This seems incredibly mean-spirited and unnecessary. Maybe it's my age -- I grew up in a time where short skirts were something we wore until we could finally wear jeans to school because more progressive school admins decided dress codes were stupid. And they are stupid.
The Washington Post reported that Miranda Larkin’s family moved to Florida just eight days before the first day of school. Larkin dressed for classes without realizing that her black skirt was an inch too short for Oakleaf High School’s dress code.
After first period, a teacher flagged her down and said, “Your skirt’s too short.”
The school’s dress code says that female students’ skirts can be no higher than three inches above the knee. Larkin’s was four, so she was sent to the school nurse’s office and told to put on a neon yellow oversized T-shirt and bright red sweatpants emblazoned with the words, “Dress code violation.”
“The school has said this is to embarrass you,” said Miranda to ABC News. “It’s supposed to embarrass you so you don’t do it again.”
Why humiliate students? That just seems authoritarian and wrong, not to mention sexist. I'd love to see statistics on how many boys endure that same punishment. I'm betting not many.
So, is school a place to learn or a place to humiliate kids? Does it really matter if a skirt is four inches above the knee instead of three inches? And is that measured from the top or the bottom of the knee?
I can think of a few t-shirts I'd like to dress that school nurse in.
