"I'm not going to give up, even if I'm six feet under at the end of it."`Policing Sexual Assault', by Jeanne Gregory and Sue Lees, published by Routledge pounds 15.99.. RACHEL KELLETT, 14 What has the world come to? Are school uniform skirt lengths really so important? Teenage girls aren't nuns and it doesn't affect what they think about world hunger when they wear a short skirt. It's not as if what people wear is connected to their brains. I don't think adults give young people enough credit these days. Children are maturing much faster, but we're not all sex-crazed maniacs.

I don't think teachers are used to seeing girls as young as 12 wear make-up and have a boyfriend. Maybe they don't have much confidence in girls who wear short skirts. Maybe they think they're going to jump into bed with someone.Of course any adult who has regular contact with children has a moral duty to look out for their well-being, but not to the point where they dictate what they wear My mother stopped dressing me when I was six. It wasn't as though I started wearing lipstick and heels the second she took her eyes of me.If pupils want to follow the rules, fine - no doubt they'll be forever law-abiding citizens. But I think anyone who really takes responsibility for themselves works out what they think about every issue.

I'm not promoting anarchy, but I think that anyone with a mind of their own looks at rules and decides which they think are right and which they believe to be a waste of time. At the end of the day, you can have 10 GCSEs, all grade A to C, and have a skirt half way up your thighs. It just proves some rules are silly and pedantic and it doesn't matter if you abide by them or not.I have no idea why headteachers get so bothered about uniform. Schools aren't perfect and headteachers can't be responsible for it all. Anyway, I don't see every female teacher with a skirt down to her knees.Those who judge only by appearance are too shallow to get close enough to someone to find out what they're like.