Thomas, a student from Saint Andrew's Secondary School, was
appalled that his school forced secondary three students to wear
shorts to school this year. But his post on Stomp has also
attracted detractors.
Thomas said that they expected to switch from wearing
shorts to long pants when they start secondary three, and so had
already bought long pants from the school bookshop.
In an email to Stomp last week, he complained that the rule was
unreasonable as many of them could not fit into their old shorts
anymore:
"Since the Secondary 2 students in 2009 are seen to be naughty and
not mature enough, they are being forced to wear shorts even when
they are in Secondary 3 in 2010.
"What type of reasoning is this?
"I'm a student from St. Andrew's Secondary currently in Sec 3. I've
already bought my pants from the book shop and now I'm told that I
cannot wear long pants to school as a Sec 3 student like any other
school in Singapore. I have to wear short pants.
"Many of my classmates are also furious because they can't fit into
their school shorts anymore. Are they expecting us to buy a new
pair of shorts again because we can't fit into the current ones
anymore?
"Then when they changed back the rule, what do we do? Throw away
the new pair of shorts? And not all of us can afford to do so
too."
However, other Saint Andrew's students and alumni who read his
post on Stomp retorted that the school had informed them of this
rule before the school holidays.
A forummer, yoshilim wrote, "If I'm not wrong, the school
informed you last year that the Sec 3s will be wearing shorts for a
period of time in 2010. Maybe you were not paying attention and
thought that the school suddenly implemented it?"
Others brought up the fact that at many boys' schools, the
students wear shorts until they graduate.
Some, such as renfred89, supported Thomas' post, "How
could the school pass a sweeping statement like this, saying the
students are immature and naughty?"
When approached by Lianhe Wanbao, Saint Andrew's explained that
it was not a punishment, and they simply wanted to prevent the
students from altering the school uniform.
The school wanted to ensure that the students did not taper
their pants - something students from the previous year were fond
of doing.
They also told Wanbao that wearing long pants to school was a
privilege, and not a right for the students. Some ex-Saint Andrew's
students also posted in Stomp's forum that only secondary four
students wore long pants in the past. Secondary three students
started wearing long pants in the 1990s.
The school spokesperson also said they have been happy with the
students' behaviour in the recent school camp, and will allow them
to wear long pants to school once they have checked that they have
not altered them.
Students who have altered their pants will have to wear shorts
until they buy new pants that adhere to school rules.
http://www.asiaone.com/News/Education/Story/A1Story20100126-194610.html
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