Surely there are more important things that hair colour ?

[Flosshilde]

Originally Posted by P. G. Tipps

As it happens I have a nephew who plays electric guitar but he's currently touring the States with his band. So I won't have to look far but will obviously need to await his return in order to seek his advice.

When you do, why not ask if the self discipline required to play a musical instrument comes from someone telling you to do it or from your own motivation.

Or whether he wore a school uniform, & if he did how did it help him develop self discipline

[P. G. Tipps]

Several issues here.

Apart from his #115, what does this have to do with RB? It was P.G. Tipps who posted the link and it was I who sought to question the point of his doing so ....

The impression was given that the wearing of school uniforms only seemed to engage the eccentric British (and Japanese). The link was not meant to lend support to either side of the argument here merely to demonstrate that RB's assertion was quite false.

Not for the first time you seemed to have missed the only point on offer, ahinton.

[P. G. Tipps]

Or whether he wore a school uniform, & if he did how did it help him develop self discipline

I have a photo of him in his school uniform .... :-)

[ahinton]

I was genuinely surprised to hear that people had a bad experience with school uniforms. Obviously a bit myopic of me. I have given my reasons earlier, but it was a leveller and a God-send, in my and my fellow pupils 'case.

In terms of stifling individuality, I think it might even accelerate it.

I don't see how it could do that, the very notion of a "uniform" implying "all the same" at least in some sense rather than individuality.

And - I pounce (as invited), since the apostrophe should immediately follow "pupils" and not immediately precede "case"!

[ahinton]

The impression was given that the wearing of school uniforms only seemed to engage the eccentric British (and Japanese). The link was not meant to lend support to either side of the argument here merely to demonstrate that RB's assertion was quite false.

I did not take from RB's post that it only engages the Brits but that it does so more than is the case in most other countries - and I would find it hard to disagree with that.

Not for the first time you seemed to have missed the only point on offer, ahinton.

Never mind what you rightly or wrongly perceive that I might have missed; are you seeking to suggest that "the only point on offer" (not that it is clear what that may be) is yours?

[Beef Oven!]

stop do'ting

And that's an instruction to.........

[ahinton]

stop do'ting

Upon whom?

[MrGongGong]

I have a photo of him in his school uniform .... :-)

aaah that's how he learned to play the guitar

[Beef Oven!]

Upon whom?

I've already said, earlier.

[P. G. Tipps]

I did not take from RB's post that it only engages the Brits but that it does so more than is the case in most other countries - and I would find it hard to disagree with that.

Well we would hardly expect you to disagree with RB's post but the link does tend to suggest that a school uniform issue is not entirely unknown in modern Germany. Furthermore, in the comparatively recent Marxist state of the German Democratic Republic uniforms of all kinds were ever-evident.

Never mind what you rightly or wrongly perceive that I might have missed; are you seeking to suggest that "the only point on offer" (not that it is clear what that may be) is yours?

In this case the answer is clearly 'yes' as you specifically queried my point so it is logical to assume that the only point you were interested in at the time was mine.

If not, why ask such a pointless question in the first place?

[Richard Barrett]

merely to demonstrate that RB's assertion was quite false

What I actually said was: in Germany school uniforms are basically unknown, and the same is true of much of Europe, as well as most of the USA. It seems to me to be largely a British obsession, none of which is in any way invalidated by your ingenious Googling of a single news article from eight years ago.

I lived in Germany for most of the period between 2001 and the end of 2013, the latter half with a school-age child, and travelled around the country quite extensively, and I don't remember once seeing a child in school uniform. Just because something was discussed once between the government and the teachers' union in 2006 doesn't mean that it's a live issue for the vast majority of the populace, which in fact it isn't. So, are British people on the whole more "disciplined" in their thinking and behaviour than German people, because they were made to wear identically anachronistic clothing as children? You'd have to be a bit deluded to think so, no?

(edit) ... also, bringing in the DDR does your specious argument no good at all, since school uniforms were not in use there either.

[P. G. Tipps]

aaah that's how he learned to play the guitar

No, Mr GongGong, no ....

BUT ... if he had refused to wear his school uniform he might well have ended up being a classical music composer in Herefordshire ... ?

[P. G. Tipps]

... also, bringing in the DDR does your specious argument no good at all, since school uniforms were not in use there either.

Officially yes ... but the reality may have been somewhat different.

http://blogs.transparent.com/german/school-life-in-germany-the-former-german-democratic-republic/

[Richard Barrett]

but the reality may have been somewhat different.

Straw-clutchers of the world unite! There were no school uniforms in the DDR. There were sports kits like there are everywhere else, and there were the Junge Pioniere which was a sort of communist Scout/Guide organisation, but no school uniforms. I haven't looked at your article but if it says there were school uniforms in the DDR it is mistaken.

[MrGongGong]

No, Mr GongGong, no ....

BUT ... if he had refused to wear his school uniform he might well have ended up being a classical music composer in Herefordshire ... ?

I don't know any of those
so a rather odd comment

give it up
you know it's nonsense

Here's a further thing about this

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/the-headteacher-who-sent-home-152-pupils-in-a-day-explains-why-she-did-it-9847822.html

and from the comments

Besides, sending 152 pupils home in a day is not a sign of success, but of failure, surely?