Teachers Shouldn't Have Tramp Stamps

So I took my future stepdaughter to her high school orientation over the weekend... a colossal clusterfrick that seemed to go wrong in every possible way.  For example, the process of handing out books, something I always remember being done on the first day when you got to each class, somehow took 90 minutes in a tight hallway crammed with 500+ people and no air conditioning.

When we got to our designated area and as we were waiting in line I noticed that the student volunteer who was handing out our group's schedules had her ass hanging out of her pants, clearly displaying her lower back tattoo.  In any other situation I'd be thinking something else, but in this particular one I was none too keen on having my future kid see this.

Once all the schedules were passed out the student got up to talk to the group, and as it turned out, she's not a student at all but a math teacher at the school.  Great.  Not only is my kid going to be taught by someone maybe two years older than her, but also someone who had the Transitive Property translated into vines and barbed wire and then stamped it directly over her pooper.

I mean, look... there's no way that stupid thing isn't going to be visible at some point in the school day, and if she was a student she'd be penalized for it.  And I think in terms of dress and behavior on school grounds, teachers and students should be held to the same set of rules.  The last thing I need as a parent is to get into an argument with my kid about why she can't get anything on her body ever and have the words "Well Ms. Ass Target, my math teacher, has one.  And she's a teacher!"

Won't somebody please think of the children?

Comments

[leslie]

Heh... welcome to fatherhood! ;-)

[Future Step-Teen]

I fully agree with what you've put... sadly though, its the area...
and even worse, they think it makes them "cool".
they're about as cool as a mullet. =]

[JBH]

See, with Nuns, problems like this never arise, on so many levels.

But since you initiated the topic, is the photo the actual teacher in question?

I share your squeamishness at this role-modeling, but am not sure what you can legislate. At a minimum it doesn't seem too much to ask for teachers to keep their midriffs covered.

[dvdguy]

The photo is just some random tramp stamped broad from the internet. I couldn't figure out a way to snap a photo without my bride and two kids noticing. "But baby, it's for the blog..." can explain some things, but not everything.

[anonymousfriend]

Everybody should wear clothing that fits them, yes. I'll just pretend that the lack of clothing was the main issue of your blog. I'll bet money that sometime during the day, someone's mother pulled aside a member of the administration and said something. I'm sure her outfit did not go unnoticed.

As for the tattoo...teachers are adults, and if they want a tattoo on their backside, they are allowed to have one. If they want a tattoo on their arm, leg, hand, ankle, or any other part of their body, they are allowed to have one. I sincerely hope that, through the 9 years we've known each other, you haven't felt a tang of superiority just because I have a purple dragon on my thigh.

[dvdguy]

Thighs aren't an issue. Neither are arms or legs. Anything that can be covered by conventional clothing I have *absolutely* no problem with. But lower back tattoos always manage to show themselves off somehow.

But lower back tattoos have a very specific connotation to them. Like it or not, society and culture have given these things a name like "tramp stamp" for a reason.

An 18 year old high school senior, wearing a conservative shirt, could still bend over and briefly expose a back tattoo... landing her in detention. Her 19 year old math teacher with the same exposed tattoo would be the one sending her there. I just think that *in* schools, teachers should be held to the same behavorial standards as the students. They're not only there to teach, but to set an example.

[anonymousfriend]

You're right, whether I like it or not, for some reason people will continue to use words like "tramp stamp" to describe a tattoo on someone else's lower back. I can't stop people from continuing to use negative phrases like that.

As I said before, yes, everyone (teachers, students, plumbers) should be wearing pants that do not sit so low on the hips that they gape and pull down enough to show off their bums when they are sitting down or bending over. I agree with you on that point. I just don't see why the back tattoo keeps coming up as if *IT* is the subject of scorn instead of the ass bearing fashions made for, sold to, and bought for teenagers (and 22 year old college graduates). Would a student with a calf tattoo be sent home just because he has a tattoo? It's ok to show your calf, right? I'm just curious because I don't have teenagers yet, so I can't ask them if school rules dictate what is present on your skin as well as how much of it you show. Generally speaking.

[dvdguy]

The purpose of the lower back tattoo is drastically different than tattoos in other locations, like it or not. Whether women want to admit this or not, back tattoos basically say to men (and/or other women) "See my ass? See my thong lodged in my ass? See my hot ass? See it? Do you see my hot ass? Look at my ass! Can't have it. Enjoy my ass driving you mad. Haha."

School dress code policies are generally very open-ended in high schools, leaving things open for a case by case basis. They usually say something like "appearance shall not disrupt the classroom environment". Guys in the hot 19 year old math teacher's class will be distracted enough without coming up with ways to get her to bend over to get a glimpse of her ass antlers.

Lower back tattoos, belly button rings, tongue rings... there's a reason those things would be considered disruptive in schools or the workplace. There's a highly sexualized connotation to all three of them in today's culture. Argue whatever you want about them being pretty or decorative or whatever, but ask 100 guys what they think of when they see an ass tattoo or a tongue ring and I know exactly what answer you'll get.

My main point with this whole thing is that the teachers should be held to the same standard as the students while in school.

[medeyle]

Well, as someone with what is so graciously called a "tramp stamp", I protest. I would venture that a very few, invitation-only persons have seen my ink (barring those at the beach), because I know how to buy clothes that fit. That is really the issue here - if she wore clothes that fit, you'd never have known her tattoo existed. Personally, I prefer it that way. It is her right to cover her entire body with ink if she wants to do so, but a professional attitude requires a minimum of sexualized dressing in the workplace.

I blame MTV for the serious difficulty I experience trying to find tops that touch my bottoms, but they are out there. (Being 6 feet tall doesn't help either.) It is possible to find them. The fact is that if she is really that young, she's probably never known a world where showing your back/tummy is verboten, and someone needs to take her aside and explain why it's bad. I'll bet she's never thought about it.

As a wise woman once said, "In a world where 9 year olds and grannies dress like Britney Spears, it's easy to spot a high-class prostitute entering a hotel. She's the one in the business suit."

[dvdguy]

"The fact is that if she is really that young, she's probably never known a world where showing your back/tummy is verboten, and someone needs to take her aside and explain why it's bad. I'll bet she's never thought about it."

This is the point I'm trying to make. She doesn't know it's bad, and so therefore her students aren't going to get it either. And society degrades just a little bit more.

None of this has been a battle cry against back tattoos. If you're over 18, more power to you, ink the hell out of yourself for all I care. This was just my first experience with kids and teachers since I was in school, and my first instinct was that there shouldn't be teenaged math teachers with giant honking ass brandings.

[leslie]

Uh, if I may jump in?

I think it is worth noting that only DVDguy noticed the tattoo. Draw conclusions as you will...

Medeyle, I totally agree with your observation re: clothes that fit properly-- after shopping with the teens over the past few days, I'm firmly convinced that there is a plot against proper body coverage. Forget the War On Terrorism, let's focus on the War On Modesty. (oh, and I'm totally not a prude-- I allowed the younger teen to get a navel piercing, much to the chagrin of DVDguy)

::see, honey? lots of action on the non-video post!!::

[dvdguy]

Only because I'm so controversial.

[anonymousfriend]

You say that your intention was not to make a battle cry against back tattoos and yet you write a sentence that says "my first instinct was that there shouldn't be teenaged math teachers with giant honking ass brandings"....not that "a teacher should be wearing clothes that cover her ass", but that she should not have a tattoo on her backside. Emphasis on the tattoo, just as in your original blog post. That's *my* point.

[dvdguy]

Fine. Teachers shouldn't have ass tattoos if they're not going to wear the proper clothing to cover them up while they're in school. There.

[anonymousfriend]

Sarcasm noted.

[dvdguy]

I'm not being sarcastic. People were just focusing on the wrong thing in what I was trying to say.

[anonymousfriend]

Stop censoring my comments, butthead! =P

[Erik]

Teachers shouldn't have sex, either.

Tattooed librarians, maybe...but not teachers!

[Steph]

I am an 18 year old who has only just left school this year. I have two tattoos one of which is a hideous lower back one that you hate so much. At our school there was no rule forbidding tattoos or the showing of them. A few boys in my year had their name down their arms which was clearly visible to all. I did not particularly like it, but it wasnt on my arm so why should I bother? I see not what the fiasco is, there is a law preventing anyone under the age of 18 from having a tattoo. The tattoist can be prosecuted. With this in mind, if it is your child you worry about, by the time it will be legal for them to obtain a tatto, they will be an adult. This said it will be their decision and not yours to make. People must learn from their mistakes. You cannot protect your child forever and you cannot make their decisions for them. They will be old enough to make the right decision and whatever they decide you should support them.

[koronghejo]

what a cool tattoo..

[jenn]

I love it how one user stated that an 18 year old's math teacher would be 19...Screw back tats, look at the IGNORANCE of the "ADULTS" in this world...If you're in college and get the certification to be a teacher, you are at LEAST 23-24...19 year olds are freshmen/sophomores in COLLEGE...and if not tehy CANT be a teacher.

[Kathy]

Not true, Jenn. I had a teacher who went year-round on an extra heavy load and graduated and became my teacher at age 20. Being 15 and impressionable, I looked up to this woman a great deal. Had she been sporting short shirts and a tramp stamp, I might have followed suit. I did, instead, go to school to become a teacher as she did. Thankfully, she led me in the right direction. However back to age issue, I'm certain the "19 year-old teacher" is in reference to her extra young appearance and thus extraordinary influence on her students.

Tattoos are not the issue. Proper clothing and age are the issues. Like it or not, the young teachers hold a strong influence and many have no clue how to merge from their former college lifestyles into the role of role model. Clearly showing body art right above the ass is not role model behavior.