I don't think so, maybe just outdated. ca 2000 when I was in HS, it was clear that the font & format limits were to also help get students used to submitting p

I don't think so, maybe just outdated. ca 2000 when I was in HS, it was clear that the font & format limits were to also help get students used to submitting printed standardized manuscripts later in academia. But also to save the teachers from all of the same empty formatting flourishes which people do in the corporate world too. Colored text, unrestrained use of bold, fonts which are harder to read ... 12 pt, double spaced, Times New Roman was honestly a standard which started to be taught as early as elementary school. In uni, strict formatting rules weren't uncommon either! At my school, within the humanities, formatting was strict to get students used to APA/Chicago and more persnickety guides. Even in Analytical chemistry, charts made in Excel were banned outright because the prof wanted to push students onto tools capable of generating publication-ready graphics.