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NO, because I don't want to look at some dude's hairy legs and knarley toes while he's lecturing. Put some decent clothes on, and treat your profession with some respect.
This always comes up in these kinds of threads, that it doesn't matter what you wear. I don't know what sort of pollyanna world some of you live in, but yeah, it does. I don't believe that a doctor coming in to the exam room in a tube top and a miniskirt would engender feelings of "she must be really good at her job." A lawyer appearing in court in a hockey jersey and cargo pants will probably be in contempt, regardless of the degree on his wall.
Looking like a professional is important, and what you choose to wear sends a message to the world and makes a first impression. Of course the culture of the workplace is different for every job, but in the OP's case, even if some other professors dress like they're going to the beach, is that the message he wants to send to his students, his department head, his dean?
I see nothing wrong from what you said here, but my point is, in reality, your opinion hardly matters to them. That's why I said this poll is pointless.
There are a number of "professional" jobs in the society that come with implicit dress code. Doctors, lawyers and teachers are good examples. Very often their job performance hinges upon the reputation from the public, for which you can't ignore the factor of how they dress. (by the way, because the white gown, female docs can wear whatever they want to wear inside, as long as they can handle some creepy male patients' x-ray vision )
However, there are also a number of professional jobs that dress codes are very loosely defined or largely non-existent. Pay a visit to Google or Apple offices. Do you think those who designed the iPhone user-interface worried about what to wear or whether this would look professional to their boss, Mr. Jobbs? Again, I'm sure they probably dressed within the societal norm during their initial a few meetings with the boss (until they demonstrated their professionalism to their boss). Once that is established, they could not care any less about how they dress. Would you frown upon their loose dress code and boycott their product/service because their employees don't dress and look professional? Probably yes, if their public relations officer or the like appears in pajama in a news conference announcing their new product. But no, if you caught some of them in slippers in the office, no matter how many shares of their stock you have.
The point is, you do not need (and not in the position) to evaluate the professionalism of Google employees working in their offices. The same goes to professors. Unless their job functions include interacting with the public, you can't evaluate the professionalism of professors by how they dress, because your evaluation of their dress code hardly counts. I guess it COULD count if the university critically lives on the reputation (like many for-profit-colleges do), but no for most well-established universities. Also, it is possible that as a student you found it bothersome if you had a professor with non-professional attire. You are free to have your opinion like that, but you can't do anything about it.
If your child in high school tells you that a teacher comes and teaches in flip-flop, you could write a letter to the teacher, principal, or superintendent, etc, and you will be heard. But if your adult child in a public state university tells the similar story about a professor teaching in flip-flop, good luck if you try to write a letter.
Back to the OP---hey, if you are a newbie in academe, forget everything I said here. Just wear whatever other professors wear (or maybe more conservatively than them). Period.
If you're concerned about being comfortable in warm weather, wear some lightweight linen pants and a guayabera. If you don't know what a guayabera is, look it up. They've very comfortable, look dressy, and are a very cool item in the male wardrobe. Shorts might be ok once in a while, but not on a steady basis.
I'm a Southern Californian and I've had professors wearing shorts and sandals. My experience is mainly in the sciences. I think I had a math TA who came in barefoot. Most faculty wear long pants (often jeans/khakis) and shoes (sneakers) or a dress, but some, usually older folks, wear a jacket or pantsuit.
Personally, I prefer the casual, comfortable look on faculty.
On the other hand, I hope you aren't in shorts and flip-flops in the lab, even with a lab coat. Cal-OSHA, along with your institution, strongly frowns on this.
I just don't understand this dress code stuff. As long as the teaching is good, I don't care what the prof is wearing. Same goes to CEOs, bank tellers, etc. Facial tattoos, mohawks, tie-dye, backward baseball caps, sweat pants, whatever is fine as long as the job gets done.
Why are people so hung up on what other people are wearing? This obsession with image seems so shallow.
Spoken like a stereotypical Southern Calfornian.
I agree, people do get so hung on image and the old "Clothes make the man" adage but like most things in life, there are exceptions.
If you're a financial planner and you want to deal with my money, then you can't meet me for the first time and have facial tattoos or a mohawk, or gauges.
The same applies if you're a surgeon who is going to operate on me.
NO, because I don't want to look at some dude's hairy legs and knarley toes while he's lecturing. Put some decent clothes on, and treat your profession with some respect.
That was actually my feeling about the shorts and flip flops - less about professionalism than about just imagining some guy wearing that where a lot of people are going to be staring at it for a prolonged time - it's kind of yuck.
NO, because I don't want to look at some dude's hairy legs and knarley toes while he's lecturing. Put some decent clothes on, and treat your profession with some respect.
Does it then become a gender issue? I don't mean that to be argumentative at all. I've been reading the responses on this thread and pondering if it would be different if the professor was female. Would a female professor have more "wiggle room" relative to attire as long as it was within the guidelines of the institution where she is teaching?
I see nothing wrong from what you said here, but my point is, in reality, your opinion hardly matters to them. That's why I said this poll is pointless.
There are a number of "professional" jobs in the society that come with implicit dress code. Doctors, lawyers and teachers are good examples. Very often their job performance hinges upon the reputation from the public, for which you can't ignore the factor of how they dress. (by the way, because the white gown, female docs can wear whatever they want to wear inside, as long as they can handle some creepy male patients' x-ray vision )
However, there are also a number of professional jobs that dress codes are very loosely defined or largely non-existent. Pay a visit to Google or Apple offices. Do you think those who designed the iPhone user-interface worried about what to wear or whether this would look professional to their boss, Mr. Jobbs? Again, I'm sure they probably dressed within the societal norm during their initial a few meetings with the boss (until they demonstrated their professionalism to their boss). Once that is established, they could not care any less about how they dress. Would you frown upon their loose dress code and boycott their product/service because their employees don't dress and look professional? Probably yes, if their public relations officer or the like appears in pajama in a news conference announcing their new product. But no, if you caught some of them in slippers in the office, no matter how many shares of their stock you have.
The point is, you do not need (and not in the position) to evaluate the professionalism of Google employees working in their offices. The same goes to professors. Unless their job functions include interacting with the public, you can't evaluate the professionalism of professors by how they dress, because your evaluation of their dress code hardly counts. I guess it COULD count if the university critically lives on the reputation (like many for-profit-colleges do), but no for most well-established universities. Also, it is possible that as a student you found it bothersome if you had a professor with non-professional attire. You are free to have your opinion like that, but you can't do anything about it.
If your child in high school tells you that a teacher comes and teaches in flip-flop, you could write a letter to the teacher, principal, or superintendent, etc, and you will be heard. But if your adult child in a public state university tells the similar story about a professor teaching in flip-flop, good luck if you try to write a letter.
Back to the OP---hey, if you are a newbie in academe, forget everything I said here. Just wear whatever other professors wear (or maybe more conservatively than them). Period.
It's a fallacy to think that casual attire worn by professors is because they don't care. It's just the opposite. Many schools have dress codes for all employees except professors. What a professor wears is definitely designed to make a statement - it's just not the same statement an accountant makes. A guy in flip flops and shorts is definitely saying something about being egalitarian, non-materialistic, and so on. Likewise, the gender studies professor with the short hair and biker jacket is also saying something, as is the art professor in the round glasses and skinny jeans. The old lit professor in the suit and tie who graduated first in his class from Harvard in 65 is also saying something, and you can bet it's not that he wants to impress his dean. Professors make statements with their clothing, but the statement is unique to their professional image. Professors who don't care or actually don't want to have their clothes noticed that much actually are more likely to fall back on the standard business casual for their area - jeans/khakis and a button down is standard intellectual fare at my school, and you'll see some of those patch-sleeved jackets, too. It's like a uniform. I do business casual myself, mainly because I am so boring that I actually have nothing to say with my clothes. But I admire the lesbian feminist lit lady down the hall that wears the top coat and men's pants.
Does it then become a gender issue? I don't mean that to be argumentative at all. I've been reading the responses on this thread and pondering if it would be different if the professor was female. Would a female professor have more "wiggle room" relative to attire as long as it was within the guidelines of the institution where she is teaching?
I've never seen a female professor wear shorts to work. If anything, women professors tend to dress more formally, since they can run into problems being taken seriously. They make an effort to look professional. Not all, but generally they do more so than men.
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