Too old to wear knee socks to school?

[Lysander]

Fourteen is not too old to wear white socks. I know girls of this age who wear white socks as part of their school uniform. Does this girl have to wear socks outside of school as well? This might be difficult for the child but her mother is the one to decide. Fourteen is still very young.

[Lysander]

Fourteen is not too old to wear white socks. I know girls of this age who wear white socks as part of their school uniform. Does this girl have to wear socks outside of school as well? This might be difficult for the child but her mother is the one to decide. Fourteen is still very young.

I have just added a message to another topic in this forum about a 16 year old girl who does not want to grow up and still wears white socks and children's clothes. What a contrast!

[Guest899]

This girl’s mother deserves great credit for not giving into today’s pressures than mean just because they are teenagers they should start to look like, and start pretending to be adults. Many parents would like their children to dress as children rather than miniature adults, but give into their child’s whims or believe that because everyone else’s children are dressed in a certain manner their children must also. The girl probably isn’t particularly happy she has to remain in socks, but she understands quite rightly she must abide by her parents wishes. By wearing socks those who come into contact with her will know she is regarded as child and will therefore be treated as such. She will find that doing undesirable things like buying and smoking cigarettes are virtually impossible unlike other girls of her age who can pass as being much older.

I couldn't agree more with this post. The girl's mother certainly deserves great credit for not giving in to the usual pressures about clothes for teenagers. Well done her. My daughter attended a convent school where white socks were compulsory up to the end of Year 9 but I deliberately kept her in socks throughout Year 10 so she would work hard for her GCSEs. I made her wear white socks outside of school as well and I let her put on her first pair of tights a few months before her seventeenth birthday. Thereafter, if she misbehaved she spent a weekend in white socks to remind her that if she insisted on behaving like a child she would be dressed like one. She grew up to be a a charming young lady and I have no regrets about my strictness.

[Ex Teacher]

Parents do have a right to dress their kids the way they want but sending a 14 year old girl to school in white knee socks when all her mates are wearing tights is not good. I know from experience that girls or boys who are made to dress differently from their classmates are teased and bullied and life can be hell for them.

Even if this girl isn't teased and bullied I would not send her to school in socks. If her mother feels strongly about not letting her daughter wear tights then she could make her wear socks outside of school but let her wear tights for schoolwear. Alternatively, let her move her daughter to a school where girls of this age still have to wear socks.

[Guest]

There can be questionable motives for why a parent make would make their daughter, who is approaching adulthood, wear white socks. It could be an indicator of abuse. Anne Nolan has recently published an autobiography (Anne’s Story) in which she mentions the abuse she suffered from her father. She tells of her father treating her like a little girl and not allowing her to wear tights. She left school in 1966, so the fact she has written about it some 40 years later, indicates the mark it has left on her. The link below has an interview with Anne Nolan and makes interesting reading.

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/the-sad--song-of--anne--nolan-1343569.html

[Ex Teacher]

There can be questionable motives for why a parent make would make their daughter, who is approaching adulthood, wear white socks. It could be an indicator of abuse. Anne Nolan has recently published an autobiography (Anne’s Story) in which she mentions the abuse she suffered from her father. She tells of her father treating her like a little girl and not allowing her to wear tights. She left school in 1966, so the fact she has written about it some 40 years later, indicates the mark it has left on her. The link below has an interview with Anne Nolan and makes interesting reading.

http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/books/the-sad--song-of--anne--nolan-1343569.html

I have just read this link abut Anne Nolan being kept in white socks by her father whilst other girls in her class wore tights. It is a sad and sorry tale as she was sexually abused by her father and I assume he kept her in white socks to make her less appealing to boys. Everyone would agree that this was totally wrong and a horribly cruel thing to do to a young teenage girl. However this topic has nothing to do with child abuse and is about whether parents have the right to keep their daughters dressed in a childish fashion.

As I said in my previous post it would be wrong to keep a girl in white socks if all her classmates are in tights because of the humiliation she could suffer. This said, if the mother feels so strongly about it then she could keep her daughter in socks out of school. There are still schools in the UK where 14 and 15 year old girls wear white socks as part of their uniform so in principle I see nothing wrong in girls of this age wearing them. It all depends on the circumstances.

[Elenwhit]

I do not allow my daughter to wear tights. A skirt and socks are totally suitable for girls of school age.

My daughter is 15 (will be 16 in September) and still wears white socks for school - white knee socks in the winter and white ankle socks in the summer. I certainly do not think 14 or 15 is too old for a girl to be still wearing socks. I wore them for school until I was 16 and I plan to keep my daughter in them until this age. Parents have every right to decide on how their children should be dressed.

Personally, if keeping my 15 year old daughter in white socks discourages her from mixing with boys and concentrating on her schoolwork then I am all for it. This is not the main reason she wears socks. Children should not be allowed to grow up too fast and then regretting later in life that they did not spend enough time on their studies and were allowed too much freedom. It is not fashionable to say this but a 15 year old is still very immature and needs parental discipline and guidance. And I am not just referring to girls. It would be better if boys remained in short trousers until they were in their teens as was once the case.

[Robbie Shorts]

Not sure whether teenage girls wearing white socks and teenage boys wearing short trousers would have much effect on academic performance and general behaviour.

I wore short grey trousers until the end of third form at my boys grammar school in the late 1960s by which time I was almost 15. I continued to wear grey corduroy shorts and grey knee socks for scouts for a further two years. The girls in the local convent school all wore white socks until the end of fifth form when they would have been 16+, and only sixth formers were allowed tights or stockings.

Halcyon days which we are unlikely to see repeated.

[Nexus]

Not sure whether teenage girls wearing white socks and teenage boys wearing short trousers would have much effect on academic performance and general behaviour.

I wore short grey trousers until the end of third form at my boys grammar school in the late 1960s by which time I was almost 15. I continued to wear grey corduroy shorts and grey knee socks for scouts for a further two years. The girls in the local convent school all wore white socks until the end of fifth form when they would have been 16+, and only sixth formers were allowed tights or stockings.

Halcyon days which we are unlikely to see repeated.

I was brought up in New Zealand in the seventies and wore short trousers for school until I was 18 and a blazer and cap. My younger sister wore white socks until she was 17. NZ schools had strict uniforms at that time and lots of boys had to wear shorts and girls white socks to their late teenage years. I preferred shorts to longs and wore them out of school as well but my sister wanted tights when she reached 16 and used to argue with our parents because they made her wear socks all the time.

[Lucy M]

A girl of 15 or 16 in a traditional school uniform with a pleated skirt and blazer and white knee socks can look extremely smart and attractive. White socks are much better with school uniform than tights. They are also more comfortable particularly when the weather is hot. If I were a headmistress I would have all my girls wear them.

[Helen123]

A girl of 15 or 16 in a traditional school uniform with a pleated skirt and blazer and white knee socks can look extremely smart and attractive. White socks are much better with school uniform than tights. They are also more comfortable particularly when the weather is hot. If I were a headmistress I would have all my girls wear them.

This is the uniform I wore at my girls school in the 70s/80s including white socks until I was 17. I liked wearing uniform and took a pride in my appearance and I would like to see schoolgirls dressed like this today. Wearing socks never bothered me as we all had to wear them but I started becoming self conscious about having to wear them with my uniform for church on Sundays when I was 17. In 6th form we wore tights which I found very uncomfortable and wished I could have stayed in white socks but I was too embarrassed to suggest it to my parents.

[Guest]

At school, it should be the school that decides on matters such as whether girls should wear socks or tights, not the parent. A uniform is there to promote equality so that children are not made to feel inferior to their peers in the school environment, although variations can occur for matters such as the House System, to identify pupils who are prefects or those awarded their sports colours. Likewise schools should not necessarily have the same uniform for all pupils as older pupils could have a different uniform to recognise their seniority. There are numerous schools that have different items of clothing for older pupils and this includes the right for older girls to wear tights or make up.

I would like to see more schools adopt such policies with perhaps only allow tights to be worn by sixth formers, prefects and pupils who have made a positive contribution to the school such as representing the school at a sport, membership of the school orchestra or taken part in some worthwhile charitable project. Such a privilege could also be withdrawn for poor school work, or bad behaviour. It would make it obvious to everyone whether a girl is well behaved and hard working. It would mean the parents of a girl, especially a younger one who was permitted to wear tights, could take pride at their daughter’s achievements. Those older girls who had chosen not to work hard, or misbehave would have to suffer from the sigma of having to wear socks and experience the discomfort of the cold in winter. Such girls would hopefully feel shamed into addressing their poor attitude or behaviour in a positive manner.

[The Colonel]

Does it really matter?

[Amanda_K]

At school, it should be the school that decides on matters such as whether girls should wear socks or tights, not the parent. A uniform is there to promote equality so that children are not made to feel inferior to their peers in the school environment, although variations can occur for matters such as the House System, to identify pupils who are prefects or those awarded their sports colours. Likewise schools should not necessarily have the same uniform for all pupils as older pupils could have a different uniform to recognise their seniority. There are numerous schools that have different items of clothing for older pupils and this includes the right for older girls to wear tights or make up.

I would like to see more schools adopt such policies with perhaps only allow tights to be worn by sixth formers, prefects and pupils who have made a positive contribution to the school such as representing the school at a sport, membership of the school orchestra or taken part in some worthwhile charitable project. Such a privilege could also be withdrawn for poor school work, or bad behaviour. It would make it obvious to everyone whether a girl is well behaved and hard working. It would mean the parents of a girl, especially a younger one who was permitted to wear tights, could take pride at their daughter’s achievements. Those older girls who had chosen not to work hard, or misbehave would have to suffer from the sigma of having to wear socks and experience the discomfort of the cold in winter. Such girls would hopefully feel shamed into addressing their poor attitude or behaviour in a positive manner.

I agree that it should be the school and not the parents that decides the uniform. As you say, the uniform is there to promote equality which is why we use the word “uniform” - the same for all. I also concur with the idea of letting the more senior girls wear tights while the others wear socks but if this means only sixth formers then girls would have to wear socks until they were 16. What would happen to older girls who had to repeat a year before Sixth Form? Would they have to continue to wear socks? This could mean a girl having to stay in socks until she was 17 or 18.

Allowing younger girls the privilege of wearing tights but keeping underperforming or disobedient older girls in socks sounds good in theory but could cause problems. How would a 16 or 17 year feel having to wear white knee socks for school when a girl two or three years her junior wears tights? It could also mean that each year would have some girls in tights and some in socks which contradicts the principle of a uniform. Better to impose mandatory socks say to the end of fifth form and then allow sixth formers tights. Girls with poor academic results or who are badly behaved could be made to repeat a year and thus be in a class of younger girls. There may even be a situation where a girl is put down a year. In either case the girl would have to continue to wear socks for one or more extra years which should act as an incentive to work harder at her studies and to behave herself.

[Kathryn17]

This is getting too complicated. Keep girls in white socks until they leave school. Kathryn