Dressing More Professionally at work(schools)

The way you dress most of the time will reflects the way you act and the way people treat you. I work in an accounting firm and attend school in the evening and would never wear sneakers to work (perhaps to walk to the train if my feet hurt from wedges or heels) and I occasionally wear denim on “casual fridays” but if I am going out to a client I dress in regular formal attire.

Kids notice every detail of what their teachers are wearing, I dont think its respectful if they come in looking like shlumps…everyone is busy these days but theres no excuse for not taking five extra minutes to put on something a little classier.

Yes, they must dress like professionals. Of course, that would mean we need to pay them like professionals. Tis a two way street.

You can wear a snood and look like a shluch and you can wear a snood and look put together. It is not the snood that does it. Nothing happens if u put on a little makeup and clean fresh clothing that fits nicely.

Personally, I used to work in an office and there was a dress code. Somehow your actions and speech reflect it.

Potato sacks should be required

If there is no compelling reason to dress up, it should not be done. The less dressed up a married woman is (in public) the better.

I disagree. There are reasons to dress nicely besides for making yourself attractive. A person should dress nicely for themselves, for their own self image.

Good.jew(I hope so), there is a Yerushalmi which says that a certain chasida used to put on dirty closing to go outside to avoid attracting the attention of the men, but used to dress nicely inside the house so that her husband should be attracted to her and not to other women.

Popa, it does not require a sheitel to be dressed nicely for themselves.

Who said they have to be dressy?

“Oomis-despite what ppl think hair is not really getting ruined from these things. i used to think the same thing too until i started teaching and having to wear the sheital myself”

Sorry Wise Woman, I respectfully could not disagree with you more. I babysat for my granddaughter since she was born, and whatever project we worked on together always ended up with sparkles on my snood or cap, sticky gluestick residue, and forget about the paint. Sheitlech cost a GREAT deal of money, and they are just impractical to wear on a daily basis (some of us only own one or two of them)when working with small children, and sticky little fingers, especially if they are 2-3 years old. In regular school, I think most female teachers should come to school in a wig or in a hat, but not for preschool. And as was pointed out, people should dress for the job they do. Everyone has a uniform. Most of those uniforms can be easily thrown into the wash when they get dirty.

If your opinion is that a snood is a schmatta, by all means do not wear them. But I have seen attractive snoods that look perfectly fine on my (then) pre-schoolers’ morahs, and I imagine they have even prettier ones today, that work just fine as a fashion accessory. My friend has several VERY pricey and dressy snoods, and ONLY wears them for Shabbos and/or chasunahs, as she does not believe in wearing wigs (not for tzniusdig reasons, but more that she is just not a wig-person).

I’m wearing a short denim skirt, long sleeve blue t-shirt and sneakers today.

I believe in being casual unless you have a reason to be otherwise.

I would rather my kids teachers (at a young age at least) be comfortable and not worried about ruining thier head covering.

A snood implies more casual (like a bandana print, or one that has D & G embossed on it). A tichel is more dressy (like Hermes or Channel).

As one who has attended many PTAs, when you come in dressed like you mean business, people take you seriously. (this applies to both parents and staff)

When you come dresses in whatever suites your fancy, you’re placing yourself at risk for being underestimated. Its hard enough to get noticed in today’s anon world. Take advantage of every edge you can.

And kids? Oooh boy, do they pick up on these things. Many of our friends are in chinuch, and the ones that make an impressive stance (clothes, grooming, ect) have a much easier time doing their jobs.. becuase they are only fighting one battle, and not trying to overcome perception at the same time.

Sorry to admit it, but we live in an exterior world.

I don’t think preschool kids know the difference between a slinky skirt, flairy skirt, sneakers, loafers, snood, hat, gucci shawl, prada handbag or a walmart gym bag. Don’t make such a big deal out of it.

Wisewoman. Why do you equate dressing down and disorganization?

It really matters where you work. If you are in chinuch (men and women) they should be dressed respectfully and dignified. No, denim and jeans are not respectful clothes. Have you ever seen a rebbi in a t-shirt and cotton pants? I sure hope not. No one said they have to dress to kill but there is a certain amount of respect and dignity that comes along with dressing well that is very important in the world of chinuch.

Dvorak, OMG! i feel bad for your teacher!

and ive seen a rabbi in a dress

the poster was referring to a rebbi

A few weeks ago we had complaints about hats, now snoods.

Someone must be heavily invested in the Shaitel business.

However, if you are married and before a judge as a Tax Certiorari trying to get a property assesed at $300 Million down to $270 Million then nothing less than a $3000 Shaitel will do. Think Sacrilege in a few years IY”H!!!

“what dressing shlumpy leads to”

SHLUMPY! It ends in an “ee” which rhymes with P which stands for pool!

There you go, folks.

My kids had one morah who defined shlumpy. Her wardrobe and shaitel? Not top shelf, to say the least. But she loved her students like her own, and she was a great teacher.

But on a grade school level, we need to sell a product to a very tough audience. And anyone in retail will tell you, packaging / marketing is the key to sales.

The original post was discussing pre-school teachers, NOT teachers in the older grades, where they should of course, always look very professional, as they are role models for their older students. Three and four year olds, do not look to their Morahs as role models. They just want them to pass the glue and glitter, and occasionally wipe their noses.

OOMIS- you’d be very suprised what I see going on in girls schools…. “

Then it is up to the menahalim to set the standards that they expect to be adhered to, and enforce them. But not in pre-school, where the main criteria must be comfort (within acceptable halachic quidelines), and neatness to the extent that a normal school day spent with little ones, allows.

If you have small children, do you always look like Mrs. Cleaver (from Leave it to Beaver) all day? That was a disservice done to so many women who felt inadequate for not wearing pearls and high heels all day as she did, and not looking like models when their husbands came home from work. Most of us were just happy to not have baby cereal in our snoods, at the end of the day.

I agree with you that people should dress professionally, but each profession requires a different set of fashion rules. The plumber does not come to your home dressed for a tea party.

i work in a school and always dress up but not for the kids or mothers but because i feel better about myself that way. but that doesnt mean i dont wear my hair in a pony somedays or that i dont wear glasses to give mmy eyes a break…. (and on fridays i wear a slinky skirt…) i think the way we dress is based on how we feel….(i’m NOT refering to tznuis AT ALL) why should we go through life trying to impress people…. but i also feel that we should not be a shlump but for ourselves.. we work better when we feel good about the way we look no?