Maria Fischer says professors shouldn’t think less of students for wearing sweatpants to class
Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I roll out of bed at 8 a.m. I throw on my comfiest pair of clothes, dab on minimal makeup and head out to College Green for a long day of lectures.
But on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I am fortunate to have slow mornings. With my first class starting at noon, I have enough time to grab breakfast, pour some coffee and get properly dressed for class.
Needless to say, Monday/Wednesday/Friday Maria looks a lot different than Tuesday/Thursday Maria. Even though I feel far more confident and professional when I put some effort into my appearance, the casual setting of a large lecture hall makes it tempting to roll out in yoga pants instead of real pants. I almost always find myself choosing a few extra minutes of sleep over taking the time to wake up earlier and put myself together.
But am I doing myself a disservice by dressing down for class? Are professors really judging their students by their classroom wardrobe?
Linda Przybyszewski, associate professor at the University of Notre Dame — who teaches a course called “A Nation of Slobs” — would respond with a firm “yes.”
"I think style just moved toward simplicity and eventually slipped into stupidity," Przybyszewski told CBS last year.
Her objective with “A Nation of Slobs” is to revive the art of dressing and to inspire students to take pride in their appearance. Przybyszewski says that proper dressing was so important at one point that it was taught in school — college students not only dressed nice for class, these values were reinforced in their coursework.
Take one look around a 400-person lecture hall in Morton today, and it becomes obvious that these dressing standards do not still apply. However, just because a student rocks pajamas to class doesn’t mean they aren’t ready to work hard and learn.
“I think how you dress just depends on the setting,” said Jake Vassas, an Ohio University sophomore. “If I have to give a presentation, I’ll dress up that day because I want my professors to view me as a professional. But otherwise, I don’t dress up. If it’s a big lecture or an early class, you can basically expect me to show up in sweats.”
Dressing comfortably doesn’t always equate to laziness. More often than not, sweatpant-clad kids are just busy students, not necessarily sloppy ones. You never know: that kid who looks like he just rolled out of bed may have actually woke up an hour earlier than usual to fit in some extra study time.
There are certain times where dressing down is deemed inappropriate; a large lecture, however, is not one of them.
Let our grades do the talking, not our outfits.
Maria Fischer is a junior studying journalism. Email her at mf628211@ohio.edu.
