South Korea row over short school skirts

[unreal.livejournal.com]

The trend for short school skirts is well established in Japan

A row over how to respond to ever-shortening school skirts is brewing in South Korea.

A local education board in Gangwon Province has announced plans to place boards in front of all school desks, to make students more "comfortable".
The local assembly in Gangwon is beginning a session on Wednesday during which they will decide whether to approve funding for the refurbishment.
The move will cost around $700,000 (£427,000).

As hemlines in Korean classrooms rise, so it seems does the cost of accommodating them.
Gangwon's Board of Education says it plans to fit boards to the front of 50,000 desks this summer to "help students sit more comfortably in class".

School rules

It is being prompted, at least in part, by the ever-shorter skirts being worn by female students. In one survey, quoted in a local paper, school hemlines have reportedly risen 10-15cm (4-6in) in the last decade. And that is apparently making everyone uncomfortable.

An official from the Education Board told local media that the blocking boards also had the support of teachers - who wanted to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.
They do not however have the support of the Teachers' Federation here, which has put out a statement condemning the refurbishment as a waste of money.
The matter would be much more easily and cheaply resolved, it says, by enforcing the rules on school uniform.

Source: bbc

Comments

[albeitalways.livejournal.com]

The matter would be much more easily and cheaply resolved, it says, by enforcing the rules on school uniform.

i'm sure most schools never thought of that before. srsly.

[rennehollic.livejournal.com]

say what?
I used school uniforme until 9grade, with a short skirt and never made anyone uncomfortable.
just the director of the school that was a complete perve and liked to see the girls crossing their legs, short skirt or not.

[hitsujiga.livejournal.com]

well if kids don't listen and teachers can't look away how do you want to enforce rules?
kids are maybe lacking some discipline recently but hello, look at idols in hotpants and micro skirts and you know what's wrong. they have rolemodels right there. either you allow that freedom of sexiness in your country or you stay conventional.

[kanintallrik.livejournal.com]

dis.

[iamtheliquorr.livejournal.com]

The only time I ever got detention in Catholic school was for being tardy a couple times and for wearing a skirt that was too short

They should get the nuns from my school on that

[jacinthe86.livejournal.com]

Never got detention (school did away with it before I entered) but we had to unpick the skirt's hem to make it 'acceptable' too.....yes was from a Catholic school lol XD

[lovelycanales.livejournal.com]

they look like Japanese high school students

[hyde-my-dreams.livejournal.com]

I was SO confused about why there were boards in front of the desks in school here (in Japan), and we were joking about how it was so the teachers couldn't look up girls skirts...we didn't think that's what they were actually for, lol.

I do have to say that it's really convenient sometimes, though. Easy to check your cell phone discretely, easy to take your shoes off without anyone noticing...LOL

[paper-berries.livejournal.com]

LOL. they really do that? that's kinda hilarious, lmao.

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

How about just get rid of school uniforms (when there is no need to rebel most people will choose an outfit that won't show their undies) or just enforce trousers for everyone regardless the sex?

[ialways-am.livejournal.com]

you mean that's considered short. Oic.

[mahmoodnooni23.livejournal.com]

this

[anconeous.livejournal.com]

I spent 12 years in Catholic school wearing skirts that are mid-shin in length. I always thought Japanese/Korean and even American prep school uniforms were so cute 'cause the skirts were short.

[gigiettu.livejournal.com]

this is my story ;~~~~;

AND I SUFFERED IN CARIBBEAN HEAT

[regnsky.livejournal.com]

Whenever I read about uniform skirts I think about how cold it must be to be a schoolgirl when it's winter.

The Grand Narrative also have an rather long but interesting article about Korean school uniforms over here:
Korean Sociological Image #55: School Uniform Advertisements (http://thegrandnarrative.com/2011/02/02/korean-school-uniforms-advertisements/)

[hillando.livejournal.com]

I would say to get rid of school uniforms in general but that might create issues of cliques based on fashion sense etc.

Enforcing rules seems cheaper but there's no way of saying if it would be effective. Teens tend to do what they want to do regardless of rules. How about a rule to use safety pants underneath? Or tell the girls to sit in a way that their undies aren't exposed?

[jacinthe86.livejournal.com]

Telling them girls won't make a difference. I should know, my classmates and I used to laugh when we were told that....XD

[groovydawg.livejournal.com]

PANTSUITS FOR ALL

[bree-nd.livejournal.com]

What is this news. -_-

My school just punished every student with embarrassment. The girls that wore too-short skirts were lent skirts belonging to the school that ended around the top of the shin - this is considered dorky and therefore no girls would be found dead wearing like that.

After a while, they managed to find a length that was acceptable enough, for both student and teacher - just above the knees.

[hellicoptajuuce.livejournal.com]

why don't the schools just change the rules seriously.
my school's rules on skirts were they had to be below the knee and that's the highest they can go, if any shorter you get sent home to get something more appropriate to wear.

[jela-ow.livejournal.com]

I'm not from Korea but where I'm from, we had to wear school uniforms (skirts) in grade/high school. We had jogging pants for our PE uniform if that makes it better...

[cruel-disorder.livejournal.com]

My high school phased out the kilt altogether so everyone wears black pants now. They tried enforcing skorts to stop students from rolling their kilts up but they were so ugly that nobody bought them and just wore their older siblings' old kilts. Then again even with the kilt the girls had the option of wearing either or. But all pants is probably a better idea in the long run.

[djlancerock.livejournal.com]

lol omg kilt

that's really what it is though

[chraka.livejournal.com]

I've always wanted to wear a school uniform

[jela-ow.livejournal.com]

I hated wearing school uniforms so much before I went to university and I regret it now lol

[phililen3.livejournal.com]

don't let them through the gates with short skirts since they are not following school rules. problem solved.

[bree-nd.livejournal.com]

Then wouldn't that be another problem?
New headlines: School attendance drops due to warring of uniform standards.
Lol.

[x-materialize-x.livejournal.com]

When I studied abroad in Japan, so many girls would roll their skirts up so short that you could see their underwear. Ngl, I was kinda shocked at first, but it was such a regular occurrence that after a few days, seeing panties everywhere was ~normal.

[djlancerock.livejournal.com]

what do they do with all the excess fabric, doesn't it kinda bunch up a lot?

[honeyfunnybunny.livejournal.com]

I wonder what they'll say when they see the university uniforms in Thailand, lmfao.

But I have absolutely no experience in wearing school uniforms, but don't people check the uniforms even though the students have to order and pay for it themselves? :/ but i guess they could just roll it up later.

I used to think school uniforms would be a nice way avoid bullying, even if it's just for a little, cause you can't be judged by what you wear when everybody wears the same thing. /shrug

[jela-ow.livejournal.com]

Why? What are the university uniforms in Thailand like??

[speakoslow.livejournal.com]

I worked at a school uniform store for far too long and constantly saw this. It got so bad that the biggest Catholic highschool here warned all the students that if the short skirts didn't stop this year, next year would mean no more skirts. It worked.

[djlancerock.livejournal.com]

lol, we had that in girl scouts camp with our shorts. yes, they made our shorts pass the fingertip test.

[ryukokoro-oppa.livejournal.com]

At my school (and just about all the school's on island) people would literally go around checking to make sure the uniform especially the skirt length was in check. During the first two weeks I would lose count for how many people were sent home, and by then they just about made it clear and there weren't much problems the rest of the semester.

[djlancerock.livejournal.com]

lol where are you from? sounds a bit like my island. except at my school people would just get written up

[tadaki.livejournal.com]

haha all the rolling i did to my skirts. Those who altered theirs did the whole unzip-and-pull-down so the skirt would be the right length!

Over here we mostly relied on making our shirts longer so the skirt would look shorter. Elastic drawstrings ftw!

Seriously, just use the 4 finger rule. No higher than 4 fingerbreadths above the knee. It's short enough for most girls yet long enough to cover their undies XD

[feel-my-mind.livejournal.com]

At my school, you would get in trouble for a short skirt. Like major trouble. They had to be at your knee or else you get a volition and your parent would have to bring you new clothes. And that was the first time.

Also shorts to short, the wrong kind of oxford and if the shirt under your oxford had a print on it. Basically they were anal bitches.

[djlancerock.livejournal.com]

My school's most anal rule was that shoes had to be 100% black, especially boys' shoes. once I got away with a whole semester of tan shoelaces, somehow. not sure how I did it.