A heated discussion between students of The St Michael School and Combermere on whether short skirts were actually a distraction to boys.

by CAROL-ANN TUDOR

DO SCHOOL UNIFORMS have anything to do with learning?

That was the question raised by some senior school students in reaction to last Monday's suspension of about 200 students of Garrison Secondary School because
their skirts were too short.

When the WEEKEND NATION canvassed their views after school on Wednesday evening in St Michael, the responses were mixed.

Sixteen-year-old Nyasha Haynes of Springer Memorial said: "To me uniforms have nothing to do with learning. I don't think they should have been sent home. If they were short like netball skirts, then they would have deserved it, but I saw them and they were at least to their knees."

Natalie Young, a 17-year-old of Metropolitan High School agreed, saying she didn't see those uniforms (at the Garrison) as a distraction and the students shouldn't have been sent home.

One 15-year-old St Lucy Secondary girl, who wanted to remain anonymous, said she believed as long as their knees were covered, they should have been kept in school.

A very outspoken Ashley Riley, of The St Michael School, said a school uniform's length in no way determined what one could learn. The 15-year-old queried whether they were in fact new uniforms, and whether the principal Matthew Farley knew whether the parents concerned were in a financial state to purchase another
set of uniforms to meet his standards.

(The principal did send letters to parents warning of suspension if the uniforms did not meet the required standards.)

Akeila Monerville, from Parkinson Memorial, was among those who had another opinion.

"You can learn whether your uniforms are short or long. I see some of them in netball skirts and I wonder where they are going in them. So
they should be sent home if necessary!" she stressed.

Jalisa Baker, 16, of Springer Memorial, agreed: "They deserved it. I'm sure they have been warned before. Why come to school with the same uniforms? I've seen some of these girls in really short uniforms and I too wonder where they are going in them."

She said, however, that the focus was always on the "lower schools", but she had seen many children of schools such as St Michael, Queen's College and Harrison College wearing short and tight uniforms. "They, too, need to be checked," she stated.

And some boys were also on the principal's side.

Sixteen-year-old Omar Griffith of St Lucy Secondary said that the short uniform "looks ridiculous".

"It is like advertising for men. I don't think school girls should go to school looking like that. It brings disgrace on the school," he added.

Kamal Mason, 15, of Combermere, said although children could learn with or without a uniform, he agreed with Farley's action.

"They were duly warned. It is distracting in a co-ed school. Short skirts make it hard for boys to concentrate," he said.

His colleague Chia Strickland, also 15, said she found no reason why the girls had to wear short "dibby-dibby" skirts to school. "It has to be a decent skirt. Pleated skirts blow up all the time, so a short pleated skirt will blow up even faster. They have no right coming to school like that."

Colleague Ché Warner saw a lighter side of things: "Short skirt girls are a part of school. I love them."