|
¡@
On shorts, skirts and military
instructors
By Bih Herng-Dar¡A Su Chien-ling ²¦«í¹F¡AĬˡ¬Â
Sunday, Mar 28, 2010, Page 8
A recent incident involving female students not being allowed to wear shorts at
National Tainan Girls¡¦ Senior High School received a lot of attention. A protest
by the student body against the school caused much excitement in educational
circles. After a lot of publicity, the school quickly held a meeting and used
so-called ¡§democratic methods¡¨ to reach a five-point consensus. While this issue
may seem to have ended happily, the debate surrounding school uniforms is not
over.
First, what do we mean by democratic procedure? Although student representatives
today participate in meetings and decisions, is this true democracy? Adequate
information and discussion are preconditions for democracy, but as gender
awareness in schools is very weak, will the voices of students from gender
minorities such as gay, lesbian and transgender students be heard and respected?
It was decided that students must continue to wear the school uniform when
entering the school and that shorts can only be worn on school grounds, in order
to uphold the school¡¦s reputation. Clearly, the school made a value judgment
connecting shorts to the school¡¦s honor.
The summer uniform for the school is a white shirt and black skirt. The length
of these skirts and shorts are pretty much the same. However, the school
believes skirts represent uprightness and propriety, while shorts represent
exposure. The real difference is that skirts restrict movement more than shorts.
Skirts are preferred over shorts for girls, and have become standard, because
they restrict the mobility of female students.
The school considered shorts a part of the physical education uniform, and
shorts were not allowed outside physical education class. The new regulations
have been relaxed and students are now allowed to wear shorts at the school,
making them a part of the school uniform. The question then arises as to why
there is still a regulation stating that students must wear the school uniform,
but not shorts, when entering the school grounds. This regulation seems to once
again treat shorts as not part of the regular school uniform. This is obviously
contradictory.
Another thing that is hard to understand is that school uniforms for boys, be it
pants, shorts or physical education uniform, have never been so closely linked
to school honor. It is fine for some of our male politicians to wear super-short
shorts and go jogging in public places, so why is it deemed so disturbing to see
girls from National Tainan Girls¡¦ Senior High School wearing shorts ¡X which are
also part of their uniform ¡X outside of school grounds?
The shorts incident was a lesson in school democracy and it will also go down in
the history of gender movements in schools. Unfortunately, the media and
Internet users trivialized and sullied this serious action for gender equality
by saying that the female students were ¡§taking their pants off.¡¨ Also, the
results of the new democratic procedure are limited. We hope that schools will
be able to move beyond discussions about trousers and shorts and engage in more
fundamental dialogue and discussion about the necessity of school uniforms.
This incident also highlights the awkward presence of military instructors on
school campuses, which is another serious issue for school democracy to deal
with. Schools have academic staff, counselors and security guards. Why can¡¦t we
put an end to the practice of also having military instructors, which is a
remnant from Taiwan¡¦s periods of military rule and political tutelage?
Bih Herng-dar is an associate professor at National Taiwan
University. Su Chien-ling is a board member of the Taiwan Gender Equity
Education Association and an associate professor at Ming Chuan University.
¡@
|
