Call me traditionalist, but no.
Pants aren't in our student uniform (yet) but they
are in our teacher uniform. There is only a few teachers who decide to avail themselves of this opportunity, but in the whole school's opinion, they look pretty shit... All the girls at our school accept the uniform (winter {cause I assume it's warm enough for them} and summer) and almost deride the teachers willing to try the "androgynous" option.
'It's archaic that girls should have to wear a dress'
Yeah. BS.
What
is archaic is this thought...
Although most public schools offer a range of options to girls, there are still hundreds of schools around the country that do not.
Research on girls' activity levels and school uniforms showed that girls did less physical activity at recess and lunchtime when they were wearing a dress or skirt as opposed to pants.
Girls deliberately sat out lunchtime games like basketball because they were worried about their skirts flying up, a 2012 study by the University of Wollongong found.
Ok, to start with, obviously the girls of Wollongong are clearly a different make to the ones that inhabit my school, but also, the archaic idea is that the primary idea dominating a male's brain is what lies under a dress. Now, for some obscure members for society, that may be the case, but
they generally abide in dark alley's, not schools. Conversations are so open nowadays, and the quote Cheaper by the Dozen, "Nothing is left to the imagination"...
So at this time, as so many have pointed out,
2018, why is this, for want of a better word, prudishness, so widespread among the female populace of Wollongong (and I assume greater NSW and Australia...)?
The real "traditionalists" are those parents that are closeting children and scaring them out of their wits ends through comments about the "old man on the corner block" ie:
Anthony Jeselnik (
wow he's dark!!!!). Like, in which city does
he live? Anywhere in Australia? Nyet.
But like seriously?
Dr Mergler was inspired to set up Girls Uniform Agenda, which is agitating for pants to be available for all girls, after her own daughter was denied the option.
At <5, the kid is dressing almost entirely off it's mother's standards. So what the HELL is she doing setting up a "Girl's Uniform Agenda" based entirely on her kid's choice's, which are in turn entirely based on the mother's ideas. It is literally just providing the mother with another opportunity of expressing her thoughts/beliefs. This is like 0.01% about the kid.
I fully sympathize with
Queensland mum Lizzy Edwards
Because her kid has a real
reason to forgo the correct uniform.
But seriously... Dr Mergler doesn't have my sympathy. I truly think that this good Doctor is 100% focused on getting her message across, no matter what.