Hey teacher! Leave them kids alone: does a one size fits all school uniform policy do more harm than good?

It’s a fact relayed to me by one of my nursing friends that one of the biggest indicators for oppositional behaviour is strict parenting. I had a relatively strict upbringing, and when I rebelled, it was fairly spectacular. Indeed, I’ve written before about how my father’s unwillingness to let me grow up led to a five year career in the, um, adult entertainment industry and let’s say, an ‘intimate’ piercing, just to get my own back on him telling me I looked like a tart when I got my ears pierced twice. 

It’s a trend I’ve noticed with friends with difficult childhoods who’ve long since left the years of teenage rebellion, and among the kids of friends who’ve adopted more disciplinarian parenting methods. Those with strict parents rebel hard, and those with the strictest are still rebelling well into adulthood.

When my son, aged three or four, started to exhibit…