Is wearing sweatpants and sweatshirts appropriate and suitable on campus?

[bethievt]

<p>Re: school dress codes, there was a successful lawsuit in VT, supporting students’ right to wear certain messages on their t-shirts because of freedom of speech. That said, my kid never wore anything I’d object to.</p>

[cobrat]

<p>

@oldfort

I told my kids that school was like work for them. I expected them to show up everyday, work hard, pay attention in class, and turned in their homework. With that in mind, I always had them dressed properly going to school - no play/work out/lounge clothes.

</p>

<p>I did all of the above except dress according to corporate norms. It wasn’t necessary. Not to mention that at Oberlin…dressing up so formally everyday just to go to class would cause you to be mistaken either as a Conservatory student and/or one of the handful of college conservatives. Not even most Profs dress that formally. </p>

<p>Got away with wearing whatever hand-me-down clothing I had…and in such an informal environment…was sheltered from the persnickity backbiting I see among the “offended if not dressed according to my standards” set*. </p>

<p>Fortunately, the Profs at my LAC were mature and open-minded enough to realize that one shouldn’t judge a book by its cover and how style can be overinflated in importance in relation to actual substance. </p>

<ul>
<li>I noticed these types are much more common in the NYC area and parts of the South…especially at Columbia/NYU. Then again, considering how a Columbia student publication run by undergrads once published a cartoon likening TAs/Grad students to homeless bums eating out of garbage cans, it’s easy to laugh them off as rich snobs sneering at the “lower orders”…kinda like a recent speech of one presidential candidate…</li>
</ul>

[Bay]

<p>Here’s a VT high school that banned pajamas:</p>

<p>[Vt</a>. high school dress code now bans pajamas | First Amendment Center ? news, commentary, analysis on free speech, press, religion, assembly, petition](<a href=“http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/vt-high-school-dress-code-now-bans-pajamas]Vt”>http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/vt-high-school-dress-code-now-bans-pajamas)</p>

<p>

“Like anything else, if you get yourself into a mental state about something you’re going to be more prepared to work, and if you come to school in pajamas you’re prepared for something else.”

…said the assoc. principal.</p>

[cobrat]

<p>

“Like anything else, if you get yourself into a mental state about something you’re going to be more prepared to work, and if you come to school in pajamas you’re prepared for something else.”

</p>

<p>Sounds like another immature narrow-minded pointy-haired boss.</p>

[alh]

<h1>340 Shrinkrap wrote:

But one of the things I have learned on CC, is that some kids just “know”. “Know” is not the right word. I mean that some kids come here asking “what should I do to get into xyz?”, and other kids just DO it. Not because they “know”, but becuase it is who they are. Some kids are going to “dress for success” in their given environment, whatever success means there, without anybody telling them. Not because they “know”, but because it is who they are.

</h1>

<p>With the internet kids can figure these rules out, if they know what questions to ask. It sounds like Oldfort had no way to know shorts weren’t appropriate work wear. I don’t think it was fair that no one in that office pointed this out to her ahead of time. When I had jobs in HS, I knew shorts were inappropriate, but only because my mother and my grandmothers and my aunts and my great aunts had all been imparting this sort of dress code information to me for years. Sometimes I dressed against the rules of appropriate dress but I sure understood those rules. </p>

<h1>325 sseamom wrote:

The founder of D’s school wears men’s clothes and shoes. I’ve seen her exactly once in a photo wearing a tasteful woman’s dressy blouse, but not even the school’s first graduation brought her out in anything but her standard dress choices. She is openly gay, if that matters.

</h1>

<p>Something I am becoming increasingly aware of is new PhDs, on the job market, who refuse to dress according to the rules. Sometimes their non-mainstream self presentation is a very big part of their identity and they don’t want to compromise. Sometimes this makes their mentors despair. Sometimes this has negative consequences and sometimes not. At first I found this ridiculous, but the more I think about it the more admiring I become. It is pretty brave when your professional future is on the line to refuse to follow the rules. It seems to me they are slowly creating cultural changes that go beyond unwritten dress code rules.</p>

[ucbalumnus]

<p>

@oldfort

I showed up at work everyday on time, worked very hard while I was in the office. I still remember it was a very hot June day, I went to school wearing a pair of shorts and I went straight to work from school. I didn’t give too much thought to what I was wearing, and no one ever talked to me about it. Next day my supervisor called me in to let me know that it was inappropriate to wear shorts to work.

</p>

<p>Was the workplace dress code explained to you when you started?</p>

<p>

@oldfort

It was a good lesson for me because I think I was fired because I didn’t know how to dress appropriately, it showed my immaturity. Back then, summer jobs were also hard to come by for high school students. It was a shame that no one told me how to dress.

</p>

<p>Seems like the answer to the above question is “no”… the real lesson is that there are often unwritten rules for which the penalties can be severe for those not in a position of power in the organization.</p>

[ucbalumnus]

<p>

@oldfort

I personally think for college students, going to classes is similar to going to work.

</p>

<p>So should computer science majors dress like, well, casually-dressed college students, while finance majors dress in suits every day? Maybe civil engineering majors should keep their hard hats available…</p>

[sseamom]

<p>"So should computer science majors dress like, well, casually-dressed college students, while finance majors dress in suits every day? Maybe civil engineering majors should keep their hard hats available… "</p>

<p>:snort: OR, if they are PE majors, they should dress in…SWEATPANTS! And the conversation comes full circle!</p>

[ucbalumnus]

<p>

@sseamom

if they are PE majors, they should dress in…SWEATPANTS! And the conversation comes full circle!

</p>

<p>Or gym shorts. :)</p>

<p>Along these lines, here is a [civil</a> engineering class](<a href=“http://coe.berkeley.edu/static/innovations-slideshow/athletes/images/4fisher.jpg]civil”>http://coe.berkeley.edu/static/innovations-slideshow/athletes/images/4fisher.jpg). No hard hats in sight, but there are students wearing T-shirts, one wearing jeans, and one wearing sweat pants.</p>

[Pizzagirl]

<p>"Certainly not the hippie father of one of my HS buddies. </p>

<p>If anything, he’d find it quite sad and disturbing someone much younger than him implicitly thinks it’s a good thing to bring back the very formal dress code he had to suffer under and fought against as part of the hippie/counterculture movement as an NYU undergrad in the early-mid’60s. "</p>

<p>Cobrat, what do YOU think? Not the hive mind of your high school, not the culture of late 1990s Oberlin, not your innumerable aunts and cousins who have strong opinions on every topic. YOU. Why do you constantly cite other people’s opinions but not your own? Or if you do, your opinions are always secondary and formed either to agree with or irk someone else? I feel like when you walk into a room, you look to see whether other people are sweating or shivering before deciding whether you’re cold.</p>

[cobrat]

<p>PG, </p>

<p>I think my stance on what college students should be allowed to wear has been stated and is quite clear. </p>

<p>Why the need for me to restate it in every post?</p>

<p>I cited various folks throughout my life as a way to show that there are plenty of folks who hold attitudes, perspectives, and viewpoints outside of or quite at odds with certain subvariants of mainstream upper-middle class suburbanite norms I seem to see among some CCers like yourself and some others.</p>

[collegealum314]

<p>So cobrat’s high school (stuy?) has a hive mind mentality but pizzagirl’s sorority is a bastion of free thought?</p>

<p>Hm…</p>

[Pizzagirl]

<p>Of course it was, collegealum. What are you trying to say?</p>

<p>I don’t really BELIEVE that cobrat’s high school had a hive mind mentality. It’s just a little much when for every single topic, cobrat announces that “the people in my high school regarded this college as this and that college as that” and that it had to be taken so seriously because otherwise you’d be “subject to ridicule” from other students or parents.</p>

[oldfort]

<p>

:snort: OR, if they are PE majors, they should dress in…SWEATPANTS! And the conversation comes full circle!

Look at all the major league coaches, do you see them wearing sweats at game time? Many players are required to wear suits when they travel. Hmmm, why? It comes down to respect for the game (work) itself.</p>

[oldfort]

<p>

So should computer science majors dress like, well, casually-dressed college students, while finance majors dress in suits every day? Maybe civil engineering majors should keep their hard hats available…

No, but would any of those professional people wear PJs or sweats (something they wear at home and in bed) to work?</p>

[oldfort]

<p>

But one of the things I have learned on CC, is that some kids just “know”. “Know” is not the right word. I mean that some kids come here asking “what should I do to get into xyz?”, and other kids just DO it.

Those kids do not just “know.” They know because they have someone to tell them, most of the time it is their parents. Kids do not know through osmosis. They know because they have people who are more experienced to guide them. We often discuss on CC it is not fair that students who come from better social economic background do better in testing, and they are able to get into better colleges. It is no different when it comes to what they “know” when it comes to social behavior. I didn’t “know” because I didn’t have anyone to tell me, and I lost a good job. I learned from it and I now make sure that my kids “know.” If parents are telling their kids that it doesn’t matter what they wear, what matters is what they are as a person inside, then they are doing a disservice to their kids. More often than not, people need to get pass that first impression before they get to know the person inside.</p>

[romanigypsyeyes]

<p>

If parents are telling their kids that it doesn’t matter what they wear, what matters is what they are as a person inside, then they are doing a disservice to their kids

</p>

<p>Well, then my parents did me a disservice- and I am darn proud of it.</p>

[ucbalumnus]

<p>

@oldfort

Look at all the major league coaches, do you see them wearing sweats at game time?

</p>

<p>Major league baseball managers wear [baseball</a> uniforms](<a href=“http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Tony_La_Russa_May_2008.jpg/399px-Tony_La_Russa_May_2008.jpg]baseball”>http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Tony_La_Russa_May_2008.jpg/399px-Tony_La_Russa_May_2008.jpg) like the players, not suits and ties.</p>

<p>

@oldfort

No, but would any of those professional people wear PJs or sweats (something they wear at home and in bed) to work?

</p>

<p>Haven’t seen the PJs, but have seen plenty of other things (including sweat pants, shorts, visible tattoos, etc.) in Silicon Valley computer companies that would appear to be offensive to many posting in this thread.</p>

<p>[Google</a> execs](<a href=“http://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/google-people.jpg]Google”>http://www.industryleadersmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/google-people.jpg) do not seem to be too concerned about dressing up for interviews by business magazines.</p>

[GA2012MOM]

<p>romani, yes your parents were doing you a disservice if they didn’t tell you first impressions are important, and that your appearance is a huge factor in that first impression.</p>

<p>UC, I’ll bet oldfort was referring to basketball coaches who are always dressed to the nines courtside.</p>

[MomofWildChild]

<p>Agree with oldfort. I’ve done enough hiring and interviewing for jobs that I know that first impressions are important. Clothes and grooming are a big part of that- like it or not.</p>