As the dean spoke, however, I came to realize that I did not dress as well as I had thought.  My shoes are a little scuffed.  I do not tuck in my shirts.  My jeans, though they are clean and neat, are jeans none-the-less.  And I could probably use a hair cut.  I would have to make drastic changes in my wardrobe if I ever want to be successful in the business world.  I do not even own a suit that fits me anymore.

The more I listened, the more questions I had.  Why exactly do I need a suit?  A shirt and tie?  What is it that makes these such an important key to success?  Why is dress so important?  I agree that in some jobs, it can be very important.  When I spent the summer working in the menswear department at Sears, I had to wear dress pants, a dress shirt, and a tie every day.  This made sense because I was in the business of selling clothes.  I would not buy clothes from someone in worn jeans and a torn t-shirt.  However, I think jeans or khakis and a polo shirt are more than nice enough attire to work in an office.  But apparently, the country's leaders in business and industry disagree.  Surely business leaders do not get where they are by being dumb.  Surely they must realize that dress does not matter as long as someone is competent at what they do.  At the beginning of the semester, the dean pointed out that when engineers mess up, people die.  When I am driving and come to a bridge, I do not care how wide the engineer's tie was that designed that bridge, or how shiny his shoes were.  All I care about is that he or she knew what they were doing so the bridge does not collapse when I drive over it.  It is what is inside a person's head that matters, not what they wear on their bodies.  It is grossly unfair to judge people on their clothing.

But wait a minute.  The dean so much as admitted that it was unfair, but that it was the way things were.  Then, a more important question came to mind, one that made me outright angry.  More important than their reasons, what gives business leaders the right to dictate what we wear?  We were told of people actually being denied a job because some flaw in their attire.  This is more than just unfair.  This is America, and a good job is a right, not a privilege.  Anyone who does anything to hinder getting a good job is guilty of a human rights violation.  Deny a person a job because of the color of their skin, and you will be hanged in public opinion and possibly even prosecuted.  Deny a person a job because their shoes are not shiny enough, and people will go in front of college lecture halls and try to rationalize such an injustice.  When telling of time pastwhen women on campus were forbidden to wear pants, the dean stated that we have come a long way.  I have to disagree with this.  Allowing women to wear pants may be an improvement, but it is only a small baby step in an entire marathon.  When a person can still be judged on how pressed the back of their pants are, it only goes to show that we still have a very long way to go.

But what choice do we have?  The people making these decisions are the ones that give us jobs and can just as easily take them away.  The corporate leaders hold all the power.  If we do not submit to their dress codes and other regulations, they can make our lives very uncomfortable.  They think they know what is best for the rest of us and that this gives them the right to control our lives.  Sound familiar?  The Taliban told people how to dress, too, and most would agree that the Taliban was next to pure evil.  So why do we let employers get away with it?  Now, of course, they do not shoot people for failing to comply.  No, they are much more subtle than that.  If a person does not dress the way an employer wants them to, they will either be fired or not hired in the first place.  Until such time that they submit to wearing some employer's version of a burqa, they will be sentenced to an endless term of unemployment and despair.  Finally, death will be a welcome relief from homelessness and starvation.

When are we going to stop letting the aristocracy, the leaders of business and industry, tell us how to dress, how to act, how to live?  I place the blame on generations that have come before us.  I cannot help thinking that if people had spent less time saying "it's unfair, but that's the way it is" and more time speaking out and trying to change things, than maybe things would not be so unfair.

So, after all this ranting, what have I learned?  I have learned that I need to pay more attention to my personal appearance.  I have to buy a suit, new shoes, and a new belt.  Before that next interview, I will make sure that my shoes are polished nice and shiny, and that my pants are neatly pressed.  Why?  Not because I think it will make me a better person or affect my brain chemistry in a way as to make me more competent at my job, but merely because I do not want to end up unemployed, homeless, and starve to death.