Thursday, July 3, 2008
Professional Dress?
Leanna briefly addressed the question of "professional dress" today, mainly, what is it? Why is it? How should it be? I actually find this topic rather interesting and I find myself thinking and talking about it quite a bit. For me, its a rather difficult decision. It takes me about half an hour and 4 or 5 changes just decide what to wear in the morning or to work (even though I have a uniform) let alone if I had to wear "professional dress." I'm 5'4 (5'5 when I have to write it down) and I'm 22. This is one of the biggest struggles I believe I will have. Due to the fact that I am this short and I don't look particularly old, many people mistake me for a high school student on a regular basis. I think that professional dress will set me apart from the students, and hopefully instill some sort of respect. I think that there needs to be that distinction, especially in the early stages of one's career, and most importantly during one's practicum. I also think that dressing more professionally, that is to say, eliminating jeans and lulu lemons, from work attire will assert a sense of "seriousness" to the students, parents and administration. I'm not necessarily promoting pencil skirts and blouses to all staff, but I believe that a distinction should be made, especially in the case of vertically challenged, “youthful” persons starting their career. Any comments?
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Hi. I like this topic and also think that it is a difficult one: difficult, because it is so entirely personal. There is much to be considered with dress. For instance, there is the way your dress makes you feel, and then there is also the ways your dress makes others feel.
I want to pick up on one part of your post Leighfer, the part about respect. Despite intentions, I don't know if dress in itself instills respect. Many people don't respect police officers, yet they wear uniforms. In fact, many people take offence to their para-military look. Ultimately, I don't think that seriousness is something worn outside the body (although it may be a good start) and I think people know if they are being taken seriously regardless of appearance.
Hello. I agree with Patrick in that dress in itself doesn't necessarily instill respect. While dressing in a suit may garner some initial power over your students (and possibly control), from my own experience, students would have a much more difficult time trying to relate to you and what you are trying to teach them. Like everything, it's such a fine balance. I completely agree with Leighfer in that jeans and the like should be eliminated from professional attire, but I imagine dressing for teaching may be more difficult for women than men, as the standard collared shirt and slacks seems to be the most common.
I agree with Erik when he says that dressing for a school setting might be more difficult for women than it is for men. There are many variables to consider (ie. showing cleavage, too much leg ect) I think those things should be addressed first, and that above all, dress should be appropriate for a school environment.
We also have to think about comfort. As Leanna mentioned in class, there is a lot of kneeling, bending over, and reaching up in the classroom. I think your dress should take these things into consideration also. Comfort is very important.
Just a quick explanation - I think that the word "respect" and what I was trying to express is being analyzed too critically. What I am/was trying to express was not necessarily that dressing "professionally" automatically earns you respect, not at all, respect is something you earn. I understand that. What I was trying to say, I guess, is the cliché "dress for success." In other words, in my position and due to my appearance, to dress more professionally would draw a clear distinction from the students. To some, this may sound harsh, and one might say that we, as teachers, are trying to alleviate that gap. However, one of the most important things in teaching is classroom management, and although a comfortable setting and relationship is desired, the teacher is still an authoritative figure. In my situation, I think that dress will help achieve that first step.
Alison’s point was very interesting. It took working in a high school to really understand how much bending down, walking and standing a teacher does everyday. Blouses, skirts and other ‘business’ attires which some female teachers wear would be particularly hard for me to get used to. I wore short, professional-looking heals the first day I worked as an aid in a classroom – this only resulted in aching feet and blisters. For the rest of the month I wore tennis shoes.
As mentioned before, I believe that a student on their practicum should dress ‘business-like’ their first couple days there. After that, I think you should gage how casual the rest of the faculty (or your host teacher) dress and match that. And never underestimate the power of a comfortable shoe.
This is an interesting, and I believe complicated subject. A friend of mine has the same concerns as Leigh, and I have talked with my friend at length about it. I agree with Leigh and my friend that for some teachers professional dress can be a way of distinguishing ones self from students; especially for young female teachers who in their everyday lives are mistaken for high schoolers.
I'm still undecided about how "professionally" I will dress. I think that a three piece suit is a little overboard, but I also believe that if I have to wear a collared shirt to go golfing that I should wear one to my job where I am expecting the respect of other faculty and my students. To each their own!!!!
I noticed at my school the principal always wore suits; one of the two vice principals always wore dress shirts, the other vice principal wore casual clothes. Most experienced teachers wore casual clothes. New student-teachers wore casual formal clothes. I guess that would be the proven dress code at school. If you firmly believe that one day you'll be the principal, go for the three-piece ;)
Well I definitely second Courtney's comfortable shoe comment as teachers are (or should be) on their feet for much of the school day; whether it is standing in front of the class talking/lecturing, or walking from student to student making sure they understand and are doing the work set out for them.
I do agree with Sean as well that the business suit is a little too much for most people (although for the admin team I think that shows the separation necessary as they are the leaders of the school in a much more 'business' sense), but that there should be a difference between what you would wear to the during the weekend or hanging out with friends to what you wear to work.
On a personal note, I don't "get" the Lulu pant for work/out in public thing...are they not meant for yoga and the gym?? Pants - and shirts for that matter - just shouldn't be that tight while you are working in a professional career unless you are in a bike race or doing some sort of athletics...not, in my mind, something appropriate for a teacher. I think for me it's going to be smart-casual.
Personally, I don’t think teachers can ever go wrong if they just stick to wearing modest, inoffensive, comfortable clothing. I think having a professional aura stems at least as much from your politeness and speech as it does from your dress, so I don’t think these aspects of behaviour can be underestimated.
Having said that, I’m trying to think of an example of a teacher I had who had a professional manner yet who didn’t dress nicely and I can’t. I think the two usually go together….which leads me to think that the essential underlying element is respect.
Even though I believe that there is a wide range of modest, inoffensive, comfortable clothing, I do think the choices we make in clothing should be different than those that students make. There needs to be a distinction that reflects our professionalism.
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