Jeans in the classroom

One of our upcoming online polls will ask the question, “Should teachers wear jeans to work?” I will hit no. I don’t like to see our teachers wearing jeans to work. Go ahead, some of you, and just call me old fashioned. On my blog, in my opinion, I feel that if you want to be treated like a professional, quite simply, it doesn’t hurt to dress like one. Trying to keep a bit of separation between a teacher and the student should be important in terms of classroom management and respect. I am not saying that they should arrive to the classroom in three-piece suits. And, I know, that there are “dress down” days for good school and community causes or casual Fridays. When I was in school, yes - there was more than one room, the clothes in my closet consisted of “school clothes” and the funky ones were to wear afterschool and on week-ends. I have brought this up in general conversation and opinions have varied from, "no jeans should be worn" to "who cares what they were, as long as they can teach". It won’t change the course of the world, but I am sticking to my belief, that while a more office casual look for them, as responsible professionals, may not be considered cool, it does ask for a bit more respect.