I failed to give the context behind that statement. I live in the UK where school uniform is universal in secondary/high school, strongly enforced, and consider

I failed to give the context behind that statement. I live in the UK where school uniform is universal in secondary/high school, strongly enforced, and considered to be very important for some reason (enough so that breaching the uniform rules can result in being segregated from the other students for the day). They seem to allow a little more of a personal touch now than in my day, though, and can wear buttons on their blazers as well as hair accessories.