Talk:School tie

Public school??
Shouldn't that be private schools? It's the "rich kids" who wear the school ties... 129.180.136.90 (talk) 11:37, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
 * You must be an American. Counterintuitive though it seems, in British parlance, 'public school' means private school. What North Americans call public schools, the Brits call grammar schools. Toyokuni3 (talk) 15:17, 17 June 2018 (UTC)


 * The term public schools (schools of the people) arose from contrast with the church schools, from which Oxford and Cambridge universities are descended.
 * Nuttyskin (talk) 17:43, 19 February 2019 (UTC)

Discussion on merging
This article came up on a merger proposal list. Can I start the discussion by making a few remarks.
 * Oppose This should be two articles School tie and Old school tie. The first refers to an item of branding (school uniform) that is used in maybe the majority of English schools and the second is metaphorical and refers to strong bonding former members of the school have to each other, and to members of the same social class. This occurs in the UK and former commonwealth countries- it is pervasive across all social classes and all secondary schools. We use the phrase, 'Old school tie' as a form of euphemism. The Bullingdon Club is an extreme example of the old school tie. My sons career progression will be influenced by his old school tie and also my old school tie- though neither of us have invested in a band or polyester! To move back to the first article, school tie. Being able tie their own tie is a sigh of groeing up for a child. Politically, when a school veers from having a tie and blazer in its uniform to the more practical sweat shirts it is seen as lacking good discipline and assumed by the right wing to be failing. But large schools use them to identify which house (pastoral unit) the child belongs to.
 * A small anecdote, while taking a school trip from our 2600 pupil inner London comp with kids in black jumpers and 5 different plain tie- a group of girls were seen to be going off in the opposite direction. 'Ere, you lot, get over here' was bellowed across the field. Then, 'What do yer mean wandering off like that- uh, I don't know you! Or you! ', 'No sir, we don't go to your school' The uniform and the ties were identical but the girls went to an elite private school, where they used ties for the same purpose. ClemRutter (talk) 13:46, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

Could also mention that the tie, as opposed to sweat shirt, is seen as a class marker. It is not that the school is failing, but many do prefer that grammar school pupils not wear ties for that reason. 24.4.136.172 (talk) 05:04, 25 February 2022 (UTC)


 * I feel there ought to be mention made of the school tie's origins, which are given in the article Necktie, especially the section entitled "Ties as a sign of membership".
 * Nuttyskin (talk) 09:39, 22 August 2022 (UTC)