The Different Types of Uniforms...
Saw a Japanese job hunting photo recently and it got me thinking on how uniforms influence culture and if Singapore, the country I live in has any uniform characteristic traits.
Source: 5 reasons why “job hunting” as a new grad in Japan sucks | by Daisuke Yukita | Medium Accessed 23 June 2025
Source: Google Search
Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/07/04/uk/face-mask-england-intl-gbr Accessed 23 June 2025
Airline pilot uniforms. Japan Job hunting Uniform that Graduating Students Wear. Face masks worn during the fearful years. What outcomes do they influence with regards to our collective condition and psyche? Should we adopt them universally?
Source: https://www.theguardian.com
School uniforms return to French town in pilot scheme to tackle inequality | France | The Guardian Published 26 Feb 2024
To Be Honest, when I look at the picture, I thought the school children are students at a school in Asia where school uniforms are much more common. But it was actually taken at a school in France where they were trialing out school uniforms.
News from 2025 Google Search:
Personal Insight:
I have worn a school uniform for most parts of my school life in Singapore, namely in primary schools, secondary schools and junior colleges. School uniforms are the norm for numerous countries like China, Russia, Japan, South Korea and Singapore.
School teachers in Singapore are known in the past to scour the neighbourhood for students in school uniforms who are displaying ‘bad behaviour’. Now, I believe it may be less common for them to do so.
Another con is that the school uniform gets worn-out very quickly and at the end of four years, it looks like a dilapidated piece of clothing that is ill-fitting (either too big or too small) for students who wear siblings’ hand-me-downs or can’t buy new uniforms every year.
I cannot imagine France or the United States embracing the school uniform across the board for every state school.
Excerpt from School uniforms return to French town in pilot scheme to tackle inequality | France | The Guardian Published 26 Feb 2024
Source: `SSPH+ | Reviewing School Uniform through a Public Health Lens: Evidence about the Impacts of School Uniform on Education and Health. Accessed 23 June 2025 https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/public-health-reviews/articles/10.3389/phrs.2021.1604212/full#B85
I think uniforms signal that the person is here to fulfill a certain role, eg. A housekeeper’s uniform, a pilot’s uniform, a soldier’s uniform. However, it can be an insidious role we are unwittingly taking part in.
As we are used to mandated uniforms for schools and various organisations etc, I wonder if our societal values change as well.
Eg The United States and the French who largely do not wear mandated school uniforms prize liberty; while countries that wear uniforms such as China is more of a collectivist society that prizes societal value above individual choice. Thus, I think uniforms play an insidious role in the psyche of individuals which shape society. Uniforms or uniformly held characteristics and beliefs that everyone partakes in could be considered easy stepping stones to totalitarianism. Of course, it could be the other way round that as a result of collectivist mindsets, the country tends to adopt higher usage of uniforms.
Is there an organisation uniform you like wearing? What do you think?
Photo: STR/AFP/KCNA via KNS/Getty Images
That's so interesting! I didn't know that about German students! Yes, it would be such an insightful deep-dive topic! There's a lot of scholarly articles on the uniform but perhaps they are mostly on the same thread? Didn't take a closer look. Ciao ciao! XO
This is interesting. In the UK, school uniforms are mandatory as well. I don't view the UK as a collectivist society though. Individual rights and liberties hold precedence. Maybe the British are the exception to the rule?!