Appearances

Judgement, prejudice, discrimination, all harsh realities pertaining to our human societies. Formulated ideas, originated in our minds by biased opinions based on appearances — again, harsh realities. Haunted by insecurities, some of us try to change our identities. We change how we look, how we speak, how we act, all to fit into a world conceived on lies. We strive to be accepted but for what purpose? Is changing our entire being worth the outcome?

I notice his clothes; I've been noticing them for the past three weeks now. "You're casual again," I say to my teacher, Ames. He hasn't been wearing his usual button down shirts and dress pants. Instead, he now wears long sleeved thermals, jeans and regular tennis shoes.

His only response, a small chuckle and a simple, "Yeah," before turning away.

I turn to Lizbeth, my stand partner, and notice that she's just as confused as I am. We come up with a theory, maybe he feels like he fits in better with his students if he dresses like them.

I ask Ames towards the end of class why he's been dressing so differently and sure enough, Liz's and my theory is correct. He tells me that he feels too "formal," and "dressed up," for his middle school classes (Observation notes 10/28). He's been having trouble getting them to behave and he feels like his formal attire only makes it more difficult to control them. I don't understand why he felt like he had to change his clothes in order to get his students to like him. Most of his older students know what a great teacher he is so, to me, it doesn't make sense that the middle schoolers don't treat him well. "How would changing his appearance even make a difference in how his students treat him?" (Observation notes 10/28).

Usually, we hear about dressing up for success but Ames was dressing down. He wants his students' perceptions of him to be better so by dressing down he might feel that he's equal to them and they'll like him more. What Ames is doing is being aware of his "audience," a group of teenagers, and using that to his "advantage" when choosing his clothes to make an impression (Klosowski).

Truth is, we are constantly being judged for the smallest of things (Kiisel). What should it mater what we wear? Yes, changing one's appearance might be a quick fix but people won't be liking one for who they really are. Ames should should know that he's a great guy no matter the clothes he wears. So what if he dresses fancy every single day? Frankly, I miss his fancy little outfits— a lot of us do. We shouldn't try changing ourselves just to appease others. When situations arise such as the one my teacher is going through, all that's left is standing tall, and boy, is my teacher tall.

Works Cited

Kiisel, Ty. "You Are Judged by Your Appearance." Forbes. N.p. 20 Mar. 2013. 
        Web. 1 Nov. 2014. 

Klosowski, Thorin. "The Psychology Behind How Clothing Influences How 
        People See You At Work." lifehacker. N.p. 29 Mar. 2013. Web. 1 Nov. 
        2014.