I don't know why they (used to?) called them magnet schools.
I was under the impression that a Magnet school was smaller, specialized school usually within another larger HS. This school 'attracted' kids from the whole area, not just the larger school's normal area.
I really didn't hear about them, much in high school. Now that I'm in medical school, many of my class mates attended such schools, and many such schools visit the school every year. Not really a bad thing IMHO, but they usually don't have football or wrestling.
(sorry if you were just joking)
As to the school regulating what their students wear, come on. This is the real world. People descriminate you based upon what you wear.
That is life. Deal with it. I see no problem school applying the rules uniformly to all students. I think it is a terrible thing that parents would tolerate, much less encourage, little johnny to flaunt the rules. Even worse that they would publicly go after the school, "cause he wants to have long hair." I'm not a parent (yet), but I'm going to say that spoiling your brat is bad parenting.
Quite frankly, I love the idea of uniforms (now that I'm out of school, of course). I think it is cheaper (especially compared to all that crap that most kids want) and simpler for most parents, and the school looks better.
Boys and girls are not the same, and we shouldn't act like that is true. It is ok to have boys sports and girls sports.
It isn't social engineering if they are simply re-inforcing the social laws that are already in place.