Tattoos in the Teaching Profession

There are obviously many different viewpoints on tattoos in general, especially when it comes to tattoos and jobs. As we talked about in class, tattoos have become a controversy in the teaching profession. One of my thoughts is that it is sort of ironic and a bit hypocritical to not allow teachers to have visible tattoos. Considering, one of the main messages we try to portray to kids is to be individuals, and be themselves. Tattoos are what make individuality, it’s not like you see people everywhere walking around with the same tattoos. This is what makes tattoos defining, tattoos are unique and are a part of whom you are. When schools don’t allow teachers to have tattoos I think it completely goes against this message that is supposed to be sent to kids. Also as mentioned in class teachers have an identity that has mostly been created by society, they have to meet this image or else they aren’t qualified. I think it is important to look back to a philosophical time, as famous individuals attained great amounts of knowledge. People learned from them and respected their knowledge because of the individual they were and the personality they claimed. Today I think teaching has moved away from this, as we also talked about in class that the teacher needs have control over the classroom and hold a higher position over the students. But confining to a specific image, I believe, isn’t the only way to do this. I strongly believe that a person earns respect from the position they hold themselves to. So if a teacher is to be seen as an individual and a unique person, as anyone else is, they can earn that respect and control. I also believe it may even make students more comfortable and help the learning process. I think it is often seen, at least in my opinion, that the teacher cannot be associated with students except in terms and conditions of school, and teachers aren’t always seen as people. Often when we were younger we thought that teachers just stayed in school all the time, and today we often forget that teachers have al life outside of school until we run into them somewhere outside of school. I think that it is important to remember what individuality means and how much it can have in aspects of learning. Therefore I don’t think tattoos should necessarily be discouraged in the teaching profession. They create individuality and define people, teachers are people too and should be able to express themselves and tell their stories if they so wish. As for the distracting aspect of tattoos to students, why do you think it is so discouraged if a teacher does have a tattoo for the student to know about it, or learn about it?