Length of school skirts

The pastoral head who inspects trouser arse tightness is also given to speeches about what goes on in 'the real world of business' in the context of DD's personality.

Fortunately DD isn't intending to work in 'business' and is getting an education for other reasons, so I'm not worrying too much about it.

Personally I do think in general there is a correlation between those schools that manage to have a generally smart cohort and how well those pupils do. But I think it's more to do with the fact that if you have parents who care about how their children are turned out, they are more likely to care about school performance as well. And parental interest is a known factor in how well people do at school. But obviously this only applies across a population level, not on an individual basis

School children need to go work at school dressed formally for work in the same way. Children need to learn that to be taken seriously you have to dress modestly and professionally.

Yeah no man has ever worn tight trousers and no woman has ever worn high heels to work.

Not all jobs are in offices where a certain dress code is common, many many people work in shorts / short skirts / boots / jeans / heels / even a tutu flashing knickers is suitable in some work places.

Oh FGS!

Why do we have to have this discussion again?

I am a man and go to work in an office in the UK dressed professionally and modestly wearing trousers, shirt, jumper or jacket. Social norms mean I do not go to work in an office wearing shorts I would wear on the beach.

Women are perfectly entitled to wear whatever they like outside work but while at work you should wear an acceptably smart and modest choice of clothing.

School children need to go work at school dressed formally for work in the same way. Children need to learn that to be taken seriously you have to dress modestly and professionally.

There is in my observation a high correlation between sloppy uniform enforcement and poor quality education in a school. Even at my children's private school I can easily pick out the serious students and those not taking it seriously by the degree to which they adhere to uniform rules. Girls in particular covered in makeup, midriff skimming blouses and short skirts stand out a mile as not having their priorities oriented in the direction of learning.

Because the worst offenders tend to be year 8-10 girls, and year 9-11 boys. Then the exposing underwear tends to die out. They become more aware.

DD's friend in the trousers is gay. How does that make it not a gender issue, Fleecy?

School is not a serious professional job; it is education. University students manage to become educated while wearing all sorts of things.

Hmmmmmmm personally I don't want to see anyone flashing the flesh (or underwear) at school. Male or female. Don't want to see boys boxers when they wear their trousers under their arses, don't want to see open shirts exposing the chests of either gender, don't want to see girls in pants flashing skirts. Doing any of the above in a serious professional job would impact on your career - which is what school is preparing you for (or trying to anyway).

Also. Teenagers of both genders are full of hormones. It isn't really a gender issue anyway. What about gay teenagers?

mrstwee your wording was very unfortunate, to say the least.

"Schools need to be as near as possible to sex-free. We've got work to do. We don't want to see your knickers, or worse, your intimate parts, and we don't want to see your breasts waving in the breeze. "

The idea that girls are bringing sex into schools is just grim. The expression "breasts flapping in the breeze" sounds really off. Many females don't have large breasts, especially developing schoolgirls. To describe a part of women in such a nasty way, I just really didn't like the way you worded that at all, it all sounds horrible.

Girls sitting at their desks with their legs spread so you can see their vulvas what on earth. But shorts are no good either apparently. Just grim reading.

And if it's not the bloody skirts or trousers, it's the customised tie or top button...
Bloody hate hate having to enforce school uniform. Do like not having to see underwear though

Whirlpool, I don't know. DD's friend told me she was uncomfortable about having to do it, but I don't know if it is boys too.

DD wears a skirt instead to avoid the arse inspection.

They just need to say 'no underwear on display' for both girls and boys don't they? DD wears a short skirt and following her upstairs, I pointed out I could see her knickers and she just said "so?".

Could a male teacher be accused of looking at her bottom when following her up the stairs?

I remember at primary school about 100 years ago having a lesson on how to sit in assembly, so the headmaster wasn't greeted by an array of pants.

Men's clothes are generally better made than women's IME for the same price range, and maybe boys there is the "rough and tumble" aspect as well. Like with girls shoes which are often much more fragile than boys ones.

Could be to do with cut as well. Like I say, I have known men who wore very tight trousers, so it's not unheard of! And I did know a bloke who split his trousers playing pool (hahahahahhahahahahahahaha).

WhirlpoolGalaxyM51 Teachers should not be looking at the bodies of the children they teach in that way

They aren't 'looking'. They're trying to avoid seeing. That's the difference and its why, if pupils are properly covered, there's nothing to avoid and we can all get on with our work without having to address wardrobe issues.

Hmm I've never had to repair boys trousers. Maybe they are made better, or maybe it's just because they tend to be a looser fit to start with? Or maybe I've just never been asked!

Do they check the boys arses in their trousers like that as well almond? Or is it a girls school.

I have worked with some men who wore startlingly tight trousers, and of course at school growth spurts can make trousers snug. It does seem to be female bodies though that cause alarm and despondency. Boy in snug trousers = growth spurt, girl in tight trousers = sexually provocative.

Depressing.

OP, you say "it's like they are blaming the girls for the boys not being able to cope if a skirt is above a knee."

Is this what the uniform guidelines state - that short skirts are distracting to boys? If not, then it is an assumption and not fair on the boys.

If it is simply a matter of being dressed in the manner appropriate to a school ie knickers not showing, then I fully support the school.

That's pretty unusual. I've never been asked to inspect girls trousers.

I've been asked to sew up quite a few however by upset form tutees! Sometimes they do put on a growth spurt and it takes everyone by surprise until they bend over and the trousers rip - maybe it's to stop that? I have wasted many lunch times hastily tacking trouser seats back together - and im crap at sewing! (Science teacher...)

At DD's school they do checks on the girls' trousers. They have to turn around and hold their jumper up so that the pastoral head can check they are not too tight across the bum.

So I don't think girls wearing trousers is going to stop the scrutiny of their bodies and attire by adults.

In my entire teaching career I have never policed, or been asked to police, the wearing of bras or otherwise. Sometimes (often boys) are asked to remove offensive t shirts that show through from under their school shirts, but never bras.
I really do think it is not appropriate to routinely show your boxers/knickers over about the age of 10 however. And I'm not just talking about when they bend over or not sitting proper - but when walking down the corridor as the skirts are rolled that high, or trousers that low. But it's not uniquely a female issue as I say.

Oh, and to clarify, I don't include prepubescent children in the above. What they wear/don't wear doesn't bother me a bit.

I don't think anyone -male or female - should dress in a way that shows their arse, genitals or knickers/pants. Beyond that I don't care but it makes me uncomfortable to see someone's crotch, unless they are in swimwear. It's not a position that I can fully defend (if swimwear is OK why does underwear bother me) but nontheless it does make me deeply uncomfortable. Luckily I mostly encounter teenagers through work and as I work outdoors brambles, nettles and the cold encourage expansive clothing.