CAROLYN LECKIE: CLASS OUTFIT NEEDS TO GO.

Byline: CAROLYN LECKIE 

DID you hear it? The parental cheer that went up across the land as the weans were waved off back to school and handed back to the teachers.

But touring round the shops last weekend with my daughter, I was floored by the cost of clothes.

And I'm not just referring to the posh designer end of the teenage market. Even the old standard school uniforms cost a mint.

While I hardly approve of Nike and Adidas hoovering up the housekeeping, I can't stand school uniforms.

Those who argue in favour of them say they're cheaper and, because everyone wears the same, they eliminate stigma. They're not and they don't. There are cool school skirts and uncool skirts.

Uniforms offend me because I believe that children shouldn't be clones. That grey skirt and white blouse stuff drills in conformity and stifles individuality.

Schooldays should be about developing some confidence and a bit of independence, about learning to think for yourself. Uniforms do what they say on the label. Time they went.

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