Dressing for the classroom

[repp_fink]

Just remember that whatever you're wearing will inevitably get chalkdust or dry-erase marker on it.

Jeans + tweeds = great. I'd say that the suit is a bit much for the classroom, unless ...


Oh, all right, one exception.

 

[williamson]

Originally Posted by Oleg

...I've never worn a tie nor a suit unless other matters required it (and it usually provoked comments from students and colleagues)...but suits and/or ties on junior academic staff would normally have the wearer labelled as uptight and/or on the make,
Suits might, ties won't. A sports jacket worn with a tie is fine - it was my daily wear for 36 years of teaching in secondary school and college; in warm weather I would take off the jacket in the classroom, and in hot weather turn up to teach in long-sleeved shirt, belted flat-fronted plain-bottomed trousers and tie. (Jacket without tie is a major style mistake in my opinion, tie without jacket is not - I think that an open-necked shirt with a sports jacket, blazer or suit looks sloppy and unfinished. I've said it before and I'll say it again).
What is wrong with being labelled as uptight? Surely it shows that one takes serious things seriously.
Far better than to be labelled as "laid-back".

 

[kasakka]

 

[bslo]

Originally Posted by williamson

(Jacket without tie is a major style mistake in my opinion, tie without jacket is not - I think that an open-necked shirt with a sports jacket, blazer or suit looks sloppy and unfinished. I've said it before and I'll say it again).
.

This has been debated in the past on this forum. My view: a jacket without a tie looks perfectly fine. There's nothing sloppy about it. A tie without a jacket does not look good. If you do wear this look, though, please conform to the following requirements: 1) tie the tie too long, 2) wear a baggy BDC shirt with a collar that is too large and 3) wear baggy, pleated khakis. You'll look like the stereotypical high school teacher that is "dressing up." Congrats.

 

[thinman]

Originally Posted by repp_fink

Just remember that whatever you're wearing will inevitably get chalkdust or dry-erase marker on it. Jeans + tweeds = great. I'd say that the suit is a bit much for the classroom, unless ...
As a science professor, I wear a buttondown shirt, sports coat with pocket square, wool trousers, and good shoes, without a tie. Some 20 years ago when I started, I also wore a tie, but my course evaluations that first semester came back saying "lose the tie" (the little bastards conspired, since the comments all read the same). I've gotten multiple compliments about looking "dapper". All my sports coats color-coordinate with chalk dust. It took one lecture for me to retire the navy blazer.

 

[feastmaster]

Originally Posted by bslo

If you do wear this look, though, please conform to the following requirements: 1) tie the tie too long, 2) wear a baggy BDC shirt with a collar that is too large and 3) wear baggy, pleated khakis. You'll look like the stereotypical high school teacher that is "dressing up." Congrats.

I think that's the quintessential 90s look.

A sport coat and an open shirt can look good if you have a great collar. I think it's a viable option especially if you're not in the classroom all day.

 

[Oleg]

Originally Posted by williamson

Suits might, ties won't. A sports jacket worn with a tie is fine - it was my daily wear for 36 years of teaching in secondary school and college; in warm weather I would take off the jacket in the classroom, and in hot weather turn up to teach in long-sleeved shirt, belted flat-fronted plain-bottomed trousers and tie. (Jacket without tie is a major style mistake in my opinion, tie without jacket is not - I think that an open-necked shirt with a sports jacket, blazer or suit looks sloppy and unfinished. I've said it before and I'll say it again).
What is wrong with being labelled as uptight? Surely it shows that one takes serious things seriously.
Far better than to be labelled as "laid-back".

See, I'd never wear a tie without a jacket. Horses for courses, I guess.
On the uptight thing, it's more the sort of conduct I'd expect from the sort of young turd that asks a loud and aggressive question in a seminar before turning around to see whether the senior profs are impressed with him. This is, no doubt, a peculiarity of universities, of the British and Aussie approach to academia, and my particular loathing of careerism (rather than teaching and researching as well as you can) in tertiary education. I'm a passionate social scientist and despise the possibility of blow hards getting ahead at the expense of good scholars and teachers (though no doubt, some will say I've benefitted from this myself!). It's all about context, but if I were a young academic I certainly wouldn't be wearing a suit and probably wouldn't be wearing a tie on a day to day basis. Maybe it's different elsewhere.

 

[williamson]

Originally Posted by Oleg

See, I'd never wear a tie without a jacket. Horses for courses, I guess.
Well, I never wear a jacket with an open-necked shirt. I loathe the look, and was minded to include it as a "common style mistake" in another thread. But I cas eee that there may be cultural/national differences here - I am writing as someone who has never crossed the Atlantic.

Originally Posted by Oleg

On the uptight thing, it's more the sort of conduct I'd expect from the sort of young turd that asks a loud and aggressive question in a seminar before turning around to see whether the senior profs are impressed with him. This is, no doubt, a peculiarity of universities, of the British and Aussie approach to academia, and my particular loathing of careerism (rather than teaching and researching as well as you can) in tertiary education. I'm a passionate social scientist and despise the possibility of blow hards getting ahead at the expense of good scholars and teachers (though no doubt, some will say I've benefitted from this myself!).
With this I strongly agree.

Originally Posted by bslo

This has been debated in the past on this forum. My view: a jacket without a tie looks perfectly fine. There's nothing sloppy about it.
Look around you - the collar flops all over the place. Adding a jacket to an open-necked-shirt ensemble does not dress it up one bit.

Originally Posted by bslo

A tie without a jacket does not look good. If you do wear this look, though, please conform to the following requirements: 1) tie the tie too long, 2) wear a baggy BDC shirt with a collar that is too large and 3) wear baggy, pleated khakis. You'll look like the stereotypical high school teacher that is "dressing up." Congrats.
As I specifically mentioned flat-fronted plain-bottomed trousers, I can only assume that you seem not to have noticed, or to have deliberately ignored, what I wrote about wearing tie without jacket. What I used to wear in warm weather (and still do when involved in academic exercises such as oral examinations when the temperature is high) is perfectly neat and tidy - far less sloppy than an open-necked shirt with a jacket. And yes, while I may have taken this in an uptight manner myself, I think you cast an unpleasant aspersion on high school teachers.