Should ten-year olds be allowed to wear mini skirts to school?

by J.D. Griffioen (Subscribe to J.D. Griffioen's posts) Apr 6th 2006 3:00PM

Categories: Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, Development, Life & Style, Media, Education, Kid Decor & Style

According to Pennsylvania public elementary school principal Claire Miller, girls' skirts must fall below the knees. According to ten-year old Zoe Hinkle, wearing mini skirts to class is an alienable right, a part of her freedom of expression. Her mother agrees: "What could a 9- or 10-year-old wear that would be inappropriate?" said Zoe's mother, Leslie Hinkle. "These skirts have shorts sewn under them. I would never let her wear anything (provocative). She's just dressing fashionably."

Zoe, it seems, in protesting the principal's decision, is nothing less than a budding constitutional scholar in a six-inch skirt and flip-flops: She's convinced about nine of her similarly fashionable friends to join her in a protest outside the school tomorrow. She's even created a placard for the protest, decorated with magic marker and a little glitter: "My sign says, 'Style is Freedom,'" she said, "because freedom of expression is in the Constitution."

I love seeing the kids these days fighting injustice and taking political issues seriously. I weep for the future, but these tears come from pride. Madison, 1967. Kent State, 1970. Streams Elementary School, 2006. You go, Zoe.

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Comments (32)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Karen Walrond 4-06-2006 @ 1:40PM

I think I'm more horrified by the statement: "What could a 9- or 10-year-old wear that would be inappropriate?"

Nice, mom.

Ms Sisyphus 4-06-2006 @ 2:25PM

As someone who has taught grades 5 and 6, I'd say there's plenty a 10 year-old can wear that's inappropriate. I do agree though that the skort does not fall into this category. Micromini? No. A couple inches above the knee? I'd be right out there with my daughter protesting if this kind of idiocy came to our school. Maybe that principal should be more concerned with the quality of her classrooms and less with the hemlines of her students.

Sharon 4-06-2006 @ 2:28PM

Unfortunately, when it comes to fashion and young girls, the rules aren't necessarily clear or fair.
For instance, growing up, my mother wouldn't allow me to wear anything remotely tight or short, simply because I had more meat on my bones than my other two sisters. I wasn't fat, just sort of prematurely curvaceous. I just wanted to fit in with the other kids, and wear the cool fashions that they were wearing. I wasn't trying to look sleazy - how many 9, 10, 11 year olds truly are? My little sister could pull off tight pencil leg jeans and short skirts and not look precocious. My mother seemed to turn her head the other way when she wore these things at the same age I tried to. She really wasn't trying to be unfair, it was just her perception.

My point is that the same exact skirt on three 10 year old girls can have a completely different look. One girl, busty for her age, and having already developed hips, will look provocative to some. Another girl, pencil-thin, will look cute and little girlish in it. Still another, having not yet developed curves, but having terrific fashion sense, can come out looking hip and trendy (which is why all the other girls are trying to pull of the same look regardless of their size). It's just not fair... So, I suppose you can banish the skirts from the school. But they will always find something else...

melinda 4-06-2006 @ 3:08PM

This shouldn't be about expression, it is about policy. The school has rules, and they (mother and child) shouldn't be busting the schools gonads just so the girls can wear short skirts.

How short before the ones who are on their side will draw the line? Like Karen said, it is horrific that the mother could even think to say "What could a 9- or 10-year-old wear that would be inappropriate?"

Ms Sisyphus 4-06-2006 @ 3:14PM

Then why not just ban skirts all together?

Angelica 4-06-2006 @ 3:29PM

I'd worry a bit about that mom...otherwise...let the girls wear whatever the heck they want. It's all about intent. The girls are trying to be fashionable...not whores. There is usually a clear difference. On opinion is based on the person's taste...what is rude or offensive to one is another's dream outfit. The school is trying to impose an opinion. Ummm...I believe that imposing or forcing a specific opinion is the OPPOSITE of freedom.

thordora 4-06-2006 @ 3:31PM

Doesn't look any shorter than some of the skirts I've seen in school uniforms....

but lord, is this what my kids will be fighting for?

Meagan 4-06-2006 @ 4:04PM

Schools have dress codes for one reason only and that is to protect the students. Although I opposed the "fingertip length" rule while growing up, I totally understood it once I started teaching... if children bend over carelessly everyone gets a view. Skirts, skorts, shorts, whatever will look just as cute and still cover everything necessary if they were just a bit longer.

Another (and bigger concern) is that these are still children in an elementary school. Whatever these cool big kids do eventually filters down to the lower grades and then you have first-graders on the playground in microminis and platforms.

ann adams 4-06-2006 @ 4:11PM

Our schools enforce a fingertip rule. Their fingertips with arms at their sides can't go past the skirt hem. Everyone here agrees it's reasonable and it applies to shorts as well as skirts.

They have few other rules as well; none excessive so far.

The girls wear skorts or shorts in warm weather - never short skirts. There is a big difference. They can turn cartwheels in a skort.

Jason 4-06-2006 @ 4:15PM

There's absolutely no way my daughter will ever go to school wearing "a six-inch skirt and flip-flops."

posthipchick 4-06-2006 @ 4:59PM

Two things:

One- When I was in the 6th grade (11 years old), and miniskirts were all the rage, our teacher (male) told us that wearing skirts that short was "a signed and opened invitation to rapists." I do hope that Zoe is not getting that same message.

But Two- That being said, I have seen some of the clothes girls around this age (again, 6th grade is the youngest) wear and it is a lot to look at. My school has a uniform policy that I choose not to enforce, but if I see a girl come in my classroom and I can see her cleavage, I will make her do something about it. You don't want to wear khakis? That's fine. But exposing those D-cups (yes, in 6th grade) is too much for me to look at, let alone the other students in the class.

And yes, becoming a teacher has made me totally old.

mckenna 4-06-2006 @ 5:07PM

No First Amendment right has ever been absolute. The government can put someone in jail or even take their life so long as there is an adequate purpose and procedure before the deprivation.

The comments above list many reasons the school has for the dress code. My view is that the school's main purpose is to educate students, not to be a fashion show. If fashion gets in the way of providing education to the students, I think even uniforms are appropriate. She can wear her skorts after school, to the movies, etc...and express herself all she wants. She's not the first kid to use the First Amd this way, but it bugs me every time I see it. There are so many other issues in this world to put energy into! Way to set priorities.

jenn_mama 4-06-2006 @ 5:47PM

OK, maybe I'm a little prudish, but at 10 years old I would have rather *died* than gone to school wearing anything that short. My friends too. I grew up in Central Florida (read, hot!) and we were not even allowed to wear shorts until a policy change in 11th grade and then both shorts and skirts had to fit the fingertip rule. Very rarely did anyone break that rule, and that was High School. In Elementary, we always wore shorts under our skirts (no matter how long) and even then worried that someone might see our underwear! Where has modesty gone?

cee 4-06-2006 @ 6:53PM

My daughter just turned 10 a couple of days ago. She wears those skirts with the shorts sewn in to school. I don't see anything wrong with her wearing them to school. But if the school said they weren't appropriate she wouldn't wear them. I am sure they have thier reasons. My daughters school does not allow halter tops or spaghetti strap tops. I hate that rule, but a rule is a rule, and as long as she goes to that school, we must follow it. Although my daughter has nothing to *show*, I have seen 10 year old girls that do.

I send my kids to school to learn and to get an education, not to express themselvs with thier style. They can do that at home and away from school. This is a strong argument for uniforms, which I hate.

Caitlin 4-06-2006 @ 7:00PM

We had the knee length rule through out my school career, but it only applied to everyone on non game days. On game days, the cheerleaders were allowed to wear their uniforms for "school spirit". Most of their skirts were the length of micro minis at best. The tops showed quite a bit of stomach as well.

I dislike the knee length rule, because it effectively puts shorts, dresses, and shorter skirts out of reach for girls who are built like me - tall and long legged. There are few things more miserable than sitting in a classroom with only a fan to cool thing down when it's 95+ outside and you're stuck in jeans.

It's really hard to find shorts and skirts that fall below the knees once you get into the junior sizes. I think 2-3 inches above the knee is fine, and will give the taller girls a chance to dress more appropriately on warmer days.

cee 4-06-2006 @ 7:26PM

I forgot to mention. I went to private school my whole academic life and we were not allowed to wear shorts or skirts to school, at all, ever.

But our PE shorts were short by even todays standards. But for PE we were kept seperate from each other. Boys in the gym and girls outside or visa versa. I didn't like it then, but as a parent I think it was a good idea.

suburban misfit 4-06-2006 @ 8:00PM

First, I think you mean "inalienable", and second, rules are rules. If the kid wants them changed, there are procedures to follow. I seriously doubt that her inability to wear a 6-inch skirt (and don't *even* get me started; I'm with Jason) is impinging on her learning in any way.

LS 4-06-2006 @ 10:15PM

Seems to me that Mom should be encouraging little Zoe's "freedom of expression" towards her art classes and her creative writing classes, rather than skirt length. Way to show your daughter that it really *is* all about how you look and not how many brains you have.

Alice 4-07-2006 @ 5:06AM

I�m possibly being prudish and old fashioned (an odd trait in a 21 year old from Kidderminster), but how can mini-skirts be appropriate on a 10 year old, in school or out of it?
Back to the subject at hand, I agree that in hot weather shorts or possibly skorts should be used, but mini-skirts? Why? Individuality and self expression is one thing, but children go to school to learn, not be �fashionable�, which is it would seem what this is about. If the rules of this school are clear, as I believe they are, then they should be respected unless they impede on the education of pupils or are unsafe, and frankly, I don�t see how this rule does that.

That said, when I was in high school I lobbied against out strict uniform policy too, but in our school it was the other way round: the girls fought to be able to wear trousers like the boys, especially in the winter when the weather was freezing.

In any case, I agree with LS; it seems to me that this is showing girls that being fashionable and looking good are more important than learning. I am all for lobbying against blatantly unfair, unsafe or ludicrous rules and restrictions, but seriously; how is not wearing the latest craze (apparently miniskirts with shorts sewn in � which leads to the question of why not just wear shorts or skorts?) going to ruin anybody�s educational experience??

Atom Jester 4-07-2006 @ 8:15AM

Six inches? I've got belt buckles wider than six inches! If this girl's skirt is really that short then all she's wearing is a wide belt.

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