The Education Wonks
It can go all the way down to the 1st grade. I have a little one who regularly wears mini-skirts to school that barely cover her butt, and if she bends over the whole works is on display. I was going to bring it up to her mother at conference time, but when she came in wearing a too-tight sweater and a skirt every bit as short as her daughters I gave up.
As a male elementary teacher, it's kind of a problem too. She's dressing better now because of the cold, but I've told our counselor that if she starts stripping down again in the spring she's going to have to talk to her for me.
Interestingly, many school dress codes, such as my schools, don't address socks. A few students wear no socks (imitating one of our male 8th grade teachers????) or, lets just say, some are wearing interesting socks, such as the young lady I saw last week on campus sporting black knee length stockings topped with frilly white band (garter?) on top......
As EdWonk notes, WHO is the parent?
I moved from middle school to high school four years ago. My last assignment there was on a team with two men. Because of the potential for dreadful accusations against my male partners, it was my job to try to keep clothing on our young ladies: a thankless task. (They both adamantly refused this responsibility, and even went so far as to declare that they never ever looked right at anybody. Nope, not ever. Nosiree, not them.)
The school policy said that tank tops should be worn under shirts or blouses. When I spoke with a young lady who was wearing a spaghetti-strap top, she became rude and argumentative. Her mother called me that afternoon, quite irate. "That top is my clothing; it covers her whole chest; there's nothing wrong with it, and I don't want you harrassing her any more!"
Another incident involved a young lady who appeared quite a bit older and was more generously endowed than her classmates. She, too, began to dress in skimpt tops, but on her . . . well, it was, shall we say, dramatic. When I spoke with her, she asked why no one seemed to be correcting girls who had a more slender build. I explained that she was "more womanly" than they were, and so she needed to dress to reflect that. She was delighted at this recognition of her maturity, and not only dressed more modestly, but bragged about how I had said that she was nearly a woman.
They never addressed methodology for this when I went to college.
Is this an argument for single gender schools? (see next blog)
I hope graycie has SOME sympathy for her cowardly male colleagues; a false accusation of sexual impropriety is a nightmare situation for a male teacher.
Old Math -- Apparently my tone wasn't clear -- I had (and have) total sympathy for male teachers in schools where the girls dress like they are for sale. It was my job to keep the girls covered because I was the only one who could safely address the issue.
On the other hand, they dealt with male issues such as Why We Bathe Every Day, Public Farting for Fun, and Even Though She's Pretty You Still Can't Touch Her.
While I don't miss middle school, I do miss working with those guys. We were a really good team.
Nothing is creepier than seeing a thong hang out of the top of a middle school girl's pair of jeans. It freaked me out every time I saw it. Same thing with walking by Victoria's Secret in the mall and seeing the 13 year old girls looking at sexy underwear.
The rule at my school was a FOUR-INCH INSEAM. Do you know how short 4 inches is?!?
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