Hey gang. Me again; 48/teacher/14months growth. My last post had to do with a rude coworker who made a crack about my (new) ponytail and my (poor) role model to the students. By coincidence, a month later the local paper did an article about men in elementary education. I was on the front page of the local Sunday paper; the first line read, "It's not just the ponytail that sets him apart..." Can you believe that! Other things about me were mentioned of course, but my hair got top billing. It was a good article. I was proud and got a lot of recognition from friends and strangers alike. As has been discussed here, our hair does (in some ways) define us and in other ways is only a small part of who we really are. But,I hope that article opened some people's eyes to the fact that there are men with long hair in all walks of life and in all professions. It's that simple.
P.S. If I'm lucky, some fine woman who likes longhairs may have read it and be looking for me as I write this!!!
congratulations! that is an incredible story! does your paper have a website so that we may access it as well?
regardless, congratulations. so glad a long-hair made the front page!!! :-)
mjtoo
Fantastic news for all of us, and as a teacher, I am especially proud! I was also featured in a newspaper article recently, and though my hair was not mentioned, there was a large picture of me working with a student, ponytail clearly visible. That they were willing to run it was good enough for me.
This ought to put your colleague in a better place to reflect on her comments!
The school my daughters used to go to had a 2nd grade teacher with a pony tail. We served on the PTA together. I think he and I were the only males on the PTA. I think I had the longest hair, and his was 2nd longest.
I have hair of mid-back length, certainly shorter than yours, yet it is not rare at all for me to be in a mixed-sex crowd of a few dozen people or so and still have the longest hair of anyone there! Although women tend to have longer hair than men, only a small fraction of them seem to have hair down to mid-back.
Geez, they still haven't gotten used to ponytails enough yet to not make that the first focus? Wasn't it practically required in the 70's for professors to have one?
Yep along with the PHD your given a ponytail, a pair of glasses and a beard... They are mandatory wearing as part of the job, dont you know!