adults) having their own choice in what they wear when furthering their education.

[tominbkk]

At my school we have free dress days quite often. On those days students never dress to show off. They all just wear jeans and tshirts.

The editorial says uniforms create equality. You could also say they enforce conformity.

[lee b]

Poor kid or rich kid. Uniforms take away the problem of not having money to buy expensive clothes and be teased or bullied by kids who can. Everyone wears the same uniform and there is no problem..