I wouldn’t have worn a clown suit in high school, per se… but in college I made campus newspapers (plural; I transferred from one university to another and one major to another mid-undergraduate… and thus ended up taking five years for my bachelor’s) by wearing fake fox ears and tails, and later a bright blue cloak. Not because I wanted to make a statement. Not because I was TRYING to make everybody’s day a bit more surreal, though that was definitely a bonus. Just because I wanted to, and wasn’t about to let conformity get in the way.
One of my professors had a problem with this. One. And it’s telling that rather than say “I have a problem with you wearing that sort of thing in class”, he instead insisted that it was disruptive to other students. Now, I could have argued my position, taken a poll of my classmates, or complained to higher authorities in the department. Instead… I took off my ears whenever I was in that professor’s class, because I was paying to learn that course, and I wasn’t about to let a problem that may have been wholly the professor’s, or legitimately the other students’, get in the way of that just because I wanted to wear a ridiculous outfit to class.
I do admit that I probably would not have been so respectful and mature had I been eleven years old learning Potions. I do recall being respectful to my Chemistry instructor at twelve years… but then, I wasn’t wearing an unusual outfit, there. ;)
I wouldn’t have worn a clown suit in high school, per se… but in college I made campus newspapers (plural; I transferred from one university to another and one major to another mid-undergraduate… and thus ended up taking five years for my bachelor’s) by wearing fake fox ears and tails, and later a bright blue cloak. Not because I wanted to make a statement. Not because I was TRYING to make everybody’s day a bit more surreal, though that was definitely a bonus. Just because I wanted to, and wasn’t about to let conformity get in the way.
One of my professors had a problem with this. One. And it’s telling that rather than say “I have a problem with you wearing that sort of thing in class”, he instead insisted that it was disruptive to other students. Now, I could have argued my position, taken a poll of my classmates, or complained to higher authorities in the department. Instead… I took off my ears whenever I was in that professor’s class, because I was paying to learn that course, and I wasn’t about to let a problem that may have been wholly the professor’s, or legitimately the other students’, get in the way of that just because I wanted to wear a ridiculous outfit to class.
I do admit that I probably would not have been so respectful and mature had I been eleven years old learning Potions. I do recall being respectful to my Chemistry instructor at twelve years… but then, I wasn’t wearing an unusual outfit, there. ;)