I Don’t Know Any Teachers Who Dress Like This

The Wall Street Journal is at it again.

Today it had a story, “A Studied Look: Fall Menswear’s Professorial Style“, that looked at the newest outfits allegedly designed for college teachers.

I’ve written before about the outrageous clothing for men that is often featured in the Wall Street Journal, but as a college teacher, I thought that perhaps today’s article would be relevant to me.

I should have known better. Here are the four outfits suggested by various designers that offer that “professorial” look.

1. It’s Academic

2. The Ancient History Prof

3. The Elegant and Artsy Educator

4. The Tidy Teacher’s Aide

While I was reading the article my first thought was that it was a guest piece from some of the writers at The Onion. But then I realized it was a real story, and that those are real prices.

I’ve been a teacher for 30 years, and I would estimate that I have spent less on clothing over those 30 years combined than the cost of the first outfit shown above, which has a total price of almost $7,300.

I can perhaps understand that having a plain old “real estate” section may not be good enough for the Journal, and hence the need to refer to that section as “Mansion“.

But writing about $7,300 outfits for teachers!? Doesn’t the author have any idea of how much we earn?

For some reason this story seems more outrageous than the one about the $50 million townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side that was shown in yesterday’s Journal.

I have never seen any teacher I know wearing the types of outfits shown above, and you can be sure you’ll never see me dressed like that.

All I can say is thank heaven for Kohl’s, Boscov’s, and thrift shops.

Perhaps what I save on clothing can go towards a townhouse on the Upper East Side…