MINI skirts. They may have been invented back in the 1960s but they are still proving controversial 50 years on.

So it seems at a Worcestershire school, which was considering a trousers-only policy for schoolgirls.

The school wanted to stop some pupils from wearing inappropriately short skirts. This is not an issue isolated to a single school or particular year.

In fact it reminded me of my own schooldays nearly 20 years ago when uniform-altering was just as rampant as today.

Then, there were only two acceptable ways to wear a school tie.

One was to make the fattest end of the tie as short as possible – no more than an inch or two – and tuck the rest out of sight down your shirt.

Otherwise you could wear it back-to-front, long and skinny. Anything else was considered deeply uncool.

As for skirts, some did roll them up to make them shorter.

Although back then the overwhelming trend was for having your skirt skimming the floor.

So we mostly had them pulled uncomfortably down on our hips.

In any case, I was inclined to dismiss the uniform issues at Hanley Castle High School as a storm in a teacup.

Schoolgirls will be schoolgirls.

But there were two interesting points raised by the debate.

One was that the school rejected the trousers-only option after asking the girls what they thought and agreed to bring in their preferred skirt style (straight, not pleated, and just above the knee).

Asking the girls what they thought?

Giving them personal responsibility?

Brownie points all round – especially if it wipes out the pleated mid-calf length style so beloved of school uniform-setters.

That style flatters no one as girls – of all ages – very quickly appreciate.

What I found rather more worrying was the head’s praise for the girls’ mature responses to the survey.

Good for them but if you can’t be immature as a schoolgirl when can you be? Learning to respect school uniform codes is great practice for the real world when you may have to wear clothes that are more appropriate than fashionable.

But surely little rebellions, such as modifying your tie, turning the waistband up on your skirt or slicking on mascara and hoping nobody notices, are an important part of this learning curve? And isn’t it better for teenagers to rebel in the relatively safe environment of school than afterwards?

All I can say is don’t grow up too quickly girls.