Teacher Dress Codes: yes or no?

[Marion Morrison]

No, because "dress code" means uniformity, and uniformity sucks. It's a strongarm way to bury individuality, creativity, personal expression and it drops the hammer of authoritarianism.

Or...it forces one to be themselves more in order to stand out as an individual.

You do realize the subject is school, correct?

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

Teachers should wear black, modest clothing. Coats and ties for men, pantsuits or skirts for women.

Students should wear sweatsuits for the duration K-12, with the color indicating grade level, as in martial arts.

Sweatsuits are cheap, any family can afford them.

Hilarious! Let us know when you take the topic seriously.

I've been teaching martial arts for 38 years. The color system provides clear, up-front goals for the students. There is a special pride within each rank.

I wear black in my position as teacher. Wherever I go within the martial arts community, students know my position without question, and they know I am not there to be their "buddy".

Education is not martial arts. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but coats and ties for men and pantsuits or skirts are not user friendly for teachers.

Indeed, but martial arts training is education, and the philosophies could easily be applied to the public education system.

"User friendly". Too funny. As a teacher, I am more concerned with what is effective for training students than what is physically comfortable or currently stylish for their teachers.

You are a martial arts teacher? That means you know nothing about teachers in a school setting.

My wife spent years in one of the better public systems in the country.

Do you teach your class in a suit and tie?

I have on occasion.

 

[BlackSand]

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Pineapple​

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[BlackSand]

...
and they know I am not there to be their "buddy".

Excellent point ... And one of the reasons I support a professional dress code for teachers.

I have helped schools administer computerized testing as a proctor and official testing observer.
This puts me in contact with students, teachers and staff on a professional level but as an outsider.

I simply recognized that teachers who dressed appropriately had better control over their students ...
Those who attempted to be "accepted" over "respected" were also lax in meeting dress code standards.
Their classroom experience and ability to manage behavior effectively suffered.

There surely could be more factors involved ... That was just my observation.


.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Hilarious! Let us know when you take the topic seriously.

I've been teaching martial arts for 38 years. The color system provides clear, up-front goals for the students. There is a special pride within each rank.

I wear black in my position as teacher. Wherever I go within the martial arts community, students know my position without question, and they know I am not there to be their "buddy".

Education is not martial arts. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but coats and ties for men and pantsuits or skirts are not user friendly for teachers.

Indeed, but martial arts training is education, and the philosophies could easily be applied to the public education system.

"User friendly". Too funny. As a teacher, I am more concerned with what is effective for training students than what is physically comfortable or currently stylish for their teachers.

You are a martial arts teacher? That means you know nothing about teachers in a school setting.

My wife spent years in one of the better public systems in the country.

Do you teach your class in a suit and tie?

I have on occasion.

So you did not? That's like saying I washed my car, so now I don't have body odor.

Hypocrite!

 

[Skull Pilot]

No, because "dress code" means uniformity, and uniformity sucks. It's a strongarm way to bury individuality, creativity, personal expression and it drops the hammer of authoritarianism.

Creative people find a way to display their individuality even with a uniform

But you must not be very creative

There is nothing wring with school uniforms if kids want to put on a fashion show they can do it after school

It's got zero to do with "fashion" or "looks" in any way.
It has to do with mind control and authoritarianism. It could be a "required" dress code, a "required" speech code, a "requred" religion, a "requred" cultural anything. When you're dictating robot behaviour, in whatever way, you're suppressing people. Period.

FYI a school by definition is authoritarian and controlling the environment is part of the game.

That said the few hours a day the brats are in school and wearing a uniform will not damage them

 

[Billy_Kinetta]

I've been teaching martial arts for 38 years. The color system provides clear, up-front goals for the students. There is a special pride within each rank.

I wear black in my position as teacher. Wherever I go within the martial arts community, students know my position without question, and they know I am not there to be their "buddy".

Education is not martial arts. I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but coats and ties for men and pantsuits or skirts are not user friendly for teachers.

Indeed, but martial arts training is education, and the philosophies could easily be applied to the public education system.

"User friendly". Too funny. As a teacher, I am more concerned with what is effective for training students than what is physically comfortable or currently stylish for their teachers.

You are a martial arts teacher? That means you know nothing about teachers in a school setting.

My wife spent years in one of the better public systems in the country.

Do you teach your class in a suit and tie?

I have on occasion.

So you did not? That's like saying I washed my car, so now I don't have body odor.

Hypocrite!

Please make sense so that I can respond.

 

[Unkotare]

No, because "dress code" means uniformity, and uniformity sucks. It's a strongarm way to bury individuality, creativity, personal expression and it drops the hammer of authoritarianism.

What an insecure little bundle of fears.

 

[Anathema]

Way too strict!

I worked at a school with that dress code for male teachers. (BTW, what is this "instructor" crap?)

Try wearing long sleeves in a school where the classroom temperature would get into the low 80s because of the antiquated HVAC systems. I hated that school district because the men were expected to adhere to the dress code, but the women were completely ignored when they violated it.

I had to wear sleeves, tie and jacket at my first job. Our building had limited AC to begin with, never mind the quality of it.

I would suggest implementation of a similar dress code for the students.

 

[Pogo]

No, because "dress code" means uniformity, and uniformity sucks. It's a strongarm way to bury individuality, creativity, personal expression and it drops the hammer of authoritarianism.

You'd be amazed at the individuality one can come up with within a uniform

That's true -- it's called rebellion. Given angst one finds ways to resist. I just figure, why put them behind that 8-ball in the first place? It's kind of sadistic.

 

[Pogo]

A friend is going to work in a conservative religious school: no elbows or collarbones visible.

I have always thought teachers' dress requirements should generally meet those of the students.

Teachers should be models of appropriate dress and behavior, as well as instructors.

The poll is easy: yes or no. Let's not hear any snowflake whining. Give us your opinion in a sensible manner.

I vote a resounding yes.

Teachers should dress like authority figures. No one is going to respect them if they dress like the kids

The crucial term there is "authority figure".

A teacher should be a teacher --- not an "authority figure". Authority figures are for the military. A teacher should be offering --- not inflicting -- his or her wisdom. More like a gift than an order. If some student is doing his lesson not because it interests him but because he'll be punished if he doesn't, we've thrown away the whole concept of teaching and what it means.

Which we probably have anyway but just saying -- if we're setting them up to be authority figures then what they're doing is not teaching, but indoctrinating.

A teacher has to set an example. And. Teacher IS an authority figure. That doesn’t mean they have to be despotic. But they have to create an environment where kids can lean. That doesn’t happen in chaos

Sure, of course you keep order and you keep focused. But as you say that doesn't mean despotic. And trying to hammer people in their childhood into cookie-cutter images of each other is where that leads.

The whole idea of mandatory public education only dates from the 19th century and as a structure it's far less about education of anything and far more about a system of social control. A system where we teach people from the earliest age to "know their place". Because a Big State system can't function in a society of free thinkers; it needs the cookie-cutter mass produced robots. Once the System's values have been indoctrinated from the earliest and most impressionable age, it becomes far easier for the System to dictate what the next step is that serves it that week. Especially war. But that's the only reason we ever came up with the idea of teacher as authority figure --- because it's a model that is contrived to produce the servants... rather than the educated. It's there to produce a society of lemmings who will OBEY.

So it starts with forcing the victims to be all alike, to behave all alike, to dress all alike and to be all the same age, all of which ignores and suppresses everything that makes them individuals with individual talents, individual interests and individual potential. Nothing about forcing those victims to look indistinguishable from one another serves any interest of education. It serves only the interests of authoritarian control.

And if one takes these thoughts above, and applies them to the reasoning given in this thread by those advocating for "uniforms" and "authority", it becomes crystal clear that that's exactly what their goal is.

Here's one right above ---

FYI a school by definition is authoritarian and controlling the environment is part of the game.

-- Voilà. Here's a guy who thinks schooling is about authoritarianism, and comes right out and says it. No beating about the bush. He's bought the whole social control model and turns around to flip it like real estate instead of questioning what that model does. Because "school is authoritarian" is the concept he's been sold BY that system, and he doesn't dare question it, because "everybody else thinks so". He's been indoctrinated by the system of indoctrination to defend it.


I would be far more impressed by, and interested in, a teacher who expressed his/her own originality than by/in one who just went along with the dictum "because everybody else does". WAY more. I've never ever been impressed by those who just go with the flow 'because everybody else does'. It's those who refuse to sheep along who actually have something to say. That is a role model. There is a proper example to set. Sure beats the example of "conform because everybody else is doing it".

 

[JakeStarkey]

Pogo does not get it, but that's OK.

This is America. He can home school.

 

[Unkotare]

 

[mgh80]

My district has no dress code for teachers (although teachers can be told to behave more professional). I wish we did because what a few of my peers wear to teach is downright embarrassing.

 

[Pogo]

Pogo does not get it, but that's OK.

This is America. He can home school.

Oh I got it decades ago. Hence the rant defending individual freedom.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Your civil liberties do not trample others in the public forum.

If you don't like that the public school has a student dress code, don't attend.

 

[Pogo]

Your civil liberties do not trample others in the public forum.

If you don't like that the public school has a student dress code, don't attend.

In a perfect world --- even in a better world --- that might actually be an option.

Indeed option is what it's all about, isn't it. I'm in favor of them.

 

[Unkotare]

It is sad to see supposed adults suffering from such severe arrested emotional development. Time to get over the angsty teenager bullshit.

Wearing a shirt and tie won’t crush your tender, sensitive little heart.

 

[JakeStarkey]

You have the option now if you so wish.

 

[Pogo]

You have the option now if you so wish.

Deed I do, and needles to say I exercise it.

But your original question concerns schooling, and that means children.