Thursday, January 22, 2009

A teacher with a tattoo?

So I'm thinking about getting a tattoo on the side of my calf. I absolutely love it: it's a total scuba diver's tattoo so it'll be a reminder of all the things I love about scuba diving. These are all animals that are threatened or near threatened (in the case of the manta ray) by human activity, so it reminds me to always be mindful of my choices and what effect they have on the world around me. Finally, it reminds me of Maui, my little piece of Heaven On Earth.

The thing is, I've always been told "Never get a tattoo: no one will hire a teacher with a tattoo". Okay, it was usually mom telling me this and she's understandably biased to keeping her daughter tattoo-free, but she's a teacher too. On the other hand, we have several teachers with tribal bands or anklet tattoos and stuff and someone felt it was okay to hire them. Even the former Catholic school teacher has an anklet tattoo with a cross (appropriate in ironic ways). So I figure: why can't I?

What do you think? Is it okay for a teacher to have a tattoo? Mine won't be visible unless I wear a pair of shorts, unlikely for me at school. But does a tattoo on a teacher diminish the respect you have for them? I'm dying to know: my appointment is next Saturday and I'm as nervous as a cat in a room-full of rocking chairs.

1 comment:

Ulk said...

You're asking the wrong guy. You could be my instructor with 3' crowbars for earrings and I wouldn't care. I was in an art school for sometime... so I've seen just about everything.

On the other hand, I feel like an ankle tattoo is no big deal. I've spent a bit of time with professional development, and it's usually the sleeves or facial tattoos that get shunned. You should be ok.