Micro-mini Era Tends To Disrupt High Schools

In walks the good-looking hisih school girl and down she sits at her desk. Nothing wrong with that, except that in this era oL and micro-mini skirts, the innocent walk-in-sitdown tends to be somewhat distracting to the average male. Although there have been Eome stirrings over grooming regulations in Ann Arbor high scnools, it is nothing like the furor that has hit high schools in othcr sections: T-sMrts were outlawed in Mandan, N.D., High School. Culottes were 1 i m i t e d to three inches above the knee in Hollywood, Calif. High. The Phoenix, Ariz., high schooJ system ran into a problem with Nehru jackets. Said Mick Herzog, community relations director: "The girl's were wearing them with nothing but pantief on underneath ..." As oí yet, there are no generaJ guidelines for Ann Arbor principáis to follow concerning appearances, and each one pretty much "plays it by ear," according to Supt. W. Scott Westerman Jr. The typical situation is for the offended administrator, and he raay take offense at anytning from long hair to baldn?ss, to suggest that the student clip those locks, slip into something a lot less conspicuous or, in the interests of the educational process, unrat that hair. The only guideline is that of 'good taste." Said Westerman: "We have no specific rules that go into details about how many inches a skirt should be above the knee and so forth. The svandard is administered by the individual principal who usually will counsel students not to wear anything distracting." And that's the ticket: It is up to the individual school. The oiily standard that has been semi-adc'pted is in the "Junior High School Handbook," distributed to all parents and students, and written by Gene Maybee, principal of Tappan Junior High. Under the heading "School Attire," is this paragraph: "We expect all junior high school pupils to dress in good taste. We look upon their altendance in school as a job to be done and we compare their job to that of an adult in the business world where neatness, cleanlmess and good taste are a prerequisite." The question is, really, does the appearance interfere with the educational process? "As long as the type of dress doesn't distract, we don't concern ourselves with it," said William R. Rude, principal at Forsythe Junior High School. "Last year, three boys came in with wild 'ponchos' on, and set off disturbances in their classes. The teacher was having a rough time, so we said that they could wear them the rest of the day, but that it