69ý

Opinion
Teaching Profession Opinion

Why This Teacher Will No Longer Pay for the ‘Privilege’ to Wear Jeans

Next year, my hard-earned cash will stay in my pocket
By Kelly Scott — March 22, 2022 3 min read
A photo of money seen through a rip in denim
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

The “jeans pass.” Our parent-teacher-student organization offers teachers the opportunity at the beginning of every school year: the option to pay for the privilege of wearing jeans one extra day per week. I always end up giving in, but the decision causes conflict. Why should I have to fork over more of my own money?

Then I remind myself that buying and supplying without reimbursement is standard protocol for teachers. It always has been. While other professionals have supply closets stocked with business essentials and can expense incidentals needed by clients (read: students), the majority of teachers bear the brunt of any and all “extras” themselves.

But back to the jeans pass. It’s a fundraiser run by our PTSO. At our school, we are already given the privilege of wearing jeans on Fridays, but with a jeans pass, teachers can wear jeans on Mondays as well—for a price. Other schools have relaxed their dress codes throughout the pandemic. Not mine. For $25, teachers get to wear their denim every Monday for the entire school year.

We teachers are reminded that the money raised goes toward a few meals we are provided by the PTSO throughout the year. The money is also used to send sympathy flowers if a staff member’s immediate family member dies and celebration flowers if someone on staff has a baby. That’s quite a spectrum of joy and sorrow! And it all rides on faculty members’ decision about the pass.

Every year, I internally debate my options. Is an extra day of jeans-wearing a week worth the outlay? Yet 25 bucks over the span of an entire school year feels like a bargain! But why should I have to spend my own money on that? But what about all the people that might lose a loved one or have a baby this year? What about them?

Do I even have any jeans that fit me? Are there any stipulations on the kind of jeans? Can I wear jeans with holes like the students? (I have worn ripped jeans, and no one seemed to care, but I still don’t know if this is actually OK.) Should I hold out for a $50 a year sweatpants policy?

The questions roll on: What if everyone else wears jeans on Mondays, and I feel left out? Wait, who is even going to remember if I paid to wear my jeans on Monday? Are some of my colleagues out there wearing illegal Monday jeans? Is there an undercover Monday jeans police I don’t know about?

Why can’t teachers ever be given something with no strings attached?

This internal dialogue goes on all week until I reach the deadline, and I ultimately cave.

Teachers are nickel-and-dimed to death anyway, so I once again adopt the “it’s only” attitude and write my check. It’s only 25 bucks. It’s only a box of dry erase markers. It’s only a box of tissues. It’s only a Costco-sized bottle of hand sanitizer. It’s only a class set of novels. (Yes, I once bought 25 copies of No Fear Shakespeare: Romeo & Juliet because my students were struggling through the play, and the only way I could manage to get them through it and maintain my sanity was for each of them to have a copy.)

I have “it’s only-ed” myself into accepting that I will always be asked to supply things on my own dime and my own time. It’s just what teachers do, isn’t it? Adopting the “it’s only” mindset almost feels like an act of desperation. It’s a way of protecting yourself from the knowledge that you are spending your own money to make classroom ends meet and to meet expectations.

It can happen so often that even extreme instances can be rationalized with “it’s only.” Years ago, I was “voluntold” to make Christmas ornaments for the entire faculty and to teach a weekly yoga class to staff members after school as part of a wellness initiative. With a promise of payment that never materialized, my time and money spent became “it’s only 175 ornaments” and “it’s only an hour a week.”

After experiences like these, why should paying to wear something functional (jeans equal pockets!) come as a surprise? Or for that matter, paying to get a “free” meal at school every now and then?

And so it continues, normalizing the idea that teachers should be paying for things to make their jobs easier or better, including resources to improve their effectiveness in the classroom.

Why can’t teachers ever be given something with no strings attached? As a professional adult who sacrifices so much for this profession, should I really be grateful for the opportunity to purchase the option to wear the pants of my choosing one day per week?

After years of paying, I have come to realize that I actually don’t love jeans enough to pay to wear them in the future. In fact, I took them off and changed into sweats to sit down and write this essay. Next year, my hard-earned cash will stay in my pocket—even if that pocket is metaphorical.

A version of this article appeared in the April 06, 2022 edition of Education Week as Why This Teacher Will No Longer Pay to Wear Jeans

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
Content provided by 
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by 
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Teaching Profession Opinion Teacher Contracts Need to Change. And It’s Not Just About Money
If we want to retain effective teaches, we should increase teacher compensation—but we need to do it strategically.
Karen Hawley Miles & David Rosenberg
4 min read
Final Piece Of The Puzzle. Two people about to shake hands over trading a jigsaw puzzle piece needed for the solution.
iStock/Getty Images + Education Week
Teaching Profession The State of Teaching Teachers Say the Public Views Them Negatively
The perception coincides with teachers' low levels of job satisfaction.
2 min read
survey teachers static
via Canva
Teaching Profession Download Play Teacher TV Bingo and Spot All the Teacher Tropes
It's trope bingo; spot the common (and often annoying) mischaracterizations.
Image of bingo cards, a remote control, and a television.
via Canva
Teaching Profession Fictional Teachers on TV Can Skew Public Perception
Media tropes about teachers can give incoming educators and the public unrealistic expectations about the profession.
5 min read
Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, Quinta Brunson, and Tyler James Williams play teachers on the ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” Teachers say the show resonates with their experience.
Chris Perfetti, Lisa Ann Walter, Quinta Brunson, and Tyler James Williams play teachers on the ABC sitcom “Abbott Elementary.” Teachers say the show resonates with their experience, but researchers say many other portrayals of teachers are flawed.
Gilles Mingasson/ABC