IS WEARING A UNIFORM COOL OR NOT?

Rachel: Well, I think uniforms are a good idea because you don’t have to decide what to wear in the morning. You just get up and put your uniform on. You don’t have to think, ‘Oh no! What am I going to wear today?’ So, (1) .................... the girls!

Anita: It distinguishes you from the students of other schools! It just makes you stand out. It makes you look like a community rather than just normal people, if you know what I mean! I mean, just like everyday people on the street that aren’t at school. You can tell that you’re still at school–in education. I think it looks really smart as well.

Sarah: Don’t you think that by wearing a certain uniform, the people who see you are going to identify you with the school and have a stereotypical attitude about you? It’s like how people think about skinheads. They all (2) ................... to belong to that group, and people immediately think they’re all going to be hooligans, but it’s not necessarily true.

Anita: You don’t necessarily lose your individuality by wearing a uniform; there’s still something special about you as a person. Just (3) .................... things, it doesn’t make you all the same. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. Don’t worry about things like that!

Sarah: There’s another thing about uniforms, though: Even if everybody wears exactly the same, they’re all going to look different because (4) .................... everybody. Therefore, people who are a bit overweight will feel upset about it. I mean, they do in this school because our uniform doesn’t suit people who are a bit chubby!

Emma: I think people should have the chance to be themselves when they wear clothes. It’s like we’re being forced to do something we don’t want to do.

Katie: I think that by putting us all in the same uniform, they’re somehow trying to suppress our unique identities, and (5) .................... , ‘We all have to look the same; we all have to think the same.’

Sarah: I came from a primary school where we didn’t have to wear a uniform, and coming to secondary school and wearing a uniform, I don’t know, I really enjoyed it. I used to be proud of it, of wearing it, but I think, yeah, there are faults in it. However, I think there are advantages as well!