You go to school for TEN HOURS a day??? We do six! That feels horrific for me. I do think that you hear more about the super strict schools more often; about once a year there’ll be a story in the newspaper of a school sending kids home for wearing trainers or something but the vast vast majority of them isn’t like it. And even then once all the parents get riled up they relax anyway. Most people who have a normal school just crack on with it without saying much about it. I just really don’t believe that uniform limits your self expression to the degree you think it does. Like you said your punk friend took an apprenticeship at a tailors, we also have those available. He’d have just gone to it wearing a shirt and blazer 🤣. London is the birth place of the sex pistols after all, it didn’t stop them being punk enough. I dyed my hair black, pink, red and blue through secondary school (age 11-16) and no one ever had an issue with it. For me personally it was great, I never had to worry about whether I’d fit in or not, we all just wore uniform. When I went to college and university, and even now when I go to work, I hate having to pick an outfit instead of just putting on my uniform and getting out the door without a second thought. Outside of a professional setting I don’t care because there’s no rules on what I can or can’t wear, but I still need to look professional at work and I end up with a smart casual uniform of sorts lol.