My point isn't that the clothes do or do not make one a sheeple. My point is that being conditioned to think that the government should be able to tell us what to do on even seemingly trivial matters is a problem. The government should only rarely be telling us what to do and should confine its authority to the important issues. You seem to think that because what one wears is relatively unimportant in life or at least in school, then the government should dictate the matter. I think just the opposite.
On the points that are important, I think the schools should have intelligent but strict rules. I think that being disrespectful to a teacher should be strongly punished. I think that failure to pay attention in class should be punished. I think that mistreating other students should be punished. These are important things, and there should be strong rules to govern these issues.
Did you go to a private grammar school or a public one? In private schools, I don't think that uniforms cause the same problem because the student eventually realizes that his parents have made the choice. I think parents should make choices about what children wear, and making that choice through the vehicle of choosing a private school is not the same as having it imposed by the government.
WFTR
Bill
Let me give you an example of "relatively unimportant." Some 40 years ago my father built a workshop on his property. Nice workshop...cement block, windows, a door that locked. Fast forward to 30 years later when we built another building on the same property to house two boats. We had to get a building permit from the local government and meet certain standards. This is not a public building where public safety standards have to be met. In other words it is "relatively unimportant" the quality of this shed since it has nothing to do with the public. It only needed to keep two boats out of the weather. Yet the government intervenes in this "relatively unimportant" matter and the shed ended up costing us about $15,000.00.
Where do we draw the line on "relatively unimportant" and government interference in private lives and private decisions.