It's that time of year again....

Summer is drawing to a close, the nip of autumn is in the air and as September edges in the children of the town are getting ready to go back to school.

Of course wherever you go in Wycombe most of the shops have 'back to school' promotions or special sales taking place.

Indeed 'back to school' time must probably be the third highest revenue generation time after Christmas and Easter.

Back in my day the school provided all the equipment and we only had to turn up to be taught. School uniforms were not compulsory and children turned up in all manner of clothes to lessons.

These days the school uniform is mandatory in most schools and the children have to wear it.

By it's very nature school uniform, like any uniform, is a contrivance to make the children knuckle down and confirm to the rules of society by making them dress the same. Individual personalities are snuffed out to be turned into another cog in the automaton.

Seeing the state of the children hanging around the town centre the last few weeks maybe its best if the schools did choose their attire.

When my good self was a youngster the parents could go to whichever shop they wanted to purchase clothes to make up a school uniform. So long as things generally matched nothing was said.

These days quite a lot of schools have strict rules on where items of uniform can be purchased. Indeed some schools often insist that the uniform must be purchased directly from the school and other garments purchased elsewhere, even if similar is style and looks, are not acceptable.

By making themselves the only source of supply they can jack up the price and the parents can end up paying through the nose to kit out their children.

I have even heard shocking stories of it costing as much as five hundred pounds to purchase a uniform.

Does it really matter if the parents go elsewhere for the uniforms if they can cave money?

Supply of the uniform has become a source of income for some schools and it does not seem right to me.

Do the schools not realise that some parents are hard up and they simply can't afford the exorbitant costs just so their children fit in with the others in the class?

Come to think of it why do we need a school uniform at all?

If the children were able to go to school dressed how they like maybe they would feel more relaxed and learn more?

If the whole point of getting an education is to get a good job at the end so maybe the children would be better off dressing in suits with a collar and tie just as the adults do in the world of work?

I shall be glad when the children have gone back to class. The town centre will be quiet, lunchtime will be peaceful and the shops will no longer have 'back to school' sales on.

What do you think?

*My next exciting and enthralling blog will be published on Thursday evening around 8pm.

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