Goodness. What enormous positive life lessons your five correspondents (Letters, 28 September) attribute to the abolition of school uniforms. Are they not aware of the rise of poverty in this country? Of the millions of families who are finding life an enormous struggle? Are they not aware that in our schools we see children arriving not only hungry at the start of the school day, but dirty, unwashed and tired? A uniform is a leveller. With uniforms, children do not have the opportunity to sneer at those whose clothes do not make the cut. Schools often hold stocks of cheap, if not free, second-hand uniforms. With a uniform policy we can allow some dignity to children who can come to school looking more or less like the others, despite their impoverished background. Jude Ragan (teacher) Cheltenham, Gloucestershire As a parent of two, uniforms – relatively cheap and unchanging so easy to hand down – are a godsend. Try buying enough trendy clothes to last a teenager, whose dimensions change on a weekly basis, a month. Bridget Pinto Potters Bar, Hertfordshire