Comments

1. At 08:34 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Dean wrote:

   I was intrigued by the Tory Spokesperson’s idea that schools would prominently advertise the price of their blazers to encourage a bit of market competition.

   Presumably schools would divide into the ‘Marks & Spencer – and the Primark sort.

   Middle class parents would be falling over each other to pay for the most expensive blazers.

   I don’t think the Tories have really thought that one through, unless what they actually want is more division of schools along class lines.

   Dean Morrison

   Hastings
   

2. At 08:36 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Chris Hunter wrote:

   Blazers and ties make kids behaving badly outside the school, easy to recognise where they come from! A couple of complaints and it doesn't take long for the message to be received.
   Uniforms are a great leveller.
   Chris Hunter

   Farnham
   

3. At 08:40 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Arlene wrote:

   My son attends a local comprehensive school with a very traditional ethos. Uniform including a blazer is worn, though the blazer can be replaced with a jumper bearing the school badge, so there is a choice. Interestingly, 99% choose to wear the blazer. My son wears a blazer. I recently bought a new one for £18 from a top good quality store, which he wears with a shirt underneath and when it is colder a t shirt under the shirt. I do not buy jumpers, so I cannot understand why a uniform with blazer can be so expensive. I buy only one a year due to growth, so I do not consider that a huge layout compared to a couple of sweatshirts. Also, blazers can be bought for much less than I paid anyway.I think its a weak excuse to say it is a cost issue.
   Arlene Moody

4. At 09:01 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Sharon Charity wrote:

   What planet does Michael Gove live on? My kids both attend brilliant local comprehensives with "casual" uniform styles, and I am completely satisfied with the education they receive. I am sick of hearing the Tories knocking our state schools, which have improved hugely in the last decade. Again and again they talk about setting as if it was something new - yet most secondary schools are already doing this. The recent research on specialist schools showed that schools get better with extra investment - something we're unlikely to hear Michael Gove promising.

5. At 09:20 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Chris wrote:

   A blazer that lasts 5 years must have been very large when 1st bought or very tight by the time the person left school. The money for a blazer would be better spent on a decent coat with a school badge on. Blazers do not inspire young people or give them pride - great teachers do this. Not everyone leaves school and secures a job where a a blazer or tie are required. I agree that a uniform is necessary but blazers are not essential.

6. At 09:53 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Steve wrote:

   Do the Blazer enthusiats think that Universities should have uniform policies? If not, why not?

   Steve

7. At 10:24 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Sigmar wrote:

   When the rest of the country is moving away from our Victorian past (ie casual dress at work) why make the poor kids suffer !?

   I don't think having a uniform counts for much really, surely we should treat everyone as an individual not a member of some group.

   I'm just pleased I'm an adult - well almost ;)

   
   Sigmar
   http://battlereporter.blogspot.com

8. At 10:32 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Kevin (France) wrote:

   "Blazers do not inspire young people or give them pride - great teachers do this." - Exactly!

   My class got some of the best GCSE's (Irish equivalent) in the country, although there was no obligation to wear a school uniform, but a lot of encouragement and teacher-student connivance and mutual respect.

   I then changed schools to a full-uniform 'ethos' where the students effectively felt shut into a regime of imposed discipline and no sense of self-worth. Not surprisingly, everyone was intent on doing the minimum to stay out of trouble & get minimum pass grades, but the notions of 'achievement' and 'pride' were non-existent.

   I cannot see the concrete link between Gove's uniform 'ethos' policy and 'higher standards'.

9. At 10:57 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Peter Gordon wrote:

   Ok blazers are a good thing for all sorts of reasons, but surely there are more important matters.

   To my mind of enormous importance to the English voter and to the Conservative party, is the resolution of the West Lothian question.

   Until that is resolved the English will not have a true democracy. We know that there are a substantial number of Scots in the English parliament, who regularly vote in line with the orders of the Labour Whips, on matters irrelevant to their own Scottish constituencies.

   The media seem not to be interested in this subject - only in continuing to demonise the Tories.

10. At 11:22 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Guy Fox wrote:

    Coats and ties?

    Here on the $un Coast of Flori-duh, I rarely wear coats and ties, even when I'm NOT on the beach sipping rum with a laptop. Personally I've always viewed coats and collared shirts as little more than dog collars for corp-rat kulture. And the tie is the leash!

11. At 11:46 AM on 01 Oct 2007, Tim wrote:

    Blazers in all schools: well, this smacks of the impossibility of making silk purses out of sows' ears. Gove has got the causative relationships completely wrong: The best schools whether private, or in the largely failed state comprehensive system, are populated by relatively intelligent, educable children. The 'complaint' from those with chips on their shoulders is that the best comprehensives are in middle-class areas. Intelligence is highly correlated with Socio-economic status; it is also negatively correlated with poverty and delinquency. Merely putting a blazer on an unintelligent pupil from a dysfunctional familial background won't cause them to achieve educationally. Intelligence is largely fixed after all. I suspect they would destroy it, and continue to vandalise their environment etc.

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