By Joanna Haralson

You will be hard pressed to find a person who is not moved by the sight of a kindergarten class in school uniforms – dress pants, polos, sweaters with an embroidered logo. What is it about this picture that touches our hearts? Is it the juxtaposition of the little size of the person and their adult-like outfits? Is it the contrast between their serious attire and joyful, playful disposition? Or maybe there is something even more important at play. This delightful group of students is a non-perfect, yet tangible representation of the truth, goodness, and beauty that our classical Christian schools are striving for.

Let’s defy Maria von Trap’s advice and start at the very end, with beauty. Christians insist that beauty is objective; therefore, it can be defined. It is recognized as a blend of proportion, harmony, simplicity, and complexity. The first three aspects come in the form of a carefully selected uniform code. It brings a harmonious color pallet and order to the picture. The complexity comes from the students themselves. Every one of them, while created in the image of God, is a different individual. The students come in all shapes and sizes, hair colors, skin tones, and facial features. It is this diversity that brings the needed level of complexity to our picture to make it beautiful.

What makes school uniforms good? They are good because they represent and instill virtue into our student body. Putting on that uniform is a daily exercise in neatness (shirt tucked, belt on), modesty (skirt 1 inch above the knee), and submission to authority that established the uniform policy in the first place. It is also giving deference to your fellow student by not attempting to draw attention to yourself, forgoing the desperate need for self expression, especially in the upper school years.

What about the truth? In the Christian worldview there is only one source of truth – the triune God. Everything that is true reflects the attributes of God. Our God is a God of order, and a school uniform is designed to bring order into the classroom. But God also created us to be in community. A uniform exists only in the context of a community, a group of people sharing common beliefs and goals. That embroidered sweater is a constant reminder of the high calling our students have – to be the image bearers of Christ.

Whether you are a parent or a teacher at a classical Christian school, take a moment to ponder the tremendous value that this simple tradition of wearing a school uniform brings to your school culture, how it is shaping your students’ character into truth, goodness, and beauty one day at a time.

Joanna Haralson is a mom of 3 classically educated children and a wife of a board member. She has been a part of St Stephens Academy community in Beaverton, Oregon, for over 20 years. Joanna holds two masters degrees in Telecommunications and Information Technology and worked as a software engineer at Intel. She is now a Freelance Web Developer and owner of Uniformee – an online platform for managing schools’ internal uniform swap.

Feature Image Photo by Rhii Photography on Unsplash