Germans debate pupils' dress code

EXPOSURE: Swimwear models in Germany. With backless T-shirts and bare midriffs all the rage among German students, educators say it is hard to tell whether they are going to school, the beach or the nightclub. 

BY BARRY WHELAN 

 

T-SHIRTS end somewhere high above the midriff, the tops of skimpy underwear are exposed and miniskirts barely cover bare thighs. And these, increasingly, are just the primary schoolchildren. 

Now German education officials are beginning to wonder whether freedom of dress is going too far in schools. 

With the German school system under the microscope after pupils were ranked well behind many other advanced countries in an international study, a debate is raging on whether pupils, and their parents, also need a lesson or two on dress and discipline. 

Helga Akkermann, head teacher of a comprehensive secondary school at Sehnde near Hanover, felt that exposed midriffs, pierced navels and micro-mini skirts were becoming such a distraction in the classroom that she had to act. 

But in a country in which few schools have uniforms or even a dress code, her letter to parents warning that inappropriately dressed pupils could be sent home sparked a national debate. 

The controversy intensified when Willi Lemke, education minister for the northern city of Bremen, claimed pupils were not only poorly dressed, but were lacking discipline and manners. 

Lemke said the introduction of school uniforms would not only stop the “sex bomb” invasion of the classroom but end the destructive rivalry among pupils to wear the latest fashions. 

The debate on school uniforms is not new in Germany, but the view has always held sway that clothing is an expression of personality and children should be free to choose what they wear. There is no legal requirement for schools to impose a dress code. Bild newspaper columnist Franz Josef Wagner, in an open letter to Lemke, spoke for many who oppose school uniforms by writing: “A neatly dressed pupil won't know when the French Revolution was if he hasn't learnt it. Clothing is freedom. Let's use this freedom to open the mind.” 

But with backless T-shirts and bare midriffs all the rage among teenagers this summer, it has become hard to tell whether pupils are going to school, the beach or the nightclub. 

Many teachers are thought to support Akkermann but are remaining silent for fear of appearing reactionary or over-conservative. Some commentators believe that sexily-dressed girl pupils are not only an unnecessary distraction, particularly for younger male teachers, but that there is a link between poor dress and poor performance. 

German pupils were ranked in the bottom third in the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa) study of 32 advanced countries carried out in 2000. 

Educational scientist Christine Brinck, writing in Die Welt newspaper, pointed to schools at Pisa leader Finland as having greater autonomy, while England, which outperformed Germany, is “not only the country of school uniforms but one of hyper-individualism”. 

In England, she said, rules on appropriate dress are “not misunderstood as an attack on personal expression”. 

Brinck said it had also been shown in American cities that performances had improved after rules forbidding certain clothing and jewellery were introduced. 

When “half-naked little girl pupils in thigh shorts and exposed midriffs imitate pop queens like Britney Spears and Christina Aquilera” in the classroom it is hard to argue for personal freedoms, she said, adding: “The heads of the Britney clones do not fill up quicker when they are more naked ...”. 

Meanwhile, Akkermann says she will continue to uphold her stance on what she believes to be proper school wear even though the local state culture ministry asserts that “what pupils wear is their own affair”. 

Akkermann said: “It doesn't have to mean a return to the Middle Ages. But adults must have the courage to speak a clear word.” – dpa