Figure 1.-- Perhaps the most common rule regarding hosiery at prep schools was that children wearing kneesocks should keep them pulled up. Some schools were much more strict about this than others. Notice the boy at the left has socks from a different school. |
Perhaps the most common rule regarding hosiery at prep schools was that children wearing kneesocks should keep them pulled up. While thanls to "Just William" faling kneesocks were kind of a symbol of British schoolboys, falling socks were generally seen as unsightful. Schools varied as to how stringently this was enforced. Some schools were quite strict about it. And we heard "Boy, pull up those socks!" more than once. his was apparently much mre common earlier. Most schools seemed less obsessed with this. The problem was not generally ignored, but often more gentle persuasion was used as far as we noted. Generally it was addressed as more of a larger effort to encourage good grooming. The most effective way of doing this was to use an eslastic garter. This worked well for boys with turn-over-top socks. Most of the boys with turn-over-top stocks that had fallen down simply forgot to put on the garter. Or in a few cases boys didn't like the garters. Boys wearing plain kneesocks had to rely on the elasticizxed tops and these often wore out. Thus keeping their socks pulled up was more of a problem.
An English reader tells us, "You are quite right that preparatory schools were earlier much stricter about keeping one socks pulled up. I can tell you that at my prep school in the 1950s the masters were very strict about such matters. The boy here not only has socks falling down. He also has a half-open zip. In the 1950s of course we had buttons rather than zips. Both these infractions would have been seen as signs of slovenly dressing and would have been met with punishment of some sort or another. And of course we all wore neckties and much shorter haircuts as well."
