The formerly occupied nations have not, as you assume, kept the old model as-was. The model has been adapted and indigenised over seventy years, and it’s still being tweaked.

It is also not, as you assume, thoughtless. The uniforms do serve a purpose — to eliminate a visible source of disparity between rich and poor students. They certainly do not cause individuality to melt away. Is it not the case that private schools in the West still have uniforms? A side benefit is that it puts students in the habit of dressing smartly, or at least not like slobs.

The same for the regimentation. As one of your colleagues who teaches in the West, I have seen products of both Asian (Chinese, Indian, and others) and Western systems. Broadly speaking, the former find it easier to step down from a more structured and demanding life, while the latter seem to struggle to do college-level work.

The hardest students are the ones who think every testing point is a negotiating opportunity, because they have never been asked to do challenging work under a set of constraints, and it’s a mountain of stress to them. They deserve better than to be subject to the tyranny of low expectations and a soft touch.

We may live in a post-many-things world, but the value of discipline, commitment, resilience, and a real work ethic remain.