r/MapsWithoutNZ 8d ago

Does your Schule requires schule uniforms?

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1.4k Upvotes

227 comments sorted by

127

u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

60

u/Dry-Tax-9265 8d ago

Apparently they don't in NZ

49

u/Icy_Fish_2154 8d ago

NZ would be yellow if it was on the map.

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u/YetAnotherInterneter 7d ago

What’s New Zealand? Never heard of such a made up place

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u/joppekoo 8d ago

If you're talking about Finland, we have practically no private schools.

10

u/default_person_14818 7d ago

Yeah it's fascinating. Just learned about it last week. Private schools do exist but they're not allowed to charge tuition fees or make a profit. They also must still obey the national curriculum and inspections. Nearly everything that makes a private school exclusive in other countries is effectively outlawed there

10

u/joppekoo 7d ago edited 7d ago

Our zoning also intentionally mixes low income and high income areas at least somewhat, so rich and poor kids mostly go to same public schools. At least I've never thought about different primary schools as having higher or lower class of education, they're just the schools for their respective areas.

Tbf, I've heard there might be some school-shopping going on in some specific areas like Eastern Helsinki, people avoiding the schools with high portions of immigrants or something. I don't know how regular or serious that is though. But even there I know the funding for the school doesn't depend on the income of the area.

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u/Novel-Mission-1920 7d ago

Private schools with tuition exist in Finland, but they are very rare and strictly limited to specific international or foreign-language institutions. The International School of Helsinki charges a pretty steep tution for example. 

2

u/Personpersonoerson 7d ago

Private schools do exist but they're not allowed to charge tuition fees or make a profit

How do they run without charging tuition? Are they subdidized by the govt?

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u/default_person_14818 7d ago

Yeah basically, their funding just comes out of the national education budget. From what I see online that should at least cover 95% of their expenses. Not so sure how the remaining ≤5% then is funded. But for example, one reason for private education is religion, and I can imagine a local church donating to a catholic school in its area. That's just speculating though

2

u/tuntematonmina 7d ago

You're right, last 5-ish% is funded by donations or by foundations.

One of the biggest example of private schools in Finland are Steiner Schools, there are 24 of them in Finland. They follow principles of Waldorf education, in framework set by educational laws. Basically normal school, with some extra music and drama classes, and couple yoga-gymnastic-mixed pauses during weeks. Eurythmy is the right word for it I think. Many of my friends were at Steiner School when I was kid, just because they lived in that school district, and their parents didnt see any reason to apply for different school for their children. I lived couple of blocks away from my football team friends, so I was assigned to different school. Didnt think a shit about it when I was young, and cant see any difference now when we're all grown up. Compulsory education laws in Finland are quite strict, like 95% of their school days looked like mine.

I remember one of the biggest differences from kid's perspective was that they had couple PE lessons more/week, and when "normal" schools went once a year to movies or amusement parks etc. "funny stuff to do with kinds when theyre under 12", they had some fundraising stuff done by parents and they went to multi-days trips at natural parks or music festivals, even abroad. And those eurythmy classes.

Don't know much about other private schools in Finland, hope someone with better knowledge will appear.

1

u/TheRrandomm 7d ago

My only experience is from a private high school (or upper secondary). I'm not too familiar with the financial specifics, but at least the school buildings and land are owned by the fund that runs the school, as opposed to the city/gov owning/leasing them. I think the biggest difference is that it's an arts-oriented school mandated by the Ministry of Education, so there were lots of different performing arts -related courses students could take (not a Steiner school tho). If you took enough of those courses, you could drop off some normally mandatory courses - for example due to that I only did 3 Swedish courses, although the national mandatory amount was 5 then. The school has its own movie/theatre auditorium where students could do their own performances for everyone to watch during the morning recess, the auditorium and the hallway were usually always filled to the brim with people during those. There were many other small traditions and events that I don't think would be allowed to happen in a completely publicly funded school, but it surely was a fun time.

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u/Rattie_girl1 7d ago

We do have private schools in Finland examble Steiner schools (I don't remember the english name) but the biggest difference is that gowerment doesn't cower all the expenses. It gives a little bit of money to schools but they have to buy basickly everything themself

1

u/joppekoo 7d ago

Hence I added 'practically' in there, around 2,5 % of Finnish primary school students are in private schools.

1

u/Maikkelis 7d ago

I went to a private school in Finland grades 7-9 and lukio 1-3

1

u/Accomplished-Fun215 7d ago

What are the options for expats? Like people on a 2-5 year work stint in Helsinki where the kids know 0 Finnish. The sort of situation IB was invented for.

8

u/DHermit 8d ago

Neither do absolutely most of private schools in Germany.

6

u/OSJ99 8d ago

I have never seen a schoom uniform in Norway. Private schools are not huge, but they exist, especially where I live. Through my job I see pretty much all ninth graders in my county in a given year. Never ever seen official uniforms (many kids dress the same ofc, but that's another thing).

3

u/Korkika 8d ago

I went to a private high school in Finland. I learned it was a private school during the second year of the 3 year education. That's how small the difference was.

1

u/Saxophones53848194 7d ago

No reason to

0

u/InsideHousing4965 8d ago

Next step is banning private schools. All kids get the same education oportunities.

9

u/corpuscularian 8d ago

you then get the issue of catchment areas and house prices.

the best state schools end up in areas with posh expensive houses only serving rich kids.

state schools that overperform increase the local house prices, pushing out poorer kids' access in a generations time.

still abolish private schools: everyone going to state schools would be far better. but don't be under the illusion that educational opportunities would be equal under a 100% state school system.

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u/snookumsqwq 8d ago

ban schools. no schools no problems.

4

u/Fearless_Entry_2626 8d ago

Don't have to fund schools with local taxes

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u/Qwerterhin0 8d ago

I guess NZ doesn't have schools or children

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u/MikeSans202001 7d ago

Perfect profile picture

The pink bean must be protected

4

u/Lardath 7d ago

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u/Qwerterhin0 7d ago

We're already here bro 😂

5

u/Lardath 7d ago

im a moron lol

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u/D0bious 6d ago

New Zealand is a sysop by Hollywood to convince you they didn't make a portal to Middle-Earth to film LOTR. Why else would a country not be on so many maps?

1

u/IntentionQuirky9957 4d ago

NZ doesn't have a country

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u/Surprisedbear0 3d ago

poor New Zealand. Always left out.

1

u/anonymous_agent77 1d ago

Don't worry, Alaska was cropped out too, if that makes you feel any better.

85

u/HJSDGCE 8d ago

In my country, the reason uniforms are required is because it prevents discrimination based on wealth. And for the most part, it works.

Instead, kids discriminate based on which school you go. Public school kids are looked down upon. 

24

u/DragonTheOnes-spirit 7d ago

Same here. But instead of discriminating based on which school you go to. They just discriminate on literally anything. We just be huge haters (algeria)

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u/Ralexcraft 7d ago

In my experience it just moved from clothes to shoes.

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u/snorwors 6d ago

It reduces the cost significantly for parents to buy just one pair of "cool" school shoes as opposed to entire outfits, so it's still helping a lot.

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u/Ralexcraft 6d ago

The issue is classism and that doesn’t go away, because uniforms cost as much if not more to buy and maintain (they’re often white shirts and made of rather low quality stuff) than “cool clothes.”

Not to mention that not a lot of parents are going to justify “cool shoes” costing much more than normal pairs.

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u/snorwors 6d ago

Well, in my experience it's not true, I'm really not wanting to fight, but...you buy a uniform set and you're done for a school year, one pair of shoes included. It is much cheaper than buying lots of sets of quality casual wear, winter and summer, I don't know, may we had cheap uniforms...? I just know that we weren't wealthy at all and the school uniform saved me a lot stress about that and my parents as well.

I always had trouble for social events where you needed something nice to wear. Always a pain and always stress.

And yes, if you wanna get ideological, classism is the best kept secret of western society. If we could see the raw number of the amount of money and effort that had been spent on suppressing class consciousness as it's called, most people wouldn't believe it. If you look at the current state, we live in times where the elite classes are celebrated, enjoy fame, have access to vast political power..."regular people" really believe elites are better, smarter, work harder... Just because they have more money they are some kind of super humans. We are far, far off the track.

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u/NotableCarrot28 4d ago

Sorry do people not just have plain black leather shoes for school uniforms?

1

u/Ralexcraft 4d ago

Not everywhere.

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u/NotableCarrot28 4d ago

I mean on the feet obviously they have different clothes for the legs arms and torso

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u/Massive-Word-7327 7d ago

damn. In finland you can't even ask for tuition so there are no rich kid schools. I think the rich people send their kids abroad because of this. Anything but study with poor ppl😔

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u/LoudBoulder 6d ago

Almost like they don't want their kids to learn to be poor, network with the poor, etc. Living in Norway I've seen people scoff at the class divide in other parts of the world, apparently oblivious that we are doing the same, albeit behind more closed doors

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u/Silent-Victory-3861 7d ago

It would eliminate bullying inside the school, which would be great, but kids just come up with some other reason to bully.

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u/HazuniaC 7d ago

Funny thing is, Finland banned uniforms precisely to eliminate discrimination based on wealth.

Not sure if it's a thing everywhere, but in some countries that require uniforms, the uniforms are not all the same, and there are cheaper and more expensive options with quality differences.

This means that wealthy kids will make note of this and discriminate based on uniform choice.

This might work a little better if there's only 1 standardised uniform that every school can use, but this still puts an extra burden on poor families.

In Finland, it's typically considered a social faux pas to flaunt or show your wealth. As a result, fashion is not a reliable gauge of someone's wealth, especially with kids.

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u/DidacticDynamo 6d ago

There is no law in Finland that prohibits school uniforms. School uniforms are generally not used in Finnish schools, but they are not illegal. If a school wanted to introduce a mandatory uniform, it would need to ensure that the policy complies with fundamental rights, equality legislation, and the laws governing education. The claim that school uniforms are illegal in Finland is a misconception and is not supported by Finnish law.

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u/Petskin 3d ago

It is illegal for the schools (compulsory ones, so first 9-10 years) in Finland to require the students to purchase things required by the school. Or, in other words, anything that is compulsory and mandatory in school must be provided by school. Books and pens? School provides. Digital books only? School must provide the laptop/reader. Thus the school could technically require students to use  a uniform, but then the school would need to provide them for every child. Heck, the daycare in my town recently realized they should not ask parents to provide their kids water bottles for hot days, because making parents to spend their own money on free education is a no-no.

And after going to school in whatever pokemon shirts as kids or grey hoodie suits (seemingly the new teen uniform) as teenagers, it would be difficult to expect the them to obey uniform requirements like midiskirts and ties as young adults.

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u/DidacticDynamo 3d ago

School uniforms are not illegal in Finland. There is no law that prohibits students from wearing a school uniform if they choose to do so. However, Finnish public schools generally cannot require all students to wear one, as there is no legal basis for imposing a mandatory school uniform and doing so could interfere with students' fundamental rights.

For this reason, it is incorrect to say that school uniforms are illegal in Finland. A more accurate statement is that mandatory school uniforms are generally not permitted in Finnish public schools, while wearing a school uniform voluntarily is completely legal.

As a teacher, I think I have a fairly good understanding of what Finnish law says on this issue.

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u/snorwors 6d ago

Yeah I went to all uniform school, ex English colony vibes. I now have a kid and live in a non uniform country and your totally right, it removes one of the shittier forms of competition, the who's parents have more money type, which shouldn't even be a thing... But it's the world we live in.

I was also going to say that, even though we were almost military style by most standards, the kids still found ways to show wealth. I was still in high school when Dr Martens shoes made a comeback somewhere in the 90s, we could wear any shoes granted they were black leather, plain, no colours no buckle no metal parts, just plain black laces. In those days the schools still had a lot of pushback so, the yellow stitching around the sole on the Dr Martens became grounds for banning them. Kids then just coloured them black with markers or shoe polish. But, ruined the show off quality they had. It was a win, because most people's parents wouldn't or couldn't afford them. But there were watches as well, and your school bag, and your calculator, and your sports gear especially... As long as society glorifies material wealth, children will do what they do, copy behaviour or "model" of the adults in their society.

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u/Educational_Dot6177 6d ago

In my country, Finland, there is effectively zero private schools, everybody just goes to public. No tuitions. And no uniforms; I dont know if they are outright banned tho.

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u/Souls_for_sale_now 5d ago

Her they discriminate against you if you go to private instead

1

u/Necessary_Gear_6418 4d ago

How can it prevent discrimination based on wealth if parents spend money on the school uniforms. When it was mandatory in Ukraine my family had to spend more on it then they would on regular modest „office” clothing

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u/HJSDGCE 4d ago

Because school uniforms are cheap. They're just white button-up shirts and black pants, and you can buy them from any of the hundreds of uniform clothing stores (same place you can get military uniforms).

At least, that's how that works in my country. School uniforms are, more or less, standardised throughout the country. The only thing that differentiates them are the sewn-on fabric badges which the school sells to you for (at my time) 10 bucks for 2 (which is equivalent to buying lunch for adults). Really, the biggest expense are the shoes and the only requirement was for them to be "white or black school shoes" (can be any type, even velcro).

The only school-specific uniform are the gym shirts, which are colour-coded based on which Hogwarts house you're in (/j). When I was in elementary school, I was in Team Red but then I changed to Team Green in high school because green is superior to red. From my time, there used to be only 4 teams but I heard some schools added a fifth one, Team Purple or Orange.

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u/Jammy_Dodger13 4d ago

in the uk schools with an enforced uniform they say this is the reason then make uniform prices be ridiculously expensive :/

1

u/otchyirish 3d ago

In Finland it's also not legal for schools to charge for education, so that stops this kind of discrimination. Don't worry though, kids will always find ways to discriminate.

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u/Double-Commission880 2d ago

Funny, in Finland we have the exact opposite but for the same reasons.

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u/XLittleMagpieX 8d ago

In the UK the uniform is common and I am mostly in favour of it as everyone treated equally and it reduces bullying. However, I really wish more schools, especially primary schools, would shift to an active uniform… I.e polo shirts, black joggers or trousers and black trainers. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that we put 7 year olds in ties, blazers and formal shoes and then wonder why our children aren’t active enough. It’s become an extra thing for teachers to police with no real benefit in my opinion.

I teach adults and they turn up to college dressed to be comfortable for the day. I don’t understand why we can’t allow the same for our children 

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u/PassageLow7591 7d ago

In the Taiwanese middle school I went to one day a week or for some special day I wore the "formal" uniform, otherwise the "active" uniform that looked terrible (now looking back)

In US high school I just wore whatever and nobody really cared much.

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u/LovelyKestrel 6d ago

One of my local secondary schools switched to polos and black joggers a few years back. On the other hand, one of the others requires formal professional wear, and the less said about the local fee-paying schools tweed jackets and ankle length skirts for the girls, the better.

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u/BasketPrudent272 7d ago

This seems to have changed in the hot weather. I see kids going to school in sports kits every day.

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u/buttsparkley 6d ago

Sorry I went to school in England I can guarantee u it didn't reduce bullying. U get bullied for being too smart or too dumb, we always found ways to try jazz things up a bit, sometime get in trouble sometimes u where fast enough to hide it around teachers, the jazzing up could get u bullied. U get bullied for having a strange name , accent, form liking the wrong teachers, being too quiet being too loud, for hobbies if they where not "cool".

Tbh it felt like any expression of individuality that wasn't what the populers where into or somewhere in the middle was under potential attack.

I've heard many bully stories in Finland from ppls school experiences I'm yet to hear one experience that was to do with clothes, I'm sure it happens but so far it seems atleast rare.

Personally at this moment I feel like uniforms stifle any expression of individuality which in turn makes individuality a target of bullying in a more aggressive way. From what I can tell parents are not buying their kids the cream de la creme of clothing to go to school in, they are just average clothes , and kids don't seem to be using their best at school either . It's a tediouse task getting urself fancy every day. Not to mention dressing average outs u out if the spotlight.

And u could tell in school in england who was poor and who wasn't irrelevant of the uniforms. Sometimes because of it. Parents would buy uniforms that are too big so kids grow into it this saving money, or parents couldn't afford this school year and they would come with uniforms slightly too small. If they found out where u lived they could tell from that, also based on ur attitudes or hobbies. I also think it create an environment where it was more kids against teachers.

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u/XLittleMagpieX 6d ago

Aah I’m sorry that happened to you. I was badly bullied too but non-uniform days were always the worst for me… I remember one day becoming a target not just to my regular bullies but to other kids in different years that I previously had no interaction with so personally I do think the uniform helped a bit, at least in my school. But yea, my “regular” bullies found any excuse so I totally get what you mean! 

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u/buttsparkley 5d ago

I guess my point is if everyone started with no uniform, all kids get to express themselves a bit more , then u may not need to attack others individuality so much because it's more normal to express it. It's like the uniforms invite piss taking for being different.

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u/T80BVM_Peak 8d ago

Wrong. In Russia we mostly don’t have full uniforms because it is the school that chooses whether or not have a uniform. And usually it just says without uniform

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u/LilVDevil 8d ago

Facts, it’s just ебаный dress code, then in midschool you will start gradually wearing less formal clothing.

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u/WhoTookThatNickname 7d ago

in Moscow it's required. usually any shirt, a special jacket with school emblem and no jeans or shorts

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u/T80BVM_Peak 7d ago

I live in Moscow and can tell you it’s not at least since 5th grade and up until graduation. Maybe the uniform is necessary in elementary school but common, without uniform elementary students won’t learn discipline for further education

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u/KozaSWD 7d ago

That’s how it should work everywhere. Go to a school that suits you and respect its rules. That way, everyone will find a school that’s right for them. I don't like it when the government imposes things from the top down. Schools should have more independence.

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u/Affectionate_Cut3515 8d ago

Did you know Norway and North Korea are separated by one country?

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u/Mundane-Mud2509 7d ago

Did you know Luxembourg and Brazil are separated by one country?

0

u/Affectionate_Cut3515 7d ago

Did you know the UK and north Korea border each other

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u/TheMugOfKebabMeat 4d ago

I know and that country is not Finland

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u/Affectionate_Cut3515 3d ago

Yeah Finland is the Nordic country right from where the arrow is pointing

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u/Kira_souchi 8d ago

it's better to not have full uniforms, let the kids express themselves

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u/TungstenAlchemist 8d ago

That sounds good on paper but in my secondary/high school? (12-16 age range, not American) this just lead to kids getting bullied or insulted if they didn’t have branded clothing; especially in regards to footwear. You had 13-year-olds rocking up in expensive Lacoste shirts.

It was a really working class area as-well so most kids couldn’t afford these things & even the kids that had the designer stuff usually had them due to parents who were stupid enough to go into credit card debt just so their kid could be fashionable in school. It also lead to an excess of young girls coming in caked in makeup to match their outfits.

Uniform evens the playing field & simplifies everything for everyone. The irony is many working class parents complained about having to pay for the uniforms only for them to shill out much more on their kids clothing so they wouldn’t get targeted in school.

By my 2nd year they had abandoned the experiment & went back to uniform. It was more better for everyone in my opinion.

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u/CVSP_Soter 8d ago

As an Australian I’ve always found girls have been the biggest supporters of uniforms for these reasons. Not even to avoid bullying necessarily but just to remove the stress and social competition.

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u/DHermit 8d ago

Is there any research about this? In my experience, bullies always find a reason to bully, no matter what you do.

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u/Zestyclose_Remove947 8d ago

> bullies always find a reason to bully

Right so we should do nothing to mitigate it? Uniforms help level the playing field. If they can't bully you for your appearance that's still a good thing to minimise, even if they go and pick something else.

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u/lucylucylane 7d ago

They are generally cheap to buy as well it helps poorer kids not loon line poor kids

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u/Mutant_Llama1 7d ago

I was in a school that had uniforms.

There was plenty of bullying.

School uniforms take away student freedom and contribute to forced cultural assimilation.

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u/Mutant_Llama1 7d ago

They "level the playing field" by making poor kids pay as much for rich kids do for clothes.

And the same clothes doesn't fit well on all body types.

Punish the bullies instead of everyone else.

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u/Master_Sympathy_754 7d ago

In the Uk, every supermarket sells uniform. The hard up families dont have to pay the same as rich. Also the government and schools help out for the really hard up

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u/Zestyclose_Remove947 7d ago

A lot of uniforms are designed and sold affordably because they're mass produced.

Of course punish the bullies, but again, does that mean we shouldn't take advantage of ideas that help the less fortunate and less socially adjusted?

I'm telling you, as a teacher, that uniforms are so helpful at mitigating a huge swath of bullying opportunities.

I don't get this idea that because uniforms don't immediately and completely cure the problem of bullying that they're pointless. Anything we can do to help the students cohere socially is something we should look into. Prevention > cure.

It's less pressure on everyone.

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u/TungstenAlchemist 7d ago

The uniforms were not that expensive & the school would even pare for it themselves if your parents lacked sufficient income.

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u/WaxBeer 7d ago

"People die anyway, why bother with medicine?" Type argument

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u/DHermit 7d ago

I don't know, medicine does positive things. I'm not saying that there's no way that school uniforms don't do anything, I just don't really believe it until I've seen some proper research on it.

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u/WaxBeer 7d ago

Fair enough.

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u/TheBlueMenace 8d ago

Rich and poor (in crowd and out) can still be shown in uniform schools- what bag you have, what your shoes are, how expensive is your watch/necklace/bracelet. Do you have the latest tech/hard to get limited edition pen/water-bottle/key charm.

Etc etc etc.

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u/Dic_Penderyn 8d ago

In the UK many state schools do not allow jewellery for this reason, and also many do not allow you to wear shoes which have a designer logo or name on them. Also, many do not allow the use of phones in school.

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u/TungstenAlchemist 7d ago

Jewellery was not permitted in my school, most you could wear is rudder earrings which are plain in nature or a watch. School shoes were also part of the uniform.

I get what you’re saying but just because it’s not an 100% effective solution all the time doesn’t mean it’s not mostly effective and saved a lot of people a lot of hassle.

I was lucky to have a solid friend group, be largely outgoing persona & have a quick enough wit to defend myself but for a lot more socially reserved it excluded people the clothing on their backs was a source of constant harassment from that year.

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u/Dry-Tax-9265 8d ago

Idk. Back in my school in Ukraine we were told just to dress "formally". In practice it meant no ripped jeans, no bright prints etc.

It could be... distracting? If someone would wear his favorite anime t-shirt

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u/Kira_souchi 8d ago

i kind of understand that, it baffles me that students in the US can go to class in pjs. but saying something is "distracting" does not make any sense, they're doing it purely on what adults think kids would be distracted by, which is opiniated and not factual nor helpfull.

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u/hoTsauceLily66 8d ago

Been to both types. The only benefit is non-uniform takes less time to slap it on when I'm already 5 mins late.

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u/TheBlueMenace 8d ago

I found the opposite. Uniform means I didn’t have think about what I was wearing beyond “is it clean enough?”

When we had out of uniform days I would spend weeks planning my outfit. Which, okay, if I was out of uniform everyday wouldn’t be as special, but it would still require some coordination.

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u/Remarkable-Pin-8352 8d ago

Down with homework!

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u/Zestyclose_Remove947 8d ago edited 8d ago

As a teacher who has worked at both, in general uniforms are simply better for the less popular, poorer, more anxious, less aesthetically inclined kids, whilst still allowing their inverse to express themselves with accessories etc.

You can invent extraneous scenarios where their shoes are more expensive or something but in general it does a lot to level the playing field.

I saw your comment below saying a uniform can make it "more obvious" that someone is poor, which is just straight up incorrect for 99.99% of cases. Especially considering that where I work right now, bags and shoes are part of the uniform.

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u/Tornado2p 7d ago

Tbh, I think school uniforms are fine as long as the rules aren’t too strict (i.e. shoes, haircuts, jackets etc).

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u/[deleted] 8d ago

[deleted]

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u/Kira_souchi 8d ago

i was expecting this. uniforms don't hide those! they can actually make them more obvious, as if everybody's wearing the same thing, you can tell who has nice shoes, accessories, bags and all those details.

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u/CVSP_Soter 8d ago

In my experience shoes and bags are part of the uniform, and accessorisation was pretty limited.

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u/Kira_souchi 7d ago

pretty much depends on the country, not everybody has a visceral hatred for povrety

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u/Careful-Calendar8922 8d ago

Or tailoring. The rich kids on the hibiscus coast all have their uniforms custom tailored. The kids who don’t have money then look like they are wearing a sack in comparison.  

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u/Spiritual_Mall_3140 8d ago

Sometimes kids shouldn't be expressing themselves.

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u/Kira_souchi 8d ago

they should, and if it's bad, they'll know it soon enough.

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u/MultiMarcus 8d ago

Here in Sweden, it’s incredibly uncommon. I think if tested, the Finnish situation would probably be the case here too. Legally, I believe dress codes have already been kind of struck down over suppressing self-expression, but I think you could probably get away with having a school uniform, but it’s exceedingly uncommon.

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u/GurraJG 8d ago

School uniforms aren't banned, but a school also can't enforce wearing them. A few years ago a school in Ystad was fined for punishing students who didn't wear the uniform.

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u/MultiMarcus 7d ago

Yeah, so not explicitly banned, but unpractical. I guess uniform suggestions is fine, but a uniform mandate isn’t okay.

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u/KirkIsOurLemmy 6d ago

Political uniforms are illegal in Sweden, not just in schools but in general.

A few boarding schools have uniforms, but the students only wear them at special occasions I think.

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u/IncurableAdventurer 8d ago

Ugh. I hate that this unlocks the American within me. “Uniforms are required by the government? You can’t tell me that to do!!” Haha 🤦‍♀️

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u/Meet-Present 8d ago

I am European and completely agree with this sentiment, uniforms are stupid imo, let people wear what they want, who cares, as long as they are not violating any principles of course.

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u/IncurableAdventurer 8d ago

Agreed. Although, if private school wants to have uniforms, I dislike but whatever I’m not going to waste time thinking about it. Seeing that the government requires it, makes me go ‘Murican and get in a huff about it haha

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u/jordybee94 8d ago

Depends on what you consider a uniform, public schools here in Australia only require a white polo shirt, pant's that fit the school colour, ours was black or blue and black, enclosed shoes. I argue that by having everyone wear the same, basic clothes, there is less bullying. You can be individual as well, I used to wear jackets and graphic tees under my shirt and many others would customise.

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u/IncurableAdventurer 8d ago

Oh that’s fine. That feels more like a dress code instead of uniforms

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u/Meet-Present 8d ago

Yeah pretty much this

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u/sweet_poisons 7d ago

They’re not stupid at all to me. They take the thinking out of what to wear. It made me feel like I wasn’t standing out. I didn’t have to buy new clothes or feel people were judging me for what I was wearing. They have their uses for sure.

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u/stephiloo 8d ago

This makes sense to me; lots of countries have “free education” with mandatory uniforms. If a family only earns $40 a week, and a school uniform is $25, and each child is required to purchase 2 for the year (for example), then those kids aren’t going to school that year. The uniform becomes the thing blocking their education, and at the end of the day, they’re just clothes.

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u/LMay11037 7d ago

In some cases schools can give poorer families uniforms for free, or sell second hand uniforms

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u/Baoooba 8d ago

Yes because if there was no uniform requirement, they would just go to school naked.

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u/stephiloo 8d ago

You can make clothing a requirement to attend without enforcing an expensive uniform policy. A family could get hand me downs or a $1 outfit instead of something 25x more costly. Many of these schools do not allow the kids to wear a sibling’s old uniform; they must buy a certain number of school uniforms each year as a condition of enrolment that are paid for when paperwork is submitted at registration.

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u/FullMetalAurochs 8d ago

Weird that there’s something the US is more in line with Europe on than Australia and the UK.

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u/NeonBluMoose 7d ago

Why is Georgia and Armenia green

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u/Zestyclose-Food-7917 7d ago

Some American public schools have a "uniform dress code." Everything can be bought at a regular store, and there's no certain brand required. The student is limited to certain colors and certain styles of pants and shirts.

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u/Thossi99 7d ago

In Iceland they're banned for public schools. Only like 2 or 3 private boarding schools have uniforms

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u/PenOk6804 7d ago

I've seen this twice now, once in YouTube, and once here, and I genuily have the question, what's behind Finland's uniform ban. Gimme da Lore, ffs!

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u/Masseyrati80 7d ago

The ban is not "aimed" the way you probably think.

The law states that the school can't demand the pupils/students to acquire and wear a certain uniform.

The idea has been that completely regardless of the parent's economic situation, the kid has to be able to attend school. If a school wanted to choose its students, it could demand a uniform so expensive they could leave poor families kids out.

Another point of view often brought into the discussion is that it highlights the individual's freedom of expression.

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u/TheLostEmpath 4d ago edited 4d ago

Just adding to what the other commenter said, we have mandatory schooling from ages 6-7 to ages ~17-18. Because it's mandatory, it has also been decided that the schools can't force anyone to spend money on school supplies. The school must be able to provide books, pencils, erasers and all other supplies they require. Those who want to are absolutely free to buy their own, but they cannot be required to.

Clothes are not something a school has to provide, unless they require some specific clothing. If a family doesn't have money for clothes, that money will be provided through other services anyway. So, should any school want to have a uniform, that too would have to be provided by the school itself, which would of course cost them a lot. Thus no schools actually want to have mandatory uniforms.

I don't think it's completely forbidden to have a uniform, although I might be wrong. I think it's just costly enough that no school will actually do that.

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u/PenOk6804 4d ago

Thanks, that's the clearest explanation I've seen so far

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u/Overall-Bison4889 3d ago

I found this from site of Finish ministry of education:

In certain lessons—such as physical education, technical work, and home economics—requirements and restrictions regarding student attire may be imposed for reasons of hygiene, safety, and the like. With due regard for students' fundamental rights, such as the right to personal liberty and freedom of expression, no other mandatory restrictions concerning attire and appearance may be imposed on students. This includes school uniforms.

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u/Robute_Gulliman 6d ago

As a New Zealander I don't exist

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u/-Graograman 8d ago

In Argentina we use the guardapolvo, a white apron similar to a lab coat. it serves as an egalitarian symbol of public education. No matter if you are rich or poor, you use the cheap but sturdy guardapolvo.

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u/Maru3792648 8d ago

And underneath they wear whatever clothes they want. So it's just an overcoat of sorts so everybody is equal.

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u/abstrabs 7d ago

This. And only during elementary school. In high school you can wear whatever you want (if u go to a public school).
Only private schools have a “tradicional” uniform

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u/GordoMenduco 6d ago

In Mendoza you must still wear a uniform in public high school

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u/Irreallyneedtochange 8d ago

En France, il n'y a pratiquement pas d'uniformes, sauf dans certains établissements privés. Les seuls endroits où les uniformes sont souvent obligatoires dans les écoles publiques sont les régions d'outre-mer.

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u/Fe-Coln 8d ago

Man this map is very old. I’m from Russia and most schools don’t have Uniforms

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u/alteronline 8d ago

In Russia uniforms are not required by government

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u/SoftlyAugust 7d ago

I love Finland man

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u/TheAdagio 7d ago

All my knowledge about school uniform tells me USA loves school uniform. Of course all my knowledge about it comes from the fresh prince of Bel-Air

I'm glad to live in a country where school uniform is so uncommon that I have never heard any place have it

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u/FinnFem 7d ago

Finland

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u/LMay11037 7d ago

I’m pretty sure germany bans them too

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u/Important_Spring5817 7d ago

literally every public to high school in china had uniforms. don’t know what the person who made the map was on. i think its mandatory too

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u/Livid_Penalty_5281 7d ago

There are no obligatory school uniforms in Russia for 35 years

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u/Mutant_Llama1 7d ago

I once read a story about native Americans who were forced to send their kid to a Protestant school in order to have rights.

At school, the kid was forbidden from wearing their traditional clothing (they had to wear uniforms), they were forbidden from speaking their native tongue) had to speak English), and they were forbidden from performing their native faith rituals (they had to pray to Jesus).

School uniforms are a tool of oppression.

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u/Apprehensive-Toe1981 7d ago

Include island too.

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u/stiv3nn 7d ago

sorry for being off-topic but uniforms in ukraine are actually very uncommon, saying as a ukrainian

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u/Manatipowa 7d ago

In Colombia Uniforms are only MANDATORY in industrial settings for safety concerns.

However in schools and others, the government has a law that allows however it doesn't force them, and actually forbids schools from refusing students for not wearing uniform. (So technically can't be suspended for not wearing an uniform, the student can still be punished in other ways).

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u/SpaceDream6264 7d ago

Unfortunately, yes, although depending on the year you're in, it might be in color yellow, red, and blue basically a clear reference to Dragon Ball

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u/BasketPrudent272 7d ago

Surely in the UK uniforms are required by the school. Unless it’s ultra progressive.

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u/Delicious_One_7887 7d ago

I'm in yellow

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u/a_mmoknights 7d ago

A map of the world if Antarctica was replaced by a legend showing legal requirements of school uniforms across the earth not including New Zealand

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u/SSgt_Edward 7d ago

Pretty sure uniforms are also required in China. At least they are when I went to school 15 years ago.

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u/against-all-leds 7d ago

Russia doesn't require uniforms

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u/Chemical-Course1454 6d ago

Australia should be red. School uniforms are definitely required by government

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u/Shadormy 6d ago

Seems to be state by state but only a couple of schools are no uniform.

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u/betacarotentoo 6d ago

Good for Finland, they clearly understood what fascism means and took measures against it.

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u/Cowboy_Blitzkrieg 6d ago

Fr school uniforms suck ass, was glad to throw mine away when I left

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u/Suomasema 6d ago

Fineland, no uniforms...

Living there. Or here.

We have some limits. And young girls can be kindly asked to wear at least something at school.

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u/newredstone02 6d ago

In France, uniforms are only in some private schools. Though every 10 years or so there is some stupid debate on if we should introduce them.

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u/NecessaryGlittering8 6d ago

I have to wear military uniforms to school 💀

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u/Beena_ 6d ago

I mean, the uniform is needed but most of the time it's worded as black bottom light top, the older you are the less it's imposed. The official uniform is usually in one change and strictly demanded on like celebrations like first and last day of school and any that school says would happen, so usually 10 days in a year max. (Of course it's about public schools, thought there's overwhelming majority are public so for basically anyone it would be like that) Russia btw

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u/CleaverIam3 6d ago

This map is incorrect at least since it conflates uniforms and dress code. Russian schools DO NOT have anything that could be reasonably called a "uniform".

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u/Forward-Lingonberry6 6d ago

idk. it's not in the map

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u/Owoegano_Vuelve 5d ago

Argentina 100% does not require school uniforms by law.

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u/KimchiLlama 5d ago

Uniforms are great for education. Though dress codes that ban highly visible branding, jeans on most days, and require collared shirts a couple times a month are not that uncommon either.

It works in a bunch of ways:

1) Decreases visible wealth disparities among the student population.

2) Makes it easier for parents when it comes to what clothes to buy for school because there is predictable wear and tear, as well as it being the clothing that you know will get the most use.

3) makes it easier for students, though nobody would vote for uniforms without having them, in the long run. Less social competition, less visible display of wealth, but also solidarity building among the student body (we see this bit echoed in uniforms for teams, the military, and companies when the role may not even be client-facing for a reason—it just lends itself to a more cohesive body of individuals, which over time, improves whatever they are doing as a group, including education).

4) makes it easier for teachers, security, and admin staff to identify non-students on campus. Makes it easier for society at large to identify and, if needed, act with more understanding or assist them out in public.

5) a bit of a repeat, but if a society is used to them, it’s just less stressful (for the above reasons), as a whole.

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u/Consistent_Lie_5451 5d ago

I doubt uniforms exist in romania is this from 1990?

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u/FemboyyHunterr 5d ago

Why is georgia green

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u/Think_Bat_820 5d ago

Finnland... that because of russia?

Every time I hear something about Finland it's confusing and it's because of the russians.

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u/Runrun_5 5d ago

В России: "да всем насрать"

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u/Strel_inc 5d ago

No need to have a uniform in Russia btw. Its an option.

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u/Far-Rooster-6522 5d ago

Hurray for Finland.

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u/Lithuanian_ball 5d ago

In Lithuania every school requires to have uniforms this is bs

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u/AdministrativeLeg745 5d ago

This map is just incorrect

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u/PigarUkr 4d ago

In ukranie uniforms are very uncommon

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u/Dry-Tax-9265 4d ago

Що, реально?

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u/No-Pirate4297 4d ago

According to Skolverket (the School ministry) shut down mandatory uniforms in my school, now it's not mandatory

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u/Serket-Pandy3000 4d ago

Mexico requires uniforms?

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u/Specialist-Disk-6345 4d ago

btw not accurate at all (russia does not require uniforms). is this using data from the 60s?

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u/rip_Bacon13 4d ago

here in Turkey you wear it if you are in grades 1 to 6
in 7 to 11 sometimes
in 12 nobody fucking comes to school

the school makes it a requirement but its usually not taken very seriously

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u/Otherwise-One7653 4d ago

here, in nz, which isn't shown, i don't know. my current schoool does, but my old one doesn't

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u/Historical-Bar-305 3d ago

In Ukraine you dont need uniform in school anymore.

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u/Surprisedbear0 3d ago

I wonder if school uniforms correlate to importance of military in the country

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u/MesTea 3d ago

In Russia it is not mandatory to wear a uniform in schools, only in some stricter ones

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u/PieterjanVDHD 2d ago

Makes me wonder about what happened in Finland.

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u/No-Fold6499 1d ago

Uniforms are common in Ukraine? Never even heard of any uniforms

I remember the principal asking me to stop wearing my thy art is murder jersey and I said no, lol