Remember what school picture day was like when you were a kid? All the kids with fresh hair cuts, wearing clothes that came with mother's instructions to not get dirty, and the teasing and excitement. On Monday, we had school picture day. Faculty photos were taken in anticipation of news releases about our stunning research findings and for updating our aging (no pun intended) webpages.
We meandered down to the gym (yes, we have a basketball court in this old building) according to the time honored system of last names A-G at 10am, H-I at 11am, etc. In the middle of the photo taking, we had the first all faculty meeting of this academic school year. It's normally a bland event with committee reports and a few faculty eating crunchy lunches. But, not so this time. Men came wearing nice jackets and pressed shirts, carrying their ties with care. Surprisingly, many actually have suits. Women wore jackets and their best jewelry. We looked so professional, it almost made me proud.
The "almost" part was that I realized that: (a) the photos would be a slightly glamorized version of us whereas impromptu photos in our office would be realistic, and (b) the difference between our everyday look and today reflected how the world has become increasingly informal. A part of me longed for the days when we all had to (and partly wanted to) look the part of being a professional. For me, that meant bit of business tailoring in all that I wore. But, it seems like those times are gone. The world has gone casual in dress and I worry that we have also gone causal in so many other areas. Casual in our relationships. Casual our our self-disclosure. Casual in our thinking. I wonder what this means for the future of education and science. Maybe nothing. But then again....
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