A Loser's Thoughts on Life

Kilts

My school has uniforms. Yes, we are your typical private school girls with our collared shirts and plaid kilts, except we aren't a private school. We're a Catholic school. but close enough.

So simple math is that kilts + high school girls = kilts being rolled.

Fun fact: my school is actually the last school in the board to still offer kilts as part of the uniform. All the other schools have gotten rid of them.

Perhaps to prove that our school doesn't have to get rid of kilts to have girls dress 'appropriately', our school has been cracking down on kilt lengths lately. Actually, all uniform rules in general. But their approach to this kilt issue is what has been bothering me lately.

See, for some reason my school has decided to take a certain approach to dealing with kilt lengths that I, along with many other girls at my school, do not agree with. Let me give you a little excerpt from one of the many uniform announcements we've heard over the past few days:

"...when worn properly, the kilt is a very elegant piece...when your kilt is worn at a length that makes people around you uncomfortable, it's a problem..."

"I look around this classroom when you stand up for the announcements and some of the kilts are so short that I feel uncomfortable, and I'm sure other people feel uncomfortable..."

And that's only the beginning. You see, there is one major thing that is bothering me about those quotes. It's not the message--I wouldn't say I necesarily agree with the message but I understand it's something the school needs to say. Understandable.

The thing that bothers me is the repition of the phrase 'others feel uncomfortable'. It seems to me that the message is that we need to dress in a certain way to please other people. In a society where we are trying to empower women, I feel like we just took a huge leap in the wrong direction.

As I have said countless times, I will dress how I want to. If that makes you uncomfortable, that's your problem, not mine. That's how you feel, not how I feel, so it's up to you to figure things out for yourself.

If I were the one trying to crack down on this whole kilt thing, I would say something more like this:

Girls, respect yourselves. You are valued, important, and loved, and you don't need to roll your skirt up to your belly button to prove that. In ten years, it's not the length of your skirt that will matter. So prove to people that you are more than just a kilt. Make the first thing that people notice about you your smile, your intelligence, your personality, not your skirt. NOW GO OUT THERE AND LIVE YOUR LIFE

Just kidding.

My point would just be about respecting yourself, not pleasing others.

Another thing: they have also been saying all this stuff about wearing your kilt at a respectable length but they never define what a respectable length is. Everyone could have a different definition of a respectable length, in which case you shouldn't be telling me the length I chose isn't respectable because in my opinion it is. And I am entitled to my own opinion.

Also, I thought the main point of a school's staff was to provide the best education possible. Maybe if they put as much effort into education as they do into our uniform our drop-out rate would be lower and more people would be passing classes, gaining credits, and graduating, hmmm?

Just something to think about.

OH AND GUYS/GIRLS
If you want to know more about this kilt issue, go check out heartrain31259 and Boring_Tings rattles!

Don't know what a rattle is? Well you better go find out!

xoxo Emmalynn