I tend to think the real reason behind the UK obsession with school uniform is emulation of the ‘great public schools’ - for which in turn they were markers of class distinction. So it is, at bottom, the same old British disease…
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Lol, saw this and thought immediately “that’ll have the old, white, rightwing men on SF getting their frilly knickers in a twist.” 
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Can I add a few extra likes and a manically laughing face!
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The gender of pronouns matter to some people, and we should respect that and abide by their preferences if we can. But it doesn’t matter to language. In old English, before the language lost most of its inflections, women were (grammatically) masculine.
Languages change all the time - we are, perhaps, again in a period of rapid change for English pronouns, which will eventually see s/he replaced by ‘they’, etc. People that get worked up about this may know little about gender - but they certainly know less about linguistics.
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I trust the hem will touch the floor when they kneel down.
Come on chaps, have you never heard of “Normal for Norfolk”? 
Thassroit boie, thayre a funny old lart in Windum.
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I went to the other Wymondham school and we looked down on Wymondham High as it was then.
As for ‘Normal for Norfolk’, sadly the county has been overrun by ‘furriners’ so the accent/dialect is being lost.
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The further we got up the school the more challenging the “silent” code. Like something out of St Trinians the more outrageous began to “adapt” their uniforms. The moment they were outside the school gates the felt hat had a crease in it so it perched on the back of the head. Hair was backcombed and sprayed to a standstill. Ties were loosened to bust level and shirt buttons undone, skirt waistbands were rolled over until several inches above the knee could be seen. There was some serious jail bait walking round Sutton in the early 60s.
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Surely the opposite is true, uniforms remove class distinction as everyone looks the same.
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Exactly this.
Worked as intended for me (council house kid at the old grammar school) in the 1970s and for my children in the early 2000s/2010s.
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Sadly not.
As Vesper Lynd nearly said:
“There are school uniforms and school uniforms; this is the latter.”
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No - the point of uniforms for the public schools was to distinguish their boys from the hoi polloi. The pojnt of them in state schools now is to say ‘look, we’re just like Harrow and Eton’.
For the hard-pressed, school uniforms are a huge difficulty - I remember it well, both as a pupil and as a teacher. The idea that wearing the same colour garments disguises the fact that they are second-hand or hand-me-downs is hopelessly naive - the other kids, the teachers, and anybody with eyes in the head knows. believe me.
Some children are inherently unpleasant, and will find ways of making sure that others are ostracised because they don’t have exactly the right version of the uniform.
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Exactly John, that was the idea.
The first real mention of a proper school uniform was at a Sussex boarding school in the 16th century so the premise it was a ‘class thing’ seems to tally at first glance. However, many countries around the world without any connection to the UK have strict school uniform policies so the class argument becomes somewhat blurred.
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I find it hard to get interested in questions like this: I suspect that in England they’re generally highlighted by pronounced Tories who are eager to distract attention from the Government’s failings. Oh, yes, and I was only too keen to get out of shorts and into proper grown-up long trousers.
My old school I believe. That was quite a uniform 
I don’t see wearing a school uniform is a disguise but a totally practical solution. How much more expensive would it have been in my school days for parents to buy day to day clothes. Of course second hand or hand me downs are easily spotted as is the presentation of those wearing the uniform.
Norhing has changed as one of our children who is a secondary school teacher often reminds us.
Totally naive, l don’t think so.
Must I?
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I think school uniform can have some advantages - for one thing it makes it *much* easier to define what constitutes acceptable dress, helps identify pupils outside of school and can help pupils develop a sense of belonging.
It can also be expensive to buy all of the stipulated items, especially sports kit and that is a problem for less well off families.
But as Geof says everyone know the poor kids with hand-me-down items or those from the school’s 2nd hand uniform supply.
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