September 14, 2010
Appearance is a huge impact in the judgment of anything or anyone. It is natural for people to be attracted to things that are beautiful rather than to things that are ugly. It may sound shallow but it’s true.
In Virginia Postrel’s article, Economic Scene: Like It or Not, Appearance Counts in the Workplace, Postrel talks about how your appearance influences your job. Meeting new people, going to job interviews, or just walking down the street, there’s no doubt that you’re being judged by eyes passing by. Those eyes don’t know if you’re a nice person or if you’re the devil. They can only judge you by how well put together you look. It shows respect and seriousness. Postrel’s article also shows statistics that good looking men and women get better jobs. Yet they were compared to less good looking men and women with the same background. The truth is no one cares if you think they’re superficial if that’s what it takes to make it to the top.
In Surface and Substance, Virginia Postrel’s essay in The New Humanities Reader, Postrel talks about how people tend to pay attention to things that are in style rather than things that function better. When people shop for new things they are attracted to pretty designed products. The quality of products are being judged by their style nowadays more than their function. In Postrels essay, the former head of Motorola’s paged division said, “The moral of the story, which I repeat many, many times to engineers, is that all the fancy ass technological engineering in the world couldn’t get us a nickel more for the product.” He’s smart. I know when I go shopping I don’t even bother to look at things that seem ugly to me even if it may function better because I wont like it. I would rather pay more to get something I like the appearance of even if the product wasn’t as great.
Both Postrel’s essay and article show that sometimes substance and function just aren’t enough. You need that surface and style to compliment it.
September 15th, 2010 at 11:04 am
Good job! How does appearance play out in school? Do you think that the dynamics are the same in a workplace and in a classroom?
September 24th, 2010 at 4:51 pm
It’s funny that you ask that question because that’s what my essay was about! Appearance plays a huge role in school but it’s camouflaged by education. We see school as a place to learn but it’s also a place where students interact with each other all the time. Sometimes, interaction doesn’t come in it’s best form and problems arise. People everyday are being bullied on their appearance and for some, it affects their education.
Postrel had mentioned a section about how the appearance of a teacher in a classroom may affect teaching but I have to disagree with that. Even though your appearance in a workplace is crucial, it’s very different in a classroom. A teacher may dress odd and bizarre but if they teach well, I could care less about how he/she dresses.
In my senior year in high school, my friend had an english teacher named Mrs. Decker. When I first saw her I thought she was the weirdest person ever. She wore mismatching clothes and always stuck out but my friend told me, she was the best english teacher she had ever had. No one even minded that she was weird!