My life from fourth grade through 12th (U.S.) would have been a hell of a lot easier had there been mandatory school uniforms. The private school that I attended for five years was considering it, but decided not to use them.
Public school in Florida, dismal to begin with in regard to process and implementation, was made considerably worse by hordes of
shallow, image-obsessed kids who judged harshly on the basis of what someone pulled from their closet that day. The only change, in the adult and corporate world, is that the
judgment is unspoken.
Uniforms are not an attempt to crush personality or uniqueness. Schools accomplish this via curriculum. Most people do not have personality and uniqueness in spades, anyway, but if they did, it would not be dessicated with uniforms. There are better ways for a child to express themselves when they're in school.
If they can't abuse on the basis of clothing, they'll abuse on some other basis. The average 12-year-old kid is not going to dog someone mercilessly on the bus ride in, the bus ride out, and any other time in class and the hall, for their opinion on foreign policy. More likely then not, they'd already be abusing someone for other reasons on top of their clothing choices.
School is for learning (ostensibly); it is not for beating the crap out of someone because they're not wearing something you deem totally goober. I've had my own bad experiences, but have seen truly awful, egregious displays of intolerance based on clothing day in, day out. I don't know how they handled it, mentally - I really don't.
If we had all been in uniforms, we would have still gotten pushed around or tossed invectives for being smart, or quiet, or weird. A uniform isn't going to mask that. It would have, however, made it easier. It would have made that fear of getting on the school bus or walking down the hall a little less palpable.
daz eddy: lots of heated arguing about not very much at all. so why did you add a write-up?