Workplace and Academia: Who Teaches You to Wear Pants?

This statement, in general, is ridiculous. No one needs to teach you to wear pants in college or the workplace. You and I learned how to put on pants as kids. Our guardians taught us cultural norms about the expectations of wearing pants... So why are we having trouble with it now?

Let's preface this with humans are naturally lazy energy-conscious; we know and accept that. Unfortunately, humans have done more “work” than any known species, we also have to continue doing work to keep our value. Work meaning “exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something; labor; toil” From a scientific standpoint work is only produced IF result are produced. I can lean against the empire state building for days and have done zero work. I feel like I’ve looked at algebra problems for days… and done zero work. As an EMT I am expected to show up to work a certain way:

• A half hour before my shift starts.
• Wearing a clean appropriate uniform
• Having good personal hygiene
• Positive attitude
• Prepared to show the attributes
• Compassion
• Excellence
• Leadership

I 100% accept that I am not perfect. I can show up with mud on my boots from the last ditch I was pulling someone out of. I can have a stain on my shirt from the snack I wolfed down between calls. I can work for 24 hours and not get a shower or brush my teeth. I can have a bad day.

That doesn’t change the expectation. It means I’m slacking.

I was lucky enough to have been raised by two parents who wanted to raise adults. I’ve been reminded of this often from the time I was very young. It generally meant that I had, again, done something wrong and had to fix the issue. They did this on purpose, as much as I was sure that it was just to make me miserable. They did this because they didn't want me to end up on YouTube. I doubt I would have acted out a "greatest freakout 2" but the statement stands. Unfortunately, a lot of my generation the "Millennials" immediately get tagged as such. Every day I see people posting on social media about another "Millennial" wanting free stuff, not having to work, and just accepting their physiologic bias to laziness. 

While I would never say no to free stuff I also understand the burden of having to work full-time and go to school full-time. What does that have to do with pants? The three domains of learning basically show how we learn and think. The Domain that is becoming the problem is the affective or feeling domain. I can make you read a textbook and practice a skill a thousand times but I can't make you give a fuck about it. At work, I wear a uniform. When I put on my uniform I am expected to act a different way. I'm treated a different way. We know this and we use this. Doctor wear a white coat so you know they are important. Police officers wear uniforms so you know they are important. I wear a uniform so you know I'm important. We all wear different uniforms and we all act differently with them on. We take advantage of this internally by believing in the uniform, and externally by people believing in us.

A lot of things changed in my paramedic program to try and get people to care. To make us good students that can easily become good employees. To make the work we did in class, become the work we do as a career. Unfortunately, some people still believe in the school they went to as children. They believe that freedom of speech means they can curse and complain. They believe that self-expression means wearing their pajamas. In crisis, we sink to the level of our training. This is important if you trained like a sailor in their pajamas.

 I was always homeschooled. The only thing I knew about public school was that 99% of the kids there were dicks. I went from being homeschooled to working as an EMT. I was still a kid, so I was watched very closely. If my boots weren't clean I heard about it. So when the fact that we were going to wear uniforms in class dropped I didn't even flinch. We wore that uniform for everything we did outside the classroom, we're doing the same stuff inside the classroom, why wouldn't we? "Train how you play" right?

So pants. Does wearing pants effect the Thinking Domain? maybe? most likely not. Does it effect Kinesthetic Domain? Well... depends on what you're trying to do, but probably not. Does it effect the Affective Domain? Yes. I believe that if you show up in your pajamas you aren't truly punched in. You may sit in class, take notes, and answer questions. This isn't that kind of class. We aren't here to simply get a degree. We're here with a purpose, that purpose is to learn how to take care of the sick and injured, to live a life full of compassion, excellence, and leadership. To show up to your job as excited to be there on the first day as you are the hundredth and thousandth because you get to make a positive impact in someone's life.

The thing about the affective domain is that it follows you everywhere. Shockingly enough if you're a jerk in a classroom, you'll be a jerk in the workplace. If you're lazy in class, you'll be lazy at work. If you talk to your professors like their idiots... You'll probably get fired. You don't get to pick and choose who you work with. Being able to adapt and be in control of your affective domain is essential to being a good paramedic, good medical provider, and a good human. Anyone can train you to be good at starting IVs or remembering drugs. Only you can make yourself care.

Thanks for reading.