Shorts in school?

Should male students have the right, not privilege, to wear shorts to school?

One prospect of college that I was looking forward to was a new found right being bestowed to me. Non-Uniform. A term that, to boys and girls alike, lust over upon years of being trapped in uniform.

But are there any rules? Shirt and tie; expected. Like the generic businessman, tailored trousers and leather footwear where there too (with an optional outer layer). Yet, there it was, in bolded New Times Roman font, "No shorts allowed, tailored included". Strikingly positioned above the first line of the women's clothing, clearly outlining how they are free to wear breezy skirts whilst the men wear cheap polyester trousers in 30•C heat. Oh the joy.

                                                                        Image Credit: Huffington Post

Though tailored shorts are couched with the whole 'schoolboy with knee high socks stereotype, they still provide a bearable alternative to trousers in the sweltering heat. Earlier this year, 12 year old Chris Whiteshead campaigned for his age mates to be able to wear shorts at school. It may sound rather blasé at first, but the courageous boy wore a skirt to school in an act of social martyrdom. Protesting how girls could wear their skirts or trousers. Finding it discriminatory.

He rallied his classmates, making his voice heard.

"In the summer girl students are allowed to wear skirts but boys are not allowed to wear shorts,' says Chris. 'We think that this discriminates against boys. I will march in a skirt with other boys waving banners and making a lot of noise.

"I will be wearing the skirt at school all day in protest at the uniform policy and addressing the assembly with the student council, wearing a skirt." The aspiring politician hollered in front of a 1,368 strong crowd of pupils.

The extreme measures that a Year 8 pupil goes to just to wear shorts highlights - in all it's sexist glory - that banning males from wearing shorts is just stupid. Surely a guy wearing shorts to school won't lead to a hellish void of darkness and anarchy that completely corrupts the future generation into malevolent beings of pure destruction. Will it? No, of course not. They'll just feel cooler in summer.