Always Uniform

During after-school hours the subways fill with school children.  Some commute alone but most travel in groups, some with three or four kids and some large enough to fill a train car.  This is very typical scene.  Children stand in circles and interact with one another in quiet conversation and occasional giggles.  They are instructed by their schools to interact only with one another.  Every item of clothing is carefully fitted to the child--including their stockings--and issued by the school.  Backpacks and supplies are also issued by the school so that everything is standard.  Each school has a different uniform.  Some have more economical uniforms and relaxed dress codes.  I have noticed again and again that the type of uniform often correlates with the type of behavior the children display in public, for example, how they respond to a crossing guard's instructions.   When a child travels alone, he or she usually does homework or reads a book.