[CCIP]

This isn't about authority - I think this is more a matter of where their attention is going. In which case I agree that a lot of kids' attention is going to appearance when it shouldn't be, but I point out to you again: I went to a uniformed school, and IMHO the effect was nil. The reason the school had an above-average performance was not an authoritarian uniform rule, but good, progressive teachers. Uniforms gave the appearance normalcy, but all the usual problems were there under the surface.

As far as authority, don't even get me started; I had to fight an authoritarian school system for years and it was not pretty. Nothing makes the kids hate the 'normal' society like the threat of authority, and nothing tempts them to do 'bad' stuff more than it becoming forbidden fruit. Nothing is more discouraging to a lot of bright and creative students than teachers that act in an authoritarian way.

In principle I'm willing to support uniforms but for a completely different and practical reason; I think people that expect the conservative methods of uniform and top-down authority will be bitterly disappointed to find out that the effects they have are totally not what is expected.

Nor are the 'old days' so good as people imagine them. I would say modern Western schooling is far from ideal, but I'll readily say it's far better than at any point in the past, and probably better than anywhere else in the world.