Class Calm

Here in my state it is the Florida Back-to-School Sales Tax Holiday (through August 11). Time to replace any worn out wardrobe items that you wear in the classroom. There is no sales tax on any clothing priced $100 or less in addition to tax-free shopping on most school supplies. Nerd Wallet lists the other states that offer similar breaks.

Can a teacher dress in a way that will lead to better classroom management or does it make no difference? It might seem like an easy question. You say of course a teacher should dress appropriately because if he/she does not get the clothes right, things will not go as smoothly. On the other hand, looking around at the outfits that some teachers show up in, it seems like many would not agree with this assertion.

Before going further, let’s get a few objections out of the way. Yes, a gym teacher should be expected to show up in athletic wear. Yes, a vocational or shop class type of teacher probably should not be wearing anything dressy. Yes, many schools have theme days or dress-down days where a teacher might show up in a soccer shirt or some such outfit. We are talking here about conventional, core subject classrooms on a normal day.

As well, this subject is too broad for a single blog post. There are a number of angles from which appropriate teacher dress could be approached. For example, do certain color and pattern combinations lead to a preferred outcome? Is a golf shirt now an acceptable norm? Should an art teacher be given more leeway than a science teacher? More to come on dress code. But whatever your views, please be clear. I am not telling you to come in a $2000 blue two-piece suit with cufflinks on your white dress shirt. That would be overdoing it.

Today let’s just look at projecting authority through your wardrobe choices. As a guy, I would in no way be qualified to say what a woman should or should not wear. However, for teachers in general, there are a few guidelines and ideas that I have come across. One, when a stranger walks into the room (perhaps a recently hired ESE coordinator whom you have not yet met or a parent being given a tour), there should be no question as to who is the teacher. Another way to measure is to simply dress one notch above however your peers dress (unless you are in a school where everybody looks pressed and polished). Finally, ask the question, how serious is it what you are doing? Whatever your subject area, you likely regard it as highly important and you want the students to grasp that importance. Is this reflected in how you appear?

There have been a number of research studies on teacher dress code, although few have focused on high school instructors. However, to go deeper, there was a fascinating and controversial study on the subject of people in positions of authority in 1961 by Yale University psychologist Stanley Ingram. The study, published in a book entitled Obedience to Authority, recruited ordinary people from the community and they were instructed to administer a series of electrical shocks in increasing intensity to a victim. The victim was only acting as the shocks were not real. Among other findings, the study showed that there was a close correlation between the perceived authority of those ordering the shocks to the participants actually following instructions and administering the shocks. In other words, when steps were taken to diminish the perceived authority of those ordering the shocks, the participants were less likely to follow directions. Milgram writes on page 138:

From a psychological standpoint, authority means the person who is perceived to be in a position of social control within a given situation.

So, according to Milgram’s widely cited study, a teacher who takes steps to establish authority (such as dressing up) will indeed have more authority among his/her students. And I can think of few ways as direct as dressing appropriately that can establish authority. It seems worth the effort.

However, there always seems to be some unspoken pushback from many teachers on all of this. It goes something like “well, I have a lot to do and I have to put up with a lot of nonsense and I have to get up early and I do not get paid enough to afford the right clothes” and on and on. Let me politely ask a few counter-questions. If your administrator showed up every day dressed sloppily, would you be inspired? Would you have the level or respect that you would want to have for him/her? Have you ever been called into a parent-teacher meeting where you feel that your competence is being questioned? (I have, more than once). Ceteris paribus, are you going to fare better in that meeting if you are dressed professionally or dressed less than professionally? On the subject of inadequate compensation, would you tell a high school student with an after-school job that he should expect his employer to give him a raise first and then he (the student) should have to ditch the Dennis Rodman look? No, you would tell that student to expect the opposite. So as teachers, why do we dress like it is Saturday morning doing chores at home and at the same time expect better pay? If we all dressed like the top-level professionals that we are, the higher pay might be a lot more likely to come.

Most schools seem to give their teachers a lot of latitude in how they appear. Although there are some advantages to wearing casual clothes, dressing at least slightly more formally is something that one could consider in the search for better classroom management results.