(Tuesday, November 9, 2010 / 6:23 PM)
Title: Teachers dress inappropriately, too
Reader turns spotlight on teachers after recent debate over dress code for tertiary students. It seems students are not the only guilty ones when it comes to dressing inappropriately for school.
A contributor to Stomp, Wakakaka, sent in a photo of a secondary school teacher deemed inappropriately dressed in a short flowery skirt, and sandals.
Wrote Wakakaka in an email: "This is how a school teacher dresses up to teach in a secondary school.
"Not during school holidays but during normal lesson time.
"If poly students are not allowed to wear short skirts or dresses, how come this teacher does not get reprimanded for wearing such a short skirt to school?"
Wakakaka's observation obviously stems from Republic Poly's recent much-reported circular to students, warning them about being improperly attired.
Well, what about teachers?
According to most school guidelines, teachers do have to follow a strict dress code, such as no spaghetti-strap tops, or revealing clothing. However, it is unclear how strictly the rule is enforced.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HAFIZAH:...Last week, we were shocked with the article regarding Polytechnic students dressing inappropriately for school. Now, we found another article from a reader regarding the teachers dressing inappropriately to school. If the students dressed inappropriately for school, we will blame the teachers for not giving any warnings or advices to their students. But now if it is the teachers who dressed inappropriately to teach their students in school, who should we blame?
...In my opinion, I will not really blame the teachers. For me, every individual will dressed themselves according to what they think it’s comfortable for them. For myself, I dressed to school comfortably without ‘exposing’ any of my body parts that will make others feel disgusted. I have always seen my lecturers and tutors dressing up professionally and at the same time they also showed their students some etiquette about professional dressings. Most of my lecturers and tutors have advised us on what we should or should not wear for office work.
...Regarding the article, the secondary school teacher should really feel guilty about her dressing style when teaching her young students in class. If she continues, her students will have the habit of following her style, wearing slippers and short dress, when it is their turn to study in tertiary school in the future. After all we know that is best that the teachers set good examples for their students.
ALLYSON:... I fully agree with this article as the spotlight is usually focused on the tertiary students and the teachers are being forgotten. Everyone is always complaining about how inappropriate students dress for school and that they are going to school to study and therefore should dress appropriately. However, we tend to focus too much on the students and we do leave out the teachers themselves.
...Although most teachers dress appropriately, I feel that it is the younger generation of fresh young teachers that are the ones dressing inappropriately. As they are younger than the others, they would have similar mindsets to the tertiary students and would also want to keep updated in the latest fashion trends. However, they should still remember that they are still teachers and they go to school to teach students and to be proper role models. After all, students do learn from teachers.
...Other outfits that are inappropriate for teaching should be worn at other times such as when going shopping with their friends. Therefore, students cannot be blamed for dressing inappropriately for school as some teachers themselves do not. Teachers themselves should hence set a good example first before expecting the students to follow and abide by the rules.
TECK JIE:...Regarding this issue, I felt that Wakakaka is just trying to make a big fuse out of it. He/ She is probably one of the Republic Polytechnic student as he/ she is unhappy about the recent incident that her school has once again enforce strict rules in his/ her campus rules and regulations, therefore he/ she hoped that through stomp he/ she could voice out his/ her unhappiness of the school rules to the society, so that society could help him/ her to do something that would change the school rules.
...It is true that teachers should set a good example to their students, however this does not meant that teachers should constraint in their dressing. Everyone have their own style of dressing so that they could better self express themselves, teachers are also not in exception, therefore they could have their own freedom of what to wear and how they don their clothes. Moreover, students and teachers are in different stands, students are the one who are paying school fees while teachers on the other hand are the ones who received their salary, therefore students need to recognize this differentiation between teachers and students. Furthermore, teachers are not the main responsibility to teach students the correct values, this should be the parents’ responsibility to set a good example for their children therefore this should not constraint teachers dressing in school.
...In conclusion, teachers’ responsibilities in students are very negligible, therefore this should not be a reason to constraint teachers’ dressing.
RICHGINIA:...After reading the article, I feel that there is nothing much to debate over why teacher can dress like this but poly students cannot. In my opinion, I feel that there is nothing wrong with teacher dressing like the teacher in the photo to teach lessons in school. Why do I say that? As stated in the article, according to most school guidelines, teachers do have to follow a strict dress code, such as no spaghetti-strap tops, or revealing clothing.
...However, do you know that some school has also a “day off” out of the weekdays for teacher to dress casually or comfortably to school? An example will be my Secondary School. On every Friday, apart from the teachers’ normal attire, teachers are allowed to wear spots attire, T-Shirts & shorts, Sandals to school. Hence, the photo maybe captured during one of the school’s “day off” for teachers.
...I feel that my teacher did a great job in keeping their image as a teacher by dressing professionally for class. I know that teachers should set as a role model for students especially when they are telling the students about the school rules and school attire. Most students are very unhappy of how they should dress for school and hence once they caught a teacher making mistakes on her attire, they will use it to turn against the teacher. However, I feel that poly students should not make a big fuss over this topic due to two reasons.
...Firstly, they may not be aware of the “day off” thing that I mention. Secondly, we all know why we are dressing according to the school attire but it is just that many students just ignore. The reason for dressing properly for lesson is because the school wants to train us to set a good image of ourselves so that when we go out to work it is easier to find job.
...In conclusion, I feel that students should still dress properly to school even if their teacher has dressed inappropriately for once or twice. Reason being the teacher has already gotten a job while the students are still studying and their image is very important to their employer. I also feel that in order to convince students to dress properly, teachers should also reflect on the way they dress and set as role models at all times.
LEONARD:...After reading the article above, I find it rather ridiculous that teachers dress inappropriately to school. First, it’s the polytechnic students dressing inappropriately to school. Now, it’s the teachers’ turn! Like it or not a school is still a school. So both the students and teachers should dress appropriately to school to show a form of respect and for teachers to show their professionalism.
...I understand that the humid weather in Singapore is one of the reasons why students and teachers are wearing skimpy clothes to school. But teachers cannot use the humid weather as an excuse! Teachers should know better on what is appropriate and what is not during school hours. After school hours, they are free to dress in anything they want. However, most schools’ authorities even expect them to dress appropriate after school as they are the role model to students.
...So to conclude, that female teacher should really do some self-reflection as she had set a very bad example for her students to follow. As most of the students look up to their teachers as role model, so I suggest she stop wearing short skirt and sandals to school.
