Peter McCallum wrote:

At my daughter's school there's a policy that students must wear the
correct coloured shoelaces, and it's strictly enforced. Obviously
shoelace colour has some bearing on educational outcomes.

Yes, Peter it does. {:-)

By enforcing conformity and brain numbing, your daughter is given the
best chance of being a counter bunny, or burger flipper at Maccas when
she finishes school. This increase the percentage of students that get
jobs after school, which increases the educational standing of her
educational institution (from reading the latest rating system results).