Letters: Tolerating slovenliness is a losing tactic

Philadelphia Daily News

UNLIKE columnist Jenice Armstrong, I applaud

the new dress code at Morehouse College.

For too long, we black Americans have tolerated a declining standard of dress, behavior and morals in our youth, not just in schools and neighborhoods, but in the media - always with the refrain that "they're asserting their individuality," "it's a part of the culture," "they just want to be different from their elders" - usually accompanied by ridiculous responses such as "Don't hate."

Yet these same youths expect to be taken seriously by potential employers when seeking high-paying, and prestigious careers. The harsh reality is that first impressions do count when you apply for a job in person, and when you go for an interview after your application merits further consideration.

Contrary to what is regarded as acceptable by many young people, appearances do count, and in the business world that means conservative, whether it's a boardroom, a bank branch or City Hall. It reflects the serious nature of the activities.

This even includes, of all things, the performers, crew and backers of the music and TV shows directed at our youth. Ask any of those if they trust their salaries to one of their "boyz in tha hood," or do they put it in a respectable financial institution?

Take P. Diddy and the businesses he's involved in, including his reality show. The fact that he's appeared in a series of commercials featuring prominent business people speaks volumes. Nobody in those commercials was wearing a half-dozen gold chains, baseball caps turned backward, pants drooping to the point of exposing their underwear or baggy sweatshirts.

This is not simply a difference of opinion between those of us generally referred to as being "old school" and the current generation. Morehouse officials, in enforcing a dress code, are sending the message that, as part of providing an education, they are preparing future graduates what is expected of them in the business world, which many of them hope and expect to join.

There's another point to be made in this discussion. One young man involved in the debate made a comment to the effect that Morehouse College was a business, and that, in being there, he was the "CEO."

Yes, Morehouse College is, in effect, a business, providing a product (his education). But he is not a CEO, but a customer/consumer.

And like any other business that can post a sign at the entrance stating "No shirt, no shoes, no service," Morehouse College can also enforce a standard of appropriate dress by its "customers."

C.E. Cox Jr., Downingtown

Sayonara, Dad

Re the Boy in the Balloon:

I say we put the kid's father on a slow balloon to China.

Jim Acton, Collegeville

Comments

Posted 06:39 AM, 10/26/2009

Rowdy Roddy

Right on,Mr, Cox! I wish more colleges would follow Moorehouse's example.

Posted 09:16 AM, 10/26/2009

Lori T.

I agree! After attending classes with students who wear pj's and slippers, looking like they didn't bother to brush their hair or teeth, it is refreshing to see someone do something. Have a little class people!

Posted 10:43 AM, 10/26/2009

positiveinfluence

Totally agree with Mr. Cox. As a proud alumni of Hampton University I believe that all HBCU's should follow suite. Morehouse like Hampton is a private school with a reputation to uphold. If you don't like the rules...go somewhere else

Posted 12:31 PM, 10/26/2009

obviousman#1

sup

Posted 01:00 PM, 10/26/2009

PotteryPete

AMEN, Mr. Cox. I wish more schools would enact rules like this. They should be teaching more than just the the "3 Rs". Parents fail the kids, at least the schools are giving it a shot.

Posted 01:24 PM, 10/26/2009

Niko

Even fast food places have laxed standards in hiring now. When I was a kid, no way you could've worked at McDonalds with visible tattoos on your neck, or arms. Guess so many people have them now that the fast food places had no choice. Regardless, there's a time and a place for "self expression" but it's not always in corporate America.

Posted 05:33 PM, 10/26/2009

CountryRose

Mr. Cox, I agree. But when the college faculty of Temple, and so many other local institutions, look as they, too, just got out of bed, don't groom themselves or smell too good either, are role models for the young uns, what are the students to emulate. College professorship (in Philadelphia -- I don't know a thing about Moorhouse) is the only job where there is not even close to a dress code!

Posted 11:20 PM, 10/26/2009

Delaware Jim

Looking like you just crawled out of bed is sexy. The next trend in hip-hop baseball hats is to wear them inside-out. Oh yeah, the new dress code at Drexel is top-hat and tails for guys and ballroom gowns for the women. You can start working an extra job to pay for the cleaning bills.

Posted 08:31 PM, 10/27/2009

shrt45

Put a tuxedo on a pig, it's still a pig. As for the so called professors they are just old hippies that are still chasing Utopia, and the brain dead government educated kids suck it up.