I have always thought that private schools were religious oriented and in some small cases sports oriented. The public schools in Canada are among the world best, so no need to be concerned. Uniforms destroy individuality.
http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsid...t/sf011210.htm
Scroll down a bit for country rankings

Indifferent to uniforms myself - but to say they destroy individuality is a bit of a stretch when kids end up wearing a de-facto uniform anyway. Teenagers love to conform (within their own peer group), and Canadian ones are certainly not an exception. Maybe it's different where you live, but Canadian youth doesn't seem to have any counter cultures or subversiveness about it at all where I am. They all blend into one homogeneous set of sports branded boringness.

but they get the choice, that is the difference.

Yes - I agree with you on that.

I have heard the perspective presented to me by other UK ex pats(not on this site) who mentioned that the reason for uniforms is so that kids will not get caught up in judging others by the name of their clothing brands. I see and understand this concern, but I feel it is less of one in most places in NA and that eventually the individuals personality will trump the appearance of wealth in the family. A good kid from less than ideal circumstances will have the opportunity to to move up in their social status. I am a prime example of someone who has moved within the income brackets between the parent and child generation.

That is the argument for uniforms. The other one is that it's instantly obvious if you are bunking off or not.

Without any context of your previous posts, sarcasm doesn't really work on the forum.

No, you are right. Sarcasm just doesn't work at all - I don't know why so many bother with it.

You may also want to look at the quality of teaching in a private school. In BC, private schools are not required to hire certified teachers; although the majority of the teachers will be certified. Also, pay and working conditions in private schools tend to be worse than public schools. Given this, many excellent teachers refuse to work in the private system. When my sister first qualified as an elementary school teacher she was offered a FT job at St. Georges private school in Vancouver. She turned it down in favour of working as a supply teacher in Surrey. It was a risk initally; however in the long run she ended up receiving better pay and better working conditions. She lived in Vancouver at the time. Having said this, I believe that the teaching staff in both the public and private system is good.

Both my husband and I are teachers in BC and we will not be sending our kids to the local private school. Although it ranks well; the quality differential just doesn't justify the cost. If we were still in Britain we would send our kids to a private school! We both teach in the public system and would never consider moving to the private system.

Ok, so it worked there.

My point is, sarcasm is difficult in the written form without context. Almost Canadian's first post on this thread could have been read both ways without knowledge of previous posts/comments.

Pop out here - I was mildly surprised to see what I assumed to be an early Hallowe'en witch and an honest to goodness mohican make their way in for the first day of school (elementary - junior high)... I'm guessing the homogeneity will kick in by Christmas/ high school?

It's all a question of style. Having said that (and having just read this thread), I also assumed A-C was serious in his first post.

Typical bleeding lawyer, I thought to myself.

Where are you?

I spent time volunteering in many high schools throughout Greater Vancouver. Subcultures do indeed exist amongst the youth, at least in high schools here! Some more than others, mind you. I've seen goth/industrial kids with the purple and black hair, the indie rocker hipster kids, the skaters/snowboarders, the hardcore punks, the hip hop/thuggy gangster wannabes... and of course the clones who follow the homogenous trends.

Great - where are the new subcultures? They all existed when I was a kid and I'm not exactly a spring chicken!! Besides, you just confirm my point about conformist kids wearing uniforms - they love them, just not the schools ones.