Should skirt length matter in secondary schools?

[Holdonforsummer]

My daughter is 15 and in Year 10, she attends an all-girls comprehensive secondary school and they are obsessed with the girls’ skirt length. The skirt is like a tartan kilt and is supposed to be ‘on the knee’ but most of the girls roll their skirts to make them a bit shorter (think mid-thigh). I’m a bit on the fence about this but her school go on and on and on about it. They stop girls all the time, give detentions for short skirts, have assemblies about it, and have even been known to measure skirts and give girls long ones from the list property cupboard to wear instead. Yesterday, my daughter had just finished 5 hours of mock exams in 28 degrees and was walking home - outside school property - and was stopped by a teacher threatening detention even though she had left school. She came home furious and fed up of the whole thing. I can’t decide whether the girls just need to toe the line or whether behaviour from the school is bordering on a sexist, misogynistic obsession. YABU: the pupils need to obey the skirt rules, YANBU: The school should calm down and stop obsessing about skirt length.

Yep, that’s DEFINITELY what’s happening here.

Their parents probably don't know ,i used ti walk past a,teenage girl every day a few years back when my now 18 year old was at primary school
Her parents would drop her off at the bottom of the road and as soon as they were out of sight she took her Hijab ,off rolled her skirt up and put some make up on

@raffegiraffe curious to know what your son wears to school. Is a tie part of the uniform? That would be a symbol of his standing in the male hiearchy. Or perhaps he wears very short shorts, so short his 'bits' hang out for every paedo in the area to get their jollies whilst he walks to school.

Because by your reckoning it's fine for young girls so it must also be fine for boys to display their nether regions too.

Yep, reaction formation, possible repressed identification and voyeuristic moralism.

You’ve got me banged to rights @raffegiraffe , sorry I mean @PinkAndLelow ….

I work with paedos. Guess what? It's not the clothes or skirts that attract them. Jeez you are dumb. I can't anymore.

Rolled up skirts and black knee high socks seems to be the uniform du jour where I live.

How has it gone from mid thigh length skirts to arses being on show (never seen it) to walking into school naked?

It hasn’t

The fact you haven't taught your daughter anything about dressing appropriately for setting shows you've failed as a parent. People would judge her older brother if he was sagging his trousers. A 14 year old should not be showing off her underwear at school

She rolls her skirt. With knickers and tights underneath. It's a non issue for me. I care far more about other things. I'm a very good parent, just not the same as you. I don't slag people off that I don't know who don't agree with me either. Hope you are teaching your kids to be better than you

Shame on her then for dressing like that at school. All my kids dress appropriately for school. My son dressed smartly, my daughters wore their skirts sensibly and abided by the school rules and didn't roll up their skirts.

If DS started sagging at school or DDs wore their skirts too short I'd have a word with them and wouldn't be pleased. I wouldn't just blatantly allow it and be like "they can show them off if the y want to at school"

Yup. It's not just a "race to the bottom" but can go beyond...

Mid-thigh is literally what we aspire to in the school I work at.
It used to be strictly policed, and I would occasionally notice a girl whose bag had pulled her skirt up, and when I told them, they'd sort it.

Lately, the girls have got obsessed with this idea that anyone who asks them to lengthen the skirt is a pervert. They do wear them specifically with pants on display, a look that they actually study in textiles (sixties fashion). The school seemed to stop sanctions for a while, and it felt like it was just me. The girls quote their mums "you shouldn't be looking at my bum miss". It doesn't seem to occur to them that those who enjoy seeing their backsides are unlikely to ask them to cover them up.
The topgirls police the other girls' skirts. Anyone with more than an inch of thigh covered gets called a "nun" and harassed mercilessly until they conform or switch to trousers.
Outside of school they walk around in their knickers. They call them shorts, but they are a single layer of fabric in "full-brief" style.
If teachers should be focused on teaching then pupils should be equally focused on learning, not on their clothes. It's the girls that are obsessed. They're not liberated. There is no individuality. Some of them look like Upsy-Daisy, others like they forgot to finish dressing.

'Outside of school they walk around in their knickers. They call them shorts, but they are a single layer of fabric in "full-brief" style.'

They don't walk round in knickers. No matter how short shorts are they are absolutely distinguishable from underwear.

'If teachers should be focused on teaching then pupils should be equally focused on learning, not on their clothes'

But students can be focused on learning regardless of what they wear. Teachers should teach and not concern themselves with skirts.

I agree with the concept of uniform for under 16s but hate the skirt thing, so glad my youngest Dd finished year 11 this week so I never have to deal with this skirt length issue ever again!!

Think that 60s look you are referring to was called Baby Doll and really only worn by the models and actresses, not so much everyday women. Remember having a pajama set like it as a child.
It's winter here in New Zealand atm at I see the young girls walking around with about 3 inches of skirt and a crop top and all I can think is "aren't you cold"?

Yes and no.

No because all this measuring with a ruler or threats outside of school or shaming or “distracting the boys” is absolute time wasting bullshit.

Yes , because at some point(and that is easy to see visually , no need for a fucking ruler) it does become impractical . They can’t go up the stairs without holding their skirt with their hand (particularly in the kilt type), much less run and muck about , or go up on the stage for a presentation and plenty of other things. They’re limiting their own freedom.There’s also a lot of peer pressure to do it. While not necessarily mean or nasty , there is pressure to conform and be like everyone else when there’s absolutely no need for it.

So when a teacher says okay you lot, unroll those skirts it's time wasting but when Ellie and Evie say hey you roll your skirt up, you nuns, that's not a waste of time? And note that if the girls didn't roll the skirt up the teachers wouldn't have to ask them to unroll them so it's all down to the kids.

You can't see the "shorts" I'm referring to. Maybe you would agree with the girls they are shorts. To me, it's inappropriate and disrespectful, whatever you call them. But you are all bombarded with these images by the creepy men who run the internet and you can't see your own oppression.

'But you are all bombarded with these images by the creepy men who run the internet and you can't see your own oppression'

I'm not oppressed, quite the opposite. I do not believe that school girls have to kowtow to bossy teachers regarding their clothing, it isn't their job, they should teach. College and uni tutors do not concern themselves with clothing.

They all wear suoer5 thick school approved 5000 denier tights so I've no idea how anyone sees their underwear.

They don’t wear any tights here, Bare legs and bare arses.

Nothing has changed

I am in my 70s and as soon as we were out of tunics and in to skirts (3rd form/Year 9) we did exactly the same

Although they were never short enough to show underwear even when bending over!

I do see some skirts that I think are way too short these days

Well that is highly unusual. Mega thick tights are usually the norm lest any poor teacher or poor hormal boy has to control their urges.

Clearly mega thick tights are not the norm everywhere considering the number of posters on here clearly telling you they can see underwear/arse. And the only urge I have to control is the urge to tell these girls to cover their arse and have some self respect.

I remember in the old days older school girls used to wear high heels for school, even <whispers it> shoes that weren't black! I had maroon jesus sandals once. I imagine teachers of today faced with that would need to lie down in a darkened room for a week.