News you can use: First, Adobe has a deal for students on CS5.5. I know is LOOKS expensive, but it's really quite discounted. Also, Mashable has a great article on Best Practices for Media Companies on Facebook. Finally, at least one Education Ministry office in South Korea has found a novel solution to rising hemlines. Read the article and leave your comment below. Is this the way to handle short skirts? Why or why not? Leave the comment no later than the end of your class period today. Note: When leaving your comment, please remember to use professional language.
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The way South Koreans are handling the "short-skirt dilemma" is definitely A way to handle the situation and possibly a good one but it isn't THE best way to handle it. I don't understand who the boards are going to make more comfortable, the teachers or student? If it comforts the students it is a waste of money because they can just wear longer shorts. If it is to comfort the teachers then I guess it could be okay, but still a waste of major money either way.
ReplyDeleteBrandon Lawrence A Period
I agree with the statement at the end of the article. It WOULD be much easier to just enforce a 'no short skirts' rule. It would not cost over $700,000, so the schools would be saving money.
ReplyDeleteNo, I do not this this is a good way to handle short skirts because it cost to much money, if its for the kids comfort they should just wear longer skirts.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Christine and Brandon. Although this is an okay idea, it is definitely not the best solution, nor the cheapest. Placing boards in front of the student's desks will not (in my opinion) make them more comfortable; it'll only make them feel even more restricted and if anything, uncomfortable. Spending this much money on such a small issue like this isn't necessary. Like Brandon and Jagdeep said, they can just wear longer skirts/shorts or ban it altogether.
ReplyDeleteThe way the South Koreans handled the short skirts was not the best, however, it can work. What's the point of putting boards in front of the school desks? The school board can enforce an easier rule-- like wearing shorts underneath skirts or just overall expanding the school hemlines. Putting boards in front of the desk will just make students feel more confined than they already are at school.
ReplyDeleteBettina Tan
ReplyDeleteI don't see how wearing skirts have to do with sitting comfortably in class. I can sit fine in shorts, so I don't see the problem. If the school cared about the student's opinions, I don't think this is the way to the handle short skirts situation.
South Koreans are handling this issue with plenty of lenience considering the circumstances. While, I would agree it is cost-effective to just have a ban-skirts policy altogether, I believe that this would infringe upon student rights to wear what they wish. The most effective solution at this point would honestly be to do nothing and let the students decide to wear longer skirts in order to accommodate their needs.
ReplyDeleteThough a banning-skirts policy may be beneficial altogether, as with Japan, their love of short skirts have lead to a risque environment, with the schoolgirl in a skirt becoming a major sex symbol in Japan.
For the meantime, I believe that this is a waste of money unless the desks need to be renovated anyway.
I agree that putting up boards around each desk is "a waste of money." I don't think that should even be an option. What if HMHS had to put boards up around each desk here just because people want to "fix" the skirt/shorts problem? Although it's nice that the school wants to adjust for the students, it's not practical to spend $700,000 just to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe length of skirts has become an issue in not only America, but now it has also expanded to SOuth Korea. However, I do not understand their solution to this problem. Putting boards is not the best solution. I am curious as to why they chose to place the boards and spend so much money, instead of simply lowering the hemilies for the skirt. And while the boards will solve the problem for that period, students can still walk around in their short skirts. So it does not completely solve the problem. I think they should ask the students to find out what they think they should do to handle the situation.
ReplyDeletePutting boards in front of desks can be an effective way to go, but there are many other alternatives which are quicker and easier. The students could simply just be asked to wear shorts underneath, or even leggings. That way, the students will feel more comfortable in class. Spending as much as $700,000 on skirts is ridiculous. It can be spent on something way more important.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it would be easier to enforce a school rule about having a certain length skirt instead of placing a board in front of every desk, costing $700,000. That's insane.
ReplyDeleteI think this is the best idea that any South Korean has come up with since Starcraft. Actually, forget what I guess said. I do believe this is a great innovative idea to stomping on the short skirts, or 'shirts', menace that has been plaguing the wandering eyes of teachers everywhere. I mean, why come up with an easy solution to persuade students to wear more appropriate clothing when you can just spend $700,000 to temporarily avoid the problem? It's wonderful. This is something we should innovate at our school also, and soon, students will stop wearing pants all together in no time.
ReplyDeleteSouth Korea's solution is not economically sound. It is a poor investment: spending around $700,000 on a school dress policy is ridiculous. The Gangwon's Board of Education could simply apply Hercules High School's dress code, which is a more fair and less expensive solution to the problem.
ReplyDeleteI don't think using $700,000 to build a board in front of every desk is the best way to deal with the short skirt trend. It is too expensive. Meanwhile, I don't think the school should set up school rules to ban short skirts. I mean wearing short skirts is Japan's (or South Korea's) culture. To deal with the problem of "comfort," I think the school can ask students to wear shorts under their skirts or set a moderate limit to skirt length (maybe 15cm above knee is the maximum shortness). These are cheaper solutions to the problem.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this decision is rash, I think they saw it as their last choice. Even with a dress code students will find a way around them and wear the short skirts. Probably the school tried enforcing a dress code, but there was no effect, students still wore the short skirts. The ultimate solution to the school's dilemma would be to ban skirts, then there would be no problem and the school wouldn't need $700,000 dollars to refurbish the desks.
ReplyDeleteThis decision is not a sensible way to handle the issue. The administration should be putting in more of an effort to enforce the dress code. Spending $700,000 to refurbish the desks is a drastic and unnecessary response to this issue. A harsher dress code and more diligent enforcement would be a much better solution.
ReplyDeleteSouth Korea's solution to their short skirts has unmistakably gone out of hand. The waste of money for boards to be placed in front of every desk is ridiculous. I believe that if you want to solve the problem you have to get it from the source, or what caused the problem in the first place. Instead of trying to cover the problem up, they should fix the length of the shorts. As the article says, " The matter would be much more easily and cheaply resolved, it says, by enforcing the rules on school uniform." as the teachers and I both agree on.
ReplyDeleteWhat is confusing me here is that these short skirts are part of UNIFORMS. The article does not note where the skirts come from, but I assume the school buys them from somewhere and the students buy them? Or at least, someone affiliated with the school approved them. This seems to be a problem with whoever chose the skirts, then, and if the school has a problem with that, they shouldn't have approved it. This is ridiculous. Money for education is little these days; this is absurd.
ReplyDeleteThis is absolutely absurd. Though I do feel the recent classroom interruptions from school site supervisors designed to catch and consequently suspend students (specifically girls) whose skirts or shorts are too short are completely unnecessary, this South Korean school's response is horrible. How on earth does the school allow students to dress in clothing so revealing it has or could create problems for teachers "who wanted to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings." If the skirts are really that short, shouldn't some kind of school policy reinforcement be appropriate?
ReplyDeleteSince when is spending nearly a million dollars to "accommodate" young women rather than simply telling them to wear longer skirts, or not wear them at all, a reasonable decision? The only plausible reason for this ridiculous use of money for me, would be if the girls completely rebelled against the school and refuse to wear longer skirts. I highly doubt that. We can see who wears the pants in this situation, quiet ironically.
ReplyDeleteThis is definately a way to solve the problem of short skirts. The issue educators have is that clothin is distracting. Students have the freedom to wear what they please and it is no longer a distraction. Yes, it does cost money, but if they chose to use their funds in that way then so be it. If they tried to enforce a policy like they do at Hercules there are obviously going to be students who don't like it nor students who will obey the rule. This is a way where they make everyone happy.
ReplyDeleteThe education board is essentially paying $700,000 to make kids feel even more uncomfortable. Placing boards in front of desks to conceal girls' open skirts only emphasizes the idea that there is something to be concealed or concerned about. Yes, open skirts are inappropriate but these skirts are presumably apart of an established UNIFORM, which one can assume that the school chooses and orders. Not only will building boards around desks to hide legs look ridiculous, but it will also make girls feel even more confined. Furthermore, I am completely befuddled as to why, if skirts are such a problem, the school cannot simply require longer skirts or establish a simple punishment policy, rather than spending money from their own funding to PLACE BOARDS AROUND DESKS. The notion itself is just absurd.
ReplyDeleteI believe that South Korea could put $700,000 into better use than to rebuild the desks to help conceal their lady students' areas. The money could be used to help maintain the actual infrastructure of the school and not to help the school girls feel more comfortable. Although the school had good intentions, it would be in the school's better interest to just enforce a stricter dress code.
ReplyDeleteThis is humorous. I like Korea. They're willing to refurbish rather than make it inconvenient for the female students to buy longer skirts. It's their money so the girls are not complaining. If they want to spend their money on something as trivial as clothing, then so be it. Ultimately, schools should stop caring so much about the length of skirts unless people start seeing private areas then one knows it is too much. I like Pinole Valley High's rule: wear underwear.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, if South Korea had nothing better to spend money on, then I would have no problem with this movement. However, with more important matters at hand, such as the earthquake devastation in Japan, the $700k could be spent on more significant issues. While I am supportive of freedom of expression, especially though fashion and art, if there are really that many issues surrounding short skirts then South Korea should just enforce a slightly stricter dress code (nothing as extreme and ridiculous as the dress codes here of course).
ReplyDeleteSouth Korea could definitely put that money towards something far more beneficial to a much larger demographic, but if that's what the school board wants to do then I wouldn't be complaining if I was a girl student. However I would like more information on how the idea for this solution was pitched and decided on. What was the chief concern prompting this idea? All the article states is that it was "making everyone uncomfortable", which was only an inference (cued in context of "apparently") and that the school board "had the support of teachers - who wanted to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings." What misunderstandings? When I think about it, I don't recall being able to see any more of a sitting person's legs at desk then their knees at the very most. So either the desks are really high and the teachers are really short or the teachers are just pulling a peeping Tom.
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's interesting how one statement can set the tone of a piece: "And that is apparently making everyone uncomfortable." Tastes like satire.
Placing boards in front of the students' desks may do the job temporarily, but not permanently. I think school's should have a say to what students wear if it is inappropriate to a great extent. If a student sports vulgar or sexual terms, or show an overly amount of bare skin, then it should be restricted. Ultimately, originality and expression should be supported... and most importantly, the administration should come to an agreement to what is considered inappropriate and what is not.
ReplyDeleteThis is unnecessary. Girls, especially students who must wear uniforms have worn skirts and shorts for years. Why is authority suddenly taking notice of this now? What's the difference between having your legs covered when sitting and showing your legs while standing? Spending a large sum of money to buy meaningless boards to cover ones legs is ridiculous. Instead of spending money on something as absurd as blocking legs.
ReplyDeleteThe choice is not a ideal way to take care of this situation. The administration should be putting in more of an effort to enforce the dress code. Spending $700,000 to remodel the desks is definitely money wasted that could be spent else where. A stricter dress code and more administration enforcement would be a solution to this problem.
ReplyDeleteThis solution could possibly be one of the strangest I have heard yet relating to dress policy in schools. Either South Korea is made of money given that they are willing to spend $7k, or their fashion is simply not negotiable. Implementing a dress code is the easiest way to respond, thus this quite ridiculous. Money in the current world we live in today should be spent wisely, and this solution is nowhere near reasonable.
ReplyDeleteThere should be no reason to spend money on a solution to a simple problem. I would actually argue that is is more offensive to see such short skirts while standing and walking in public because in a classroom setting, students should be focusing on the teacher's instructions. Although it is interesting to see the school board wanting to accommodate for the student's dress, there is a time when adults have the responsibility for their own actions. For instance, if students have had to wear uniforms, whoever designed them should have kept the length at what the administrators would find "comfortable."
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot better use that $700,000 than to spend it to board up the bottom of the student desks. I would actually argue that it is more offensive for students to be wearing short skirts while standing up than sitting down in a desk. While in a classroom setting, students are supposed to be paying attention to the teacher's instruction rather than looking underneath a desk. However, there is a time when the adults need to take responsibility for their actions. In this case, a lot of students wear uniforms to school. If the school board feels that the skirts are getting "uncomfortably" short, they should have required the tailors who make the uniforms to meet their standards.
ReplyDelete