I'm glad my son doesn't have to wear a uniform. Mainly because I had experience with both when I was growing up. I *never* had ostracism for how I dressed, except when I was in uniform. The rules for being cool were very narrow in a uniform. The pleats had to be crisp. The skirt had to be just the right number of inches above the knee. It was way harder for me to conform with the rules when I was in a uniform.

I was one of those kids who could never quite manage to keep their shirt tucked in all the way around, whose knee high white socks never managed to stay at the proper uniform height but instead always slid down into my uniformed brown loafers, whose mother never did hem my skirts - I'm not sure whether that's because she believed in modesty or it just never occurred to her. This was no major problem in the nonuniform world, where I could choose clothing that fit my unique needs. The world is full of children's clothing that didn't need to be tucked.

I was also the type of kid who, confronted with the knowledge that I could fit in if I just got my mom to hem my skirt and ironed it properly, was absolutely determined *never* to hem my skirt. Because if tucking properly meant being liked, and not tucking properly meant being tormented, why would I want to be liked by people who would torment me because my mother never hemmed my skirts and I didn't roll them?

So I spent four years in uniforms being miserable because I wouldn't or couldn't conform to the narrow norms. And nine years in street clothes being relatively well accepted by people dressed all sorts of ways. That has probably influenced my views on the topic.

Perhaps the two schools where I experienced uniform ostracism were unusually rigid in their views of what made for cool uniform wear and what made for dreadfully uncool uniform wear. In which case, my experience would not be generalizable.

Plus.... And this is very important to me.... I would hate to be deprived of a clothing that felt extra nice to be in, or clothing that I felt attractive in, or most importantly of all... my lucky test shirt.