**TL;DR : School Uniforms make everybody equal.** School uniform promotes fairness amongst pupils. Wearing school uniforms creates a level playing field amongst pupils, and promotes a sense of identity and belonging. As a result, school uniforms enrich the learning experience and encourage fair opportunities. Perhaps the most valuable reason for school uniforms to become mandatory is that it reduces [bullying based on socioeconomic status.] (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/19404476.2020.1759298?needAccess=true) Without uniforms, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds may feel embarrassed or ashamed that they are not able to afford ‘trendy’ clothing like some of their peers. In schools where students come from different financial backgounds, it is important to ensure that all pupils share the same benefits from the education system, and school uniform is one of the best ways to promote equality. Furthermore, dressing in a professional manner for school prepares pupils for clothing conduct in the workplace, and [encourages participation in an organisation.] (https://www.theguardian.com/education/mortarboard/2013/oct/03/why-wear-school-uniform) When you put on your school uniform, you represent your school, which creates a sense of identity amongst students.

**Mandatory school uniforms mean students have to differentiate themselves with their minds not with their clothes** Which, for those of us who weren't particularly hot teenagers, is a good thing over and above the social levelling of identikit clothing!

**TL;DR - I think that school uniform is a great way to eradicate any unnecessary pressure on students, and makes non-uniform days so much more exciting!** Echoing the points made: 1) Wearing school uniform means that you have more time in the morning as there is no choosing of what to wear. We all know students need as much sleep as they can get, school uniform helps this issue. 2) It eradicates lots of socio-economic problems. Even though school uniform can be expensive, there are schemes to help families purchase it and it means children’s clothes are not judged daily on their ‘coolness’ or how expensive they are. 3) It is also another way of representing the school on trips and other extra-curricular activities. 4) This point may be coming from a biased perspective but for me, school uniform is something that is just part of growing up. In the UK most schools require a uniform and it is constant throughout most childhoods. Laughing at each others ties or how much stuff you can fit in a blazer ends up being part of the school experience.

Honestly, school uniforms solve the whole "who can wear what" debate. The schools I grew up in had much stricter dress codes for boys than for girls. It's just that boys socially only have the option to wear jeans and a t-shirt. It's hard to break any dress code with jeans and a t-shirt. I mean I'm well aware that might not be the case everywhere. Just everywhere I've seen. Have everyone wear the same thing, and it ends the debate outright.

State schools should issue uniforms. I for one would never send my children to a school without a uniform. One of the most important lessons any child can learn is that they are a part of something bigger than themselves. It seems to me increasingly that many people make it to adulthood without realising this fact. Everyone has their part to play in society, clubs, churches, organisations, corporations, charities, neighbourhoods and even nations. The uniform teaches this at a young age and should be encouraged.

As a non-binary student at an all girls Catholic school, I have found the uniform to be very sexist and transphobic. The fact that the all boys school across the street has a dress code while my school has a uniform further reinforces sexist ideals. Many people try to show their personal style through shoes, socks, and hair, but those things go against the uniform as well. This doesn’t only affect people’s ability to show who they are through clothes at school, but also at home. With having many of my days spent in uniform at school, I do not want to pay the extra money for clothes that fit my style because I will likely not have much time to wear them.

I think a uniform should be a choice in school because some kids express their feeling by the way that they dress themselves and how they feel. I feel way about the dress code some dress of how they feel inside but they are not allowed to do that when they are being sent to the office for being dress coded.

As has been mentioned. School uniforms have many good points. But also has a few bad ones. One negative in particular has not been mentioned. School uniforms may discourage bullying. As it does happen that children are bullied and singled out for wearing clothes, that are not modern enough or not cool enough. School uniforms also prepare children for a societal standard of "belonging" to an organisational standard, with the group pride and behaviour that this entails. In some schools, there is financial help with buying school uniforms, so any discrimination that appears from obvious economic differences in the buying power or standards of the child's parents, can also be taken away. I mean that a child who has poor or rich parents, are less easily identified by the clothes the child wears. However, on the negative side, school uniforms tend to be different for boys and girls. This reinforces sexual stereotyping. Most societies try to promote values that idealise a meritocracy, where a individual is not held back or promoted due to gender. Any stereotyping has a tendency to promote simple stereotyping of the nature of girls and boys and so create pressure and expectations based on their sex, rather than an individual/child's nature and talents. Lastly, a negative exists, despite that an argument could be put forward, that the same negative, could also be put forward as a positive. The negative i am referring to is: that creating a pride of belonging to a group, can also create a "them and us mentality", with "us" being those who belong to our school and "them" being those who do not belong to our school but belong to another school. It can easily be observed that many of societies strife and problems come from a belief and awareness of "them and us". These lines are obviously drawn along the lines of race, religion, class, nationalilites, gender etc. For instance the "them" in differentiating schools, could be richer schools, compared to poorer schools, or a school in this area, compared to a school in that area, a school predominately of this race, or that religion, etc. In the uk for instance there are public schools (funded by national taxes) and private schools (funded by tuition fees and donations). One school might have much more flexible curriculum, have a more selective admission standards compared to the other type and its social reputation and desireablility may strongly be influenced by these factors. A school uniform maybe ascociated with a better reputation of a school. A private school may have a better reputation compared to a public school. Once a social reputation is created around a school, the wearing of a uniform identifies that child as being a part of the social reputation and so may promote attituges to that child. This attitude may well influence a child's social experience when meeting people of other schools, or in the community where that reputation is known, or with those who hold negative or positive experience of the childs school and when leaving and going out in the greater world. Most societies try to promote a meritocracy based on the talents and achievements of individuals, rather than a reputation born of stereotypes. Stereotypes, that may give social advantage or disadvantage. So in this context, school uniforms as they presently are, could be seen as promoting division rather than inclusion. It would be easy to minimise this aspect of the school uniform by having a national school uniform. My proposed national school uniform would be identical, which ever school a child went to and would so denote that the child had an education, regardless of which school the child went to.