I remember years ago, when I was a child, my father was a school teacher. In those days teachers were respected for their wisdom, education, and opinion. They were pillars of society to whom the community looked for guidance. As a result of this respect my father was appointed Town Magistrate.
In my not so humble opinion my father deserved the respect that he was given. He demanded excellence in his classroom and he got it. He exuded confidence. He was respected because he was respectable. He dressed as one of respect should dress. When he was in the classroom he always wore dress clothing. When he met with students and parents, he wore clothing that reflected his professionalism and his demeanor was always respectful to them. People in our town looked up to my father, as I also did. Teachers of that day all acted and dressed similarly. The women teachers wore dress clothing, whether pants suits or dresses, they were always dressed for success.
Fast forward 50 years......I've been observing todays "professional" teachers. These days it is pretty hard to tell the sloppy teen aged students from the sloppy adult teachers. In fact, a few days ago I saw a teacher at one of the local schools who was wearing worn and torn jeans and a t-shirt. Perhaps I am a little old fashioned, but I find it very difficult to respect a teacher who has so little respect for his profession that he or she cannot dress professionally. I find it hard to feel like those teachers, who ask us to respect them, are really very interested in their chosen line of work. At the same time they are verbally demanding respect, they are asking for disrespect by the manor in which they speak, dress, and act. Though their intentions may be proper, their outward appearance does not ask for respect.
This lack of professionalism has pervaded business as well as education. Could you have imagined, 50 years ago, the president of any company coming to work in filthy clothing? Surely things can happen that clothing gets dirty at work, but I find it very hard to take a man or woman seriously who does not take his or her own position seriously. In my opinion, professional people should dress, act, and work as professionals and not as common laborers.
Even truck drivers, heavy machine operators, plumbers and other professionals of yesteryear used to be clean shaven, groomed, and dressed professionally. These days most of them look like unshaven dirty homeless beggars wearing rags.
What happened over the last 50 years to degenerate so far? No wonder our civilization is crumbling.
I agree... we dress for the level of success we will acquire.
ReplyDeleteI also remember a story though a story Napoleon Hill tells of when he met a Henry Ford. He was dressed in common people cloths and did the work of a common man.