Twenty-one girls were sent home from a school in the Midlands last week for wearing short skirts. Stop fussing, says Rachel Kellett, we're old enough to dress ourselves. Tough, says Camille Noriega - rules are rules.
| At the end of the day, you can have 10 GCSEs, all grade A to C, and have a skirt half way up your thighs. |
Rachel Kellett, 14
What has the world come to? Are school uniform skirt lengths really so important? Teenage girls are not nuns and it doesnt affect what they think about world hunger when they wear a short skirt. Its not as if what people wear is connected to their brains.
I dont think adults give young people enough credit these days. Children are maturing much faster, but were not all sex-crazed maniacs. I dont think teachers are used to seeing girls as young as twelve wear make-up and have a boyfriend. Maybe they dont have much confidence in girls who wear short skirts. Maybe they think theyre going to jump into bed with someone.
Of course any adult who has regular contact with children has a moral duty to look out for their well-being, but not to the point where they dictate what they wear. My mother stopped dressing me when I was six. It wasnt as though I started wearing lipstick and heels the second she took her eyes of me.
If pupils want to follow the rules, fine no doubt theyll be forever law-abiding citizens. But I think anyone who really takes responsibility for themselves works out what they think about every issue. Im not promoting anarchy, but I think that anyone with a mind of their own looks at rules and decides which they think are right and which they believe to be a waste of time. At the end of the day, you can have 10 GCSEs, all grade A to C, and have a skirt half way up your thighs. It just proves some rules are silly and pedantic and it doesnt matter if you abide by them or not.
I have no idea why headteachers get so bothered about uniform. Schools arent perfect and headteachers cant be responsible for it all. Anyway, I dont see every female teacher with a skirt down to her knees.
Those who judge only by appearance are too shallow to be bothered to get close enough to someone to find out what theyre like. Headteachers are there to do whats best for the children in the school not whats best for its image. Theyre not always the same thing. Teenagers are worrying about what options they can take and what they need to do in their exams, but headteachers can seem more wrapped up in whether theyre wearing a tie or not.
Its important to manage the standards of a school but they should be based on its academic achievement. Education isnt just about passing exams, but it shouldnt be about pupils appearance either. Sadly, thats the way it seems to be heading.
I know there are some dangerous people out there but I dont think the way to protect us is to lower our skirt lengths. When we leave school, we can do what we like thats when the danger begins. Young people need educational lessons on personal safety something that will stay in our minds forever, not just until were out of uniform.
Camille Noriega, 14
I think standards are important. Some girls take this skirt business too far they roll them up to their elbows and basically they just look like sluts. A good school wants to create a generation of pupils who can find jobs and make a mark in the world, so its good that a headteacher enforces the rules about school uniform. You could argue that theyre just being old-fashioned but, on the other hand, they might think things are better the way they were before. Of course society is moving on, but if pupils are doing things that affect their education and the reputation of the school just because theyre trendy then the headteacher has a right to put his foot down.
If I was a mother and saw a group of scruffy pupils, I would probably think they were unruly and that their teachers couldnt control them. Id also think that their school didnt have very high standards. The school image rests on its doing well in the league tables and being strong in different subjects, but I wouldnt want my daughter to go to a school where pupils dressed like this.
If youre part of a school community, you should listen to the guidelines and follow the rules. Girls in ridiculously short skirts bring down the reputation of the school for the others. Even if its just a few doing it, teachers are going to be harder on everyone else. Weve just got a new uniform at my school. The teachers asked the whole school what they wanted and the whole school was happy with it. Its OK for adults to overrule young people, but when they ask us for ideas they are able to come up with a solution that works for everyone.
Parents who would rather their daughters sit around at home than alter their uniforms might respect teenagers opinions but theyre failing to draw the line. Theres a lack of morals here and I would say theyre going about parenthood the wrong way. Parents have to show you cant get away with it.
I think there is a need to have a review of uniforms in many schools. Teachers should find out what girls have to say about them rather than knowing nothing about how they are going to feel or why short skirts are popular in the first place.
But if you really want to go somewhere in life, you know its whats inside that counts. I know that its working hard thats going to give me independence and the ignorant girls who might tease people like me put appearance before common sense. If they want to waste their time and have a nowhere life, theyre going the right way about it. Theyll end up having to rely on the dole.
About the team
Interviews by Stuart Fletcher, 16, and Rachel Kellett, 14. This article was published in the Independent on Sunday.
