📘 Part 3: Uniform

This episode's vocabulary

Pretence (noun) - a way of behaving that is intended to deceive people.

Uniformity (noun) - the quality or fact of being the same, or of not changing or being different in any way.

Equality (noun) - the right of different groups of people to have a similar social position and receive the same treatment.

Outsider (noun) - a person who is not involved with a particular group of people or organization or who does not live in a particular place.

(as) long as your arm (idiom) - very long.

Pretentious (adj.) - trying to appear or sound more important or clever than you are, especially in matters of art and literature.

Bizarre (adj.) - very strange and unusual.

To conform (verb) - to behave according to the usual standards of behaviour that are expected by a group or society.

Net positive (noun) - overall positive impact.

Command chain (noun) - the way that people with authority in an organization, especially in the military, are ranked, from the person with the most authority to the next one below, and so on.

Disruptive (adj.) - causing trouble and therefore stopping something from continuing as usual.

Uncodified (adj.) - not arranged into a formal written system.

Appropriacy (noun) - the extent to which something is suitable or proper in the circumstances.

Excessive (adj.) - too much.

Account for something (phrasal verb) - if you can account for something, you can explain it or give the necessary information about it.

To mark out something/someone (phrasal verb) - make something/someone stand out.

To adhere (verb) - to stick firmly.

With a fine-tooth comb (phrase) - if you go through something with a fine-tooth comb, you examine it in great detail and with great care.

Questions and Answers

M: Should students wear school uniforms?

R: No. This pretence of uniformity and equality is just something invented for parents and teachers, really. It's a relic of the past. And it didn't even work then for the reasons that I mentioned before when I was talking in part two.

M: What are the advantages and disadvantages of uniforms?

R: I suppose that there's one advantage. And that would be that there is some security in having students wearing the same thing, so you can spot outsiders who do not belong. But there are other ways to do that. As for the downsides, the list is as long as my arm. It's pretentious and unrealistic. And very few workplaces need a uniform. Like those in schools these days, for example. So I don't see the point in having them. They serve no purpose.

M: Do you think wearing a uniform in schools has a positive or negative effect on students?

R: It might, might be good for the ones that readily accept the bizarre system of rules and are happy to conform. But they would be doing that anyway, regardless of the clothes they had on. Otherwise, I wouldn't say it's a net positive, to be honest. People will always wear uniforms differently. And there are usually even better and different uniforms for people who meet certain criteria. So it's ultimately not even about equality.

M: Where are uniforms important?

R: I think in the military and the police forces, it's important to be able to readily identify who's in charge. And the emergency services might have a command chain as well. And they probably need to be recognized anyway. Some uniforms are also important for safety, like the ones which firefighters wear. So it's helpful in those contexts, for those purposes.

M: What clothes should people wear at work?

R: Oh, whatever they like, provided it's appropriate for the context. I mean, I can't imagine a pair of jeans being a big issue for most office workers to wear since they're minimally disruptive. The exceptions would be those I already mentioned for the reasons I said. But most of the time, it's not a big deal.

M: What do you think is the future of uniforms and dress codes?

R: Well, assuming there isn't some disaster that requires society to militarize, they'll probably go the way of the dinosaurs in most places. There might be certain uncodified rules about appropriacy. But you don't need a handbook for every little thing you wear. It's just excessive. I mean, especially in multicultural societies where you can't account for differences and dress so easily.

M: How do dress codes in the workplace impact employees?

R: I think that depends on where they work, really. I suppose it could mark out managers from general employees provided they wear a different dress. It could also prevent misunderstandings, assuming everyone adheres to the codes, though not everyone does 100%. I've heard a theory that it enforces a sort of social hierarchy. But I've yet to see any evidence of that.

M: Should companies enforce strict dress codes?

R: I don't see how they can, to be honest, unless they want to employ an army of lawyers to go over them with a fine-tooth comb. The more any organization squeezes in those terms, the more likely people are to slip up by accident, or just outright resist the glaring intrusion into something as personal as dress. It just doesn't seem practical in the long term, or at all.

M: And have uniforms changed over the years?

R: Possibly the material they use, but the underlying principle of them, no.

Discussion

M: Thank you, Rory, for your answers!

M: Have you ever seen or talked to a person who loves wearing uniforms? No, because I haven't met a person who loves wearing uniforms.

R: I think maybe people in the military would be proud of their uniform. But are they proud of the uniform or are they proud of the job they do?

M: Hmm, okay, a good question. So, dear listener, the question stays, should students wear school uniforms?

R: No.

M: Rory's answer is no. My answer is no. And here you can talk about uniformity. Uniformity? Like everyone is the same. Equality and uniformity is not good. Or maybe, dear listener, you enjoy school uniforms and you say yes, students should wear school uniforms and then give the reasons. And Rory gave some reasons in speaking part two. So in the previous episode. It's a relic of the past. So what's a relic?

R: It just means that it's something people had a long time ago, but it doesn't make sense to have now. So uniforms, in my opinion, are a relic of the past. Probably things like radios, to some extent, are a relic of the past. Most people have a television or a smartphone now.

M: Yeah, and make sure you use a modal verb have to. Students have to. Students don't have to wear a uniform. Advantages and disadvantages. We paraphrase disadvantages like downsides. So the benefits of wearing a uniform are blah, blah, blah. As for the downsides, Rory said the list of downsides is as long as my arm.

R: Yes. Well, it is. It's a very long list is what I'm saying.

M: Yeah, one advantage, one benefit, or one positive side is that there is some security in having students wearing a uniform. So have students wear a uniform, or there is some security in uniforms. For example, the school can sport outsiders.

R: Maybe.

R: And also there's an advantage, like poorer students can afford a uniform. Yeah? And everyone is wearing the same clothes. So maybe they are not jealous of other people's clothes. But you know, like they have bags, phones, accessories.

R: There will always be a way to express the status somehow.

M: Yeah. The status and wealth. Yeah, so you can say that poorer families can afford presentable clothes and less jealousy. As for the downsides, I think there are more negative sides and drawbacks. It's pretentious. What's pretentious? So uniforms are pretentious.

R: So, it's just about pretending that something has a higher quality, or it's more important than it actually is.

M: Yeah. Pretentious is a negative word, dear listener. It's disapproving. So when you try to appear more important or clever. So according to Rory uniforms are pretentious. It's okay if you disagree.

R: They are. It's not okay, I'm right.

M: Uniforms are unrealistic. What do you mean?

R: Well, it is unrealistic because it doesn't accurately reflect how reality is. In the first place, let's say it's about preparing people for the modern workplace. Well, like I said, most workplaces don't have uniforms. Another thing could be about pretending that everyone is the same. But as we just talked about, everyone is not the same. And that's unrealistic as well. And then it's funny because of course, adults tell children this, but adults do not behave like this in real life. So I think we need to work on our consistency a little bit.

M: A uniform serves no purpose, you can say.

R: And it doesn't.

M: Yeah, but you can say like, uniforms do give certain standards to students, like imagine if everybody could wear anything they like, and then students will be all different. One is wearing this. And kind of if you give them freedom, then some students will wear crazy things to school.

R: Like what?

M: Flip flops, shorts, crazy short skirts, crazy short blouses. Oh, transparent blouses with no underwear, you know, teenagers. Maybe no clothes at all. You know, like very short tops.

R: If people are going to behave in that kind of weird way, then they will be doing that anyway. All we've really done is place artificial limits to cover up the real problem. So I don't think that makes a difference. I mean, sure it might cover things over. But the problem will still exist, you'll still have weirdos and outliers. So why not just admit that and then deal with it in the way that you should?

M: So you can say that there should be some limits in school. At least in school.

R: Yes. But if we're talking about school, most of the limits that are placed on how people dress appropriately are enforced by the law. You can't expose yourself in public in my country, for example, it's illegal. So I don't see why that would be a problem.

M: So wearing a uniform could have a positive effect on students. Or could have a negative effect on students. It could have a positive effect if students are happy to conform. So to conform? To be exactly the same as everyone else.

R: Maybe. On the subject of maybe, I did something with pronunciation because I said it might. And then I paused and went might with more emphasis here. To draw attention to the fact that I'm not so sure about that.

M: Yeah. Kind of it might be good. It might, might be good. But maybe it's not.

R: It's probably not.

M: What's a net positive? So it's a net positive, to be honest.

R: A net positive is just something that's positive overall. There might be some drawbacks, but most of the aspects are positive.

M: Yeah, give us a sentence.

R: Well, for example, paying taxes, okay, it's annoying. But overall, it's a net positive, because the taxes pay for various pieces of infrastructure for everybody to enjoy. And they pay into the pension that you can take out of later, and they might pay for your National Health Service.

M: Uniforms are important in the military. Right? So military, in the army, and also in police forces. So police officers wear a uniform. And uniform helps people to identify, to see, who is in charge. I'm in charge. I'm the boss. Yeah? So who is in charge? Also emergency services. So the emergency services?

R: They need to be recognized. Well, that's important, because if you say that you're a paramedic, and you don't have a uniform on, people might not believe you, or they might not get out of your way as quickly as possible if they see you running. And that's a problem. So a uniform would show this. I think in my country, it's a criminal offence to dress up as a member of the emergency services if you are in fact not. I don't know if the rules are the same in other countries. What's it like in Russia?

M: Yeah, like if... I don't know about doctors. But if I put policeman's* clothes, and I'm not a policeman, yeah, I could be arrested. So, also, a very good idea that Rory had is that the fact that uniforms, some uniforms are important for safety. For example, firefighters wear a certain uniform and it's made of materials. Like fireproof materials, some special materials, which protect them, okay? So, they serve the purpose of protection, they protect your body, right? And also you can mention some other professions like engineers, and priests. Priests? In a church. Policemen, farmers, doctors, and pilots wear a uniform, yeah? Postman, cooks. Cooks. You know, chefs? Judges. A judge wears a uniform. Remember a judge's uniform kind of shows their status, and the judge is easily recognized by everybody else. Then questions could be about dress codes, and clothes people should wear at work or shouldn't. And here we can use modal verbs like should, shouldn't. Well, if you talk about certain rules. Like laws, like must. I must follow a dress code like people in some workplaces must follow a dress code.

R: Do you have a dress code?

M: Well, I work for myself. I'm my own boss.

R: So? Do you have a dress code for yourself?

M: No, no.

R: Just dress smart all the time.

M: So most office workers have to wear a uniform, but Rory thinks that a pair of jeans is okay. But I don't think that you know jeans are okay in some companies.

R: Is it not? Are they not?

M: No. No, no, no. I think they have casual Fridays when they can wear jeans. But if a company has a dress code, no, jeans are not allowed. Yeah, this is very common. So you can say that people need to wear smart clothes. Smart? Like not clever clothes but just smart, elegant, professional, or casual smart. You can say suits, for example, shirts.

R: Oh, shirt and tie or a suit and tie. That's something.

M: The future of uniforms. Rory told us about dinosaurs. I love your metaphor and your comparison. Uniforms and dinosaurs. So uniforms will go away like dinosaurs.

R: Yeah, they go the way of the dinosaurs. So most radio stations have gone the way of the dinosaurs. And uniforms are going that way too it seems.

M: Uniforms will go the way of the dinosaurs. So they will disappear according to Rory. There might be some rules about uniforms. Like uncodified. Like what...

R: Unwritten rules.

M: Unwritten rules. Yeah. So kind of like they are there. But you don't have to follow them.

R: Well, they're there. But everybody follows them. It's like the common understanding is you don't dress in this way. So things like... It may not written, but you should dress smartly for work. You shouldn't have clothes with any rips in them.

M: Yeah. So your clothes should be clean. And like nice looking. Ironed. You should iron your clothes. Yeah, it shouldn't be all increases. So it shouldn't be, well, you know, you take a thing from your wardrobe. And it's like... It just like doesn't look nice. So you have to iron it. There are certain dress codes in the workplace. So in companies, in the workplace and a dress code could impact employees, workers. Impact? Have an effect on the workers or have an influence on workers. So what influence could it have? And Rory says that it depends.

R: Good mark out managers. I always say it depends. Unless it's uniforms and children in which case get a life.

M: Uniforms could mark out managers. Markout means that managers who have this uniform, stand out. So you recognize who the manager is. So we have managers and general employees. And by their uniform, you can kind of see, aha, so this is a manager. This one is in charge. And this one is a general work. Also, Rory, you used the word dress. So wear a different dress. Dress like clothes? Like outfit.

R: Yeah. Dress, like how you dress could refer to the clothes that you wear. People wear different dress is also talking about the clothes that people wear.

M: If you adhere to the codes what happens?

R: You do what you're told, you conform.

M: You conform, you do what everyone else does.

R: You stick to them. Adhere is to stick.

M: You can say that a uniform is about social hierarchy, yeah? Social hierarchy. Uniform helps us to see who is more important. Who has a lower status? Companies could enforce strict dress codes. Enforce. Like, making people follow a strict dress code. If people slip up, what do they do?

R: Well, if you slip up, you make a mistake.

M: Yeah, so if a company enforces a strict dress code, some people can slip up. So they can break these rules, they can forget certain things. Or they can resist following this dress code.

R: And they might. If someone was going around telling you how to dress all the time, then you might not feel like cooperating.

M: No.

R: But no one would ever tell Maria this. So it's okay.

M: Right, dear listener, how are you doing? Are you okay? Are you fine? Thank you for listening! Yeah, like, perhaps not a nice topic for you. But oh, well. This is IELTS. What can we do? Yeah?

R: Yeah, my entire contribution has just been rebel, resist the system.

M: No uniforms. No.

R: Become ungovernable.

M: Yeah! Thank you very much for listening and for being with us! We'll get back to you in our next episode. Bye!

R: Bye!

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