The Woes of a Teacher

This Friday at school, they were having a fundraiser for a student who passed away. For a donation of dollars, students could--for the day--break dress code. A dollar allowed you to wear slippers or a hat, and two dollars earned boys the right to untuck their shirts.

Wanting to make a donation (and secretly hating tucking my shirt in as much as my students, ESPECIALLY on casual Friday), I chipped in some dough and didn't worry about tucking my shirt into my jeans. I wore the ensemble you see at the left, only with a baggier pair of jeans. (I've found students are uncomfortable if I wear skinnier jeans, which is the same point I'm making, as you read on). I enjoy casual Friday, if for no other reason than not having to dress up, and do laundry a day earlier.

Before school started, I was chatting with one of my colleagues in the Math Office and she discovered a collection of ugly white hats, fresh from the eighties it seemed. We decided that we were going to donate some more money and wear them, convincing as many other math teachers to join us.

Now, keep in mind that I'm not the most attractive hat-wearer. So it seemed only natural for me to perch it sideways on the back of my head (for an example, see the photo at the right). Granted, it looked better and more appropriate when I had the long bangs, but I decided I was going to do it, regardless.

The first few hours of the day, students chuckled. Students in passing remarked on how "fresh" I looked, which is nothing new; I have some students who refer to me as "Mr. Swag". Throughout the day, students, teachers and janitors alike commented that they thought I was a student at first glance.

During Advisory (Central's version of homeroom), I learned something fascinating: teachers are not allowed to be normal people. My Advisory students are a cool bunch of seniors. They're all really relaxed, well-behaved young adults. I like them quite a bit. We were chatting and one of them asked why I chose to wear my hat in such a way. As was my response all day, I said it was because I'm very street. At this, on of my female students said with much confusion and disdain, "Why is it that the teacher is better dressed and more fresh than all of his students?"

I know she didn't mean anything by it; it was simply a poorly articulated observation, so I laughed aloud and asked, "So? As a teacher, am I not allowed to be normal? I can't have a life?" She was flustered, realising how what she said was taken, and covered with, "No! That's not what I mean... It's just that from a student's perspective, teachers don't have lives outside of the classroom. They're not normal people." Then we had discussions for the rest of the time about how they've weirdly encountered their teachers outside of the classroom and been unsettled seeing them "in the wild", as it were.

So I learned two things. One, I'm not allowed to out-dress my students. And if I am going to, I'd better not see them in public, because their entire reality will be shattered...