Comments on: We Dress Up

By: Heraclitus

Heraclitus — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 16:43:18 +0000

What a refreshing article! It also articulates something that I long felt to be the case but couldn’t quite say why. As a university professor, I always make sure to wear a good dress shirt and slacks to work (and even wear the occasional tie, though only when the mood strikes). I remember in grad school having professors make an ostentatious show of coming to class in a tee-shirt and jeans. Even then I found it phoney and actually condescending (as if saying: “I’m so brilliant I don’t need to dress up for you or anybody”). So, Bravo! to Mr. Farver!

By: DennisM

DennisM — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 15:30:13 +0000

I like the attitude expressed in that article. Often people think that dressing up, especially with a tie or even a suit, is trying to make oneself look important. So they dress casual and think it’s a virtue. But the best reason for dressing well, as given in the article, is to show respect for the other person or group. Thank you for sharing this article with us.

By: Heather

Heather — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 14:08:21 +0000

Very nice. I totally approve of his attitude, the rational for it, and the practice.

Surely the quality of the teacher is more important than the dress, but at least a somewhat formal/professional attire goes with the job.

If not a tie, then the pants and the shirt need to be “spruced up.” And kids should be taught to dress properly – especially from middle school onward.

I don’t see preschool teachers in a tie, but from grade school onwards, it’s refreshing. Especially because, as he says, he is not wearing a tie for the same reason as teachers may have done so 100 years ago – to communicate an unpleasantly stiff, authoritarian, rigid attitude towards the pupils, but because of an attitude that regards the children and his job as important.