Teachers of the world: what the hell are you wearing? I’ve spent the past 12 weeks teaching high school, and I can honestly say school fashion has not changed. I remember feeling sorry for my teachers when they would wear turtlenecks all five days of the school week or one of those “hip” crocheted shirts over a t-shirt. If you’re gonna dress badly, do it ironically. (Where dem kitty sweaters at?) Why are you still wearing peasant tops? Whoa! I haven’t seen that hairstyle since 1989!

I took a graduate class called “School and Society” where we discussed reasons as to why teachers are not respected as much as they used to be. Teachers, as we all know, are paid disgustingly less money than the athletes who barely made it out of our classrooms. Surprisingly, teachers remain in the top five careers when people are asked what jobs the world could not live without. So why are we not being paid as much as doctors? It’s probably because society thinks we look bad. (No, really.)

My graduate class, when trying to reason with the information about society’s perceptions, found out that the major difference between a high-paying career, like a doctor, and our teaching profession is our uniform. (Silly, I know.) Like doctors, we go through lots of school, are highly trained in our specialty area and work with difficult people on a daily basis. There is really only one explanation for it—our uniform; doctors have white coats and teachers have…lanyards.

You may be surprised by that statement but rest assured. The only way to pick out a teacher in a crowd of students is to look for keys dangling around their necks from a school-spirited lanyard. (And we can’t seem to teach without the damn things.) Gone are the days of “sexy teacher” in pencil skirts and leather pumps. Teachers now look exhausted, droopy, and plain. We dress up for “important” days like parent-teacher conferences and settle for jeans the rest of the time. (And “dress up” means khakis and some new-ish tennis shoes.) Schools haven’t caught on that a dress code could put a little professionalism into the work environment. Think about it: even cell phone stores and fast-food restaurants have a dress code.

Why are teachers settling for a sub-par appearance? We often blame our paychecks as the reason for fashion apathy, but I’m starting to blame laziness. Sure, it’s much easier and comfier to throw on a sweatshirt, but you’re making us all look bad. I am dirt poor, yet I make sure I look damn good every single day. (Priorities, yo.) By “damn good,” I simply mean I have heels on my feet, my clothes are ironed and my shirt matches my skirt.  (These legs haven’t worn regular pants in ages.) Once those criteria are met, I might even throw in some bold colors and patterns to spice it up; this shows I’m still observant of pop culture and don’t get my fashion ideas from a 90’s family photo album. Plus, I would look like a kid if I showed up to work in a school mascot t-shirt, and don’t even say, “The gray hair prevents that” because I’m pretty far from that milestone.

It shouldn’t be too much to ask for some actual class in our classrooms. Let’s step it up, fellow teachers, so our students stop feeling bad for us. I can’t do this all by myself. Open up some fashion magazines and stray away from Christopher and Banks’ apple-patterned sweater sets. And for the love of god, please don’t wear a fancy scarf unless you know what you’re doing with it.

-Sometimes Heidi hates dressing up everyday, but she does it anyway.

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