to think parent should check the school uniform before deciding a school

[AuntiePickleBottom]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385492/Boy-wears-skirt-school-uniform-row-rule-says-wear-shorts.html

if it was my son, i wouldn't allow him to go to school in a skirt. I think it maybe because i would fear him getting bullied over it.

[AuntiePickleBottom]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1385492/Boy-wears-skirt-school-uniform-row-rule-says-wear-shorts.html

hope this is a clickable link now

[RobF]

Some parents are just idiots.

[cheesesarnie]

i think well done him!

[yousankmybattleship]

Oh dear God! Parents should not encourage their children to make such arses of themselves. Idiots!

[squeakytoy]

I would bet the vast majority of boys that age would NOT want to wear schoolboy shorts!

[activate]

I think he is a uniquely brave child and bravo to him

the world needs people like that!

[Bluemoonrising]

AIBU to think that people should read the news story before commenting?

The ban was put in place just two years ago. The boy is 12.

[Bluemoonrising]

umm... except he has just joined the school.. Move on, nothing to see here!

[ravenAK]

Fantastic. Good lad; I'd be proud of him.

Nice dry response from the Head too .

FWIW, my year 11 tutor group boys threatened to do exactly this last year - they were told that they'd be sent home if they did, & they bottled it (not unreasonably given looming exams).

[Tortoise]

I think it was very brave of him and would be proud of him if he was my Son. It doesn't say his parents encouraged him, sounds like it was his idea and they support that.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

Good luck to him. Why shouldn't he make a stand?

[VivaLeBeaver]

Well his parents maybe didn't think the boy would be that bothered by not being allowed to wear shorts.

He's decided he is bothered and is protesting about it. Good for him for standing up for something and for being confident enough to do it. If he's popular he won't get bullied for it.

I'm not 100% sure he has a point - the school I went to boys couldn't wear shorts and I don't recall anyone feeling so hot that it affected their concentration. How do all the suited and booted business men cope in the summer, they don't wear shorts?

[MayDayChild]

If the girls are allowed cotton summer dresses why aren't boys allowed shorts?
I dO feel sorry for men in summer. Suits could be 3/4 length arms and legs!!!!

[ilovewaldorfandstatler]

i think good on him. i hate that DS's school uniform policy doesn't let them travel to school without a blazer and jumper. it's not that often we have really hot weather where we are, but it was i felt so sorry for them having to walk around in heavy black blazers when the sun was splitting the stones.

if girls can wear trousers in the winter i don't see why boys can't wear shorts if they want.

[Brevity]

Good response from Head teacher!

[MsHighwater]

I note that the HT did not offer an actual reason why banning shorts was rational despite seemingly having the opportunity to do so. Stupid rule, good challenge.

[TheSmallClanger]

My boy students (17-19) are now all wearing shorts. They have declared summer. I do think that it is unfair to allow girls the choice of a skirt, but make boys wear long trousers all year round. Many men who work in offices think the same thing.
In hotter countries, "smart shorts" for men do exist, and are worn commonly by boys in schools. An Australian friend told me that at his school, they had similar rules about shorts length to the ones we have about skirts here.

[Tangle]

YANBU to think the parents should have checked the uniform policy, but YABU to assume that they didn't, to assume the policy in other local schools is different, and to assume the parents had a choice of schools they were happy to send the son to such that they felt deciding on something such as uniform was appropriate.

Something else bugs me about this story, though. This comment from the head: 'I know he wants to go into politics and has got strong principles - so maybe Parliament is not the best place for him.' Is this meant to be tongue in cheek or honest (I am prone to sense of humour failure when tired )? It just seems an incredibly sad reflection on British politics if strong principles are considered a disadvantage.

Other than that, good on him for standing up for what he believed in :)

[bruffin]

I very much doubt there are any secondary schools around nowadays where boys wear or even want to wear uniform shorts.

[WhereYouLeftIt]

MsHighwater, perhaps he did, but the DailyMail deemed it a better story to leave it out?

[PrettyCandles]

It's nothing to do with the parents checking the uniform. And the fact that the ban on shorts had been imposed two years before the boy joined the school is also irrelevant. The boy chose to take a stand over an issue he felt strongly about. He was brave enough to behave uncoventionally and he found a way to demonstrate in an attention-grabbing yet totally legitimate manner. It sounds like the HT did not slap him down, either, but accepted the demonstration. I like the story.

[Chocolocolate]

YABU - the school uniform would come very low on the list of requirements when picking a school.

I wonder what there reasoning is for allowing girls to wear skirts, but not allowing boys to wear shorts?

[ravenAK]

@bruffin - I teach in a secondary school. Not being allowed to wear shorts when the sun's cracking the flags is a perennial moan (especially since girls get to wear skirts.)

Seems entirely reasonable to me that they should be allowed to do so.

[KittySpencer]

Secondary school uniform rules do baffle me sometimes. DS1 has to wear a tie, shirt, long trousers and blazer at all times even in the height of summer (though thankfully he can leave his jumper off...).

I work in a fully air conditioned office, with a formal dress code, due to the professional nature of our work. Despite this, we have official summer dress rules, which include ladies not having to wear tights(!), and men being able to dispense with ties and suit jackets.

It does seem a bit unfair that while we're allowed that, poor schoolchildren are sweating away in blazers and ties - all DSs friends at other schools have to wear theirs too, and none of the schools have aircon, so classrooms must be baking on a hot day.

I'm not sure any of them would wear shorts though, they'd rather be hot! well done to the boy concerned for making a stand. I was similarly quite irritating opinionated as a child, and because our uniform rules didnt say that our skirts or shirts had to be plain, just that they had to be a specific colour, I used to wear ones with patterns (stripes of different shades of the same colour for example). Teachers bloody hated me though they did change the uniform list the next year to state plain coloured in bold!

[SacreLao]

I think well done to him!!

Sorry but if my child wanted to do this to make a stand and had a good reason why I would be so proud and allow it. Why shoot down your kids morals because you worry they will look silly?

If everyone worried about how they looked or what other people thought then some of the important changes we all rely on today would not have happened.