Field Trip!!

Lithuanian high-school students wore uniforms. Almost all the time. Young people wore the uniforms because they were high-school students, not just when they were attending high school.

A Lithuanian high-school student who left her house—for whatever purpose—stepped out in her high-school uniform. My Mom, for example, remembers going, in uniform, to an evening opera performance with her Mother, Jadzė. She also recalls dressing in uniform for walks (Mom still uses the French "rendezvous" to describe an innocent stroll with a friend) and shopping on the weekends.

Each high school had a differently colored uniform, and students wore caps with visor badges that identified their schools. The uniforms in girls' schools consisted of dark dresses, dark tights, bow ties, and removable white collars that could be laundered more frequently.

The rule, I think, had a two-fold purpose. First, if a student got into trouble, it would be easy to identify the student based on her school. Second, it's likely that the high schools had different social rankings, and a uniform instantly would peg a student "in her place."

Mariampolis, Lithuania, 1940. My Mom and her high-school classmates travel from Kaunas to visit a beet-sugar factory. Mom stands in the very center of the first row—at the "base" of the visual pyramid. She's wearing her school cap.

The Soviets had just launched their occupation of Lithuania. Here, two Soviet soldiers stand among the girls. I assume that the three men on the left are high-school teachers.