Dear Editor
I wish to share with the public an issue which I think needs dire attention and consideration. I recently attended a high school meeting that discussed registration matters for CSEC. At the end of the meeting, a female teacher was addressing the parents about the manner of dress of their children, particularly the wearing of dresses that are below the knee and the wearing of pencil bottom pants. Now I commended the teachers for addressing this issue, as parents need to ensure that their children are properly attired for school and in compliance with the rules of the school.

I commend them for encouraging parents to watch how their children dress and deter them from any inappropriate trends. However, beside me was seated a teacher whose knees were quite visible due to the shortness of her skirt. This has been observed not only in the school environment, but outside of it also. I wanted to raise a question with the teachers and that is: if the wearing of skirts below the knee is so wrong, why do the female teachers wear their skirts so short that when they sit, their knees show? And why do they feel that they are permitted to do so while the younger females are not? Is it because they are adults and so are allowed to dress however they feel or is it because there is something wrong about dressing with the skirt above the knees?

I have spoken with children and they have raised this same point: why do the female teachers tell them not to wear short skirts or makeup or do their hair and yet do the same and why they, as teachers, are not supposed to set the example? Why do male teachers tell students not to curse and yet curse themselves, in the very presence of those students?

There was, and still is, a reason for the implementation of these rules: to teach children to dress and conduct themselves in a decent and respectable manner. A woman who has respect for herself and her body will keep it covered and not flaunt it before the general public for all to see. A person’s body is something that belongs to them and their husbands only, and not even other family members should be exposed to it. It is a wedding gift to her husband. And for her to flaunt it before another who is not her husband is no different than adultery.

In the past, a harlot could be identified from a respectable woman by the way she dressed. She dressed to attract other people’s husbands and single men, using her body. Today, one cannot tell the difference. There are many who claim to be respectable and desire to be respected, but dress no different from harlots. That is not to say that there were not and do not exist wolves in sheep’s clothing: those who dress respectable but yet are within no better than harlots. However, it also cannot be denied that a tree is known by its fruits, and what’s on the inside will show on the outside: a woman who respects herself on the inside will dress in a respectable manner on the outside.

Many women today would argue against this point and some would even be ready to fight to the death over it. And the reason for this is, knowingly or unknowingly, they love to showcase their body before the public.  No, this may be a sensitive statement, but can you flaunt a piece of meat before a jaguar and expect that it will not pounce? Or do you expect to put out honey and not attract ants? So, if a woman dresses in a seductive manner, does she expect that men would not be seducted? Unless that is her intention. And when the men act, the men alone are placed in the wrong? And if the first thing she is going to flaunt is her body, won’t she attract those who are only interested in her body and not those who are interested in a decent woman? One can argue that there are no longer decent men but, at the same time, if there are no decent women, must a man lower his standards of decency to obtain a wife?

Teachers, both male and females alike, and also those outside of the school environment, are leaders and role models for our children and true leaders lead by example; not by command. There is nothing as aggravating as hearing ‘do as I say and not as I do’, even to an adult. It generates feelings of injustice and unfairness that lead to a resentment against the rules and against those that implement it. Students will obey the rules because they are forced to, and abandon them when they can. Or if they are bolder or fed up, rebel against them outright. If they understand the reason for those rules– that they exist to protect them– and see those requiring them implementing them themselves, then they are more likely to submit. I therefore call on teachers and those in the office to dress in a manner that sets an example before the younger generation.

Regards
Concerned citizen