On Monday, 9 September 2019 16:02:47 UTC+1, NY wrote:
"Steve Walker" wrote in message
...
One idea was it stopped kids being identified as coming from rich or poor
families by what they wore. And a uniform gives an identity to all.

I went to a school with a uniform.

Me too.

Most things were fairly anonymous and you
could buy them anywhere.

True I rememeber shirts and trousers from pollards for me, while some got theirs from M&S. The owner of a secondhand shop sent his kid to some tailor 'up london' to get his childs clothes.
So while all white shorts might look the same.......



The only thing that was unique was the blazer.

Yes while it was balck the only supplier was one shop that was recommended.

You
could buy it from the school shop or from one specific gents' outfitters in
town. There was still a gradation of poor/rich, based on the grade of blazer
that your parents bought you: a "cheap" felt-like material or "expensive"
worsted barathea. It was still more or less the same style and cut, the same
colour (bottle green), same "silver" buttons, and with the same school badge
on the breast pocket, but the gradation of the type of material still sorted
the sheep from the goats ;-)

yes but the general idea was that everyone from that school looked pretty much the same.


In other words, if you try to make everyone the same, they'll *still* find a
way to look for differences and better/worse distinctions ;-)

Yes but the school can claim everyone is treated the same.