*** school uniform: United States--school types private schools






United States School Types: Private Schools

America has an early tradition of public education. There werealso private schools. Un fact, there were several types of private schools. Some followed English traditions. Dor reasons we do not fully understnd, there wre qyute a number of military schools. And as immigrants from Catholic countries bgan immigrating, we also see parochial schools. With the tragic declkine of the public school system in the late 20th century, we see agreater interest in private schools, both religious and secular. While most American boys did not wear school uniforms, some schools did require school uniforms. Parochial schools, elite British-oriented schools, and military schools all required uniforms. The largest portion of the private school sector is the very large parochial (catholic) school system which did require children to wear uniforms, although quite basic ones as until after World War II, the Catholic ethnic communities were generally low-income Americans.

Religious Schools

Religious groups have sponsored schools in America. These schools are for the most part not schools to train clerics, but schools to educate the children of parishoners in a Godly environmet. The most important group has been the Catholics. When Catholics began emigrating to America from southern Europe in large numbers they found the existing public schools in a still largely protestant nation had an anti-Catholic bias which would wean children away from the Church. The Irish were the first Ctholics toarrive in mumber, but we so not see many parochialschools until the wabe og Italian immogrants reached America. Others felt that their children should attend schools that affirmatively enbraced the Church. So Catholic dioceses began founding parochial schools of their own. This was expensive as the Government provided no funding and the public schools were free. upreme Court rulings have since confirmed that public funds not be used to support private schools, including schools founded by religious groups. In recent yeas Chrstian academies have been founded, often without a sectarian connection, because of concerns over the anti-religious atmposhere in public schools, especially after the Supreme Court banned organized prayer in the schools. Some parents are also concrned about the lack of discipline.

Catholic (Parochial) Schools

Public schools began to develop in the early 19th century. They were controlled by protetant officials who in many cases were hostile to Catholocism. As large numbers of Catholic immigrants (primarily Irish) began to arrive in the 1840s, the Church decided to create their own separate Catholic schools. Suceeding waves of immigration from Catholic countries (especially Italy) greatly expanded the U.S. Catholic population. The Catholic schools at one pont were education more than 20 percent of American children. The Catholic schools unlike the state public schools insisted on a school uniform. I'm not sure why the Church made this decision, but may be due to the Irish and Italian influence or the fact that immigrant Americans were generally low income families and would be sensitive to preceived differrences in the clothing that poorer children might be wearing. The uniforms worn by the boys are usually white shirts and ties, sweater, and solid color--often blue pants. Usually the boys wore long pants, but many elementary schools now permit shorts.

Episcopalian Schools

Although much smaller than the Catholic school systems, the Episcopalian schools in America also sponsored schools. The Episcopal Church in America is comparable to the English Anglican church, except that they receive no government funds. The Episcopalian Church is one of the more traditional American churches and membership includes some of the most wealthy and established American families. Like the Catholic or parochial schools, the Episcopalian church schools often had simple school uniforms. One HBC reader recalls that a friend of his attended at a Houston Episcopalian school in the late 1970s. Short pants were part of the school uniform. This varied by region. Schools in the South might require shorts year round, but longs were more common in the north.

Jewish schools

Jewish education n America has been nfluenced as might be expected by the nature of Jewish immigration from Europe. Jews were essentially maintained as a separate community by laws in Europe. This began to change with both enfranchisement and public education durung the 18th century Enlightenment and even more so the 19th century. This was even more so in America which never had laws which limited Jewish life. There werevery small numbr of Jews in colonial America and vitually all were Sephardic Jews. Here we see the first Jewish chools. The numbers of Jews increased somewhat and we see the first congregational schools established by the German-Jewish community (mid-19th century). Many of these early arrivals came to live in comfortable circumstances. This change fundmentally when Tsar Alexander III launched an anti-Semetic campaign. Vicious Tsarist pograms drove enormous numbers of Jews fromthe Russian Empire, maning primarily Poland, Lithuania, and the Ukraine--the Pale of Settlement. These were Ashkenazi Jews and arrived in America destitude in mumbers that overweamed the small Sephardic community. They establish community-based schools that served the Eastern or Tsarist Empire immigrants (late-19th and early-20th century). Most Jewish children attended public schools. Some Jewish schools competed with the public schools. More commonly they comlimeted or supplement the public schools, offering instruction in Jewish traditionse. This included Talmud/Torah schools. Interestingly, Jewish schools both assisted assimilation and preserved European Jewish culture and tradition. Jewish educators have debated the properfocus for education. A major problem for American Jewey has bee the ease of asimilation and the possibolity of Gews disappearing into the American melting pot.

Christian Academies

Since the 1960s many new private schools were opened, first in the South and then throughout the country. The initial impetus was white flight from newly integrated schools. But the schools have continued to grow as American parents become increasingly concerned with declining academic and discipline standards at the public schools. Many of these Christian academies require uniforms. The unifiorms are generally the simple styles worn by Catholic children.

private school uniforms
Figure 2.--American boys after the 1930s have mostly worn long pants to school, but some prestigious private schools until the 1970s had uniforms of short pants and knee socks like many English schools.

Secular Private Schools

Wealthy Americans sent there children to prestigious private schools. many of the most prestigious ones were heavily influenced by English preparatory and public schools. Most of these schools required uniforms, usually similar to British school uniforms. Some schools even followed the British system of boarding edication, but boarding was never as accepted by American parents as it was by British parents. Even boys at day schools as prestigious private schools were more likely to wear short oants. Some had uniforms blacers or sport jackets worn with ties, short pants, and knee socks. Other schools simply had dress codes requiring more formal clothes. Even boys at these schools might wear short pants.

Military Schools

America has a rather limited history of boarding schools, but for some reason quite a number of the military schools that did exist were military schools. Uniforms were of course stressed at these schools. I'm not sure why this was, but by the mid-19th Century several such schools were in operation. There are some tragic stories of the boys even being deployed in Civil War battles. Most of the American military were boarding schools. There were, however, also some day schools. Unlike many of the European military schools, American boys were generally sent to military schools for the beneficial impact of discipline and not in preparation for a career in the military. Often it was unruly boys who might be sent to a military school. Many parents decided on military schools as a way of instilling discipline in their children. Most military schools are secondary schools, but there are some elementary military schools as well. Almost all military schools are private fee paying schools. Military schools continue to florish in America. One urban school district (Chicago) has even established a public (state) boarding school.








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Created: 11:48 PM 1/25/2010
Last updated: 1:17 AM 2/2/2018