Kids These Days:

Forty-five years ago, students in the Los Angeles area public schools went to the opera once a year during a school day. I cannot tell you which operas we saw, but I do remember having to get dressed up for the occasion. That meant girls wearing nice dresses and boys wearing ties, and as much as the boys complained, we secretly liked the chance to wear fancy duds.

Over the years, standards have relaxed, and Americans appear to be dressing down, or perhaps it is more accurate to say that they are not dressing up.

There are many good examples, including the tendency of our president to dress down and the near-absence of church attendees in their Sunday best. Churches relaxed their standards many years ago in an attempt to stay current and draw a younger audience.

But I wonder whether our dressing down is good.

To be sure, dressing up is situational. In Hawaii, few businessmen wear ties. In New York, few businessmen don’t.

Uniforms are mandatory in some schools but not in others.

There was evidence over the weekend that in some cultures, dress codes are still appropriate.

Upon his arrival in Vancouver to compete in the snowboard events, Kazuhiro Kokubo was filmed at the airport wearing his suit the way one might expect a snowboarding young man to wear it: His pants were hanging low, his tie loosened and his shirt untucked. In short, he looked like a slob, not someone who should be honored to represent his country at the Olympics.

Perhaps that was the problem, for Kokubo later said that the Olympics are “just another snowboarding event,” and “nothing special.”

Well, the folks in charge of the Japanese delegation disagreed. Appalled at Kokubo’s lack of respect for his country and himself — and for the games of the Olympiad — they banned him from attending the opening ceremony, one of the best perks of being an Olympic athlete.

To his credit, Kokubo apologized for the way he wore his suit.

Clothes make a difference in the way we are perceived, and there is evidence that dressing like an authority figure will provide the wearer with increased credibility.

Today, though, we seem to be sacrificing our opportunities for authority for the ability to blend in. Locally, I have seen the last teacher in jeans that I wish to see.

Apparently, my old-school thinking on dress codes is in the minority. Some school districts around the country have specific dress codes that require teachers to dress up, but most have caved to the demands of teachers unions and the right to self-expression. Court challenges to dress codes have had mixed results.

Next month, I will be attending a large medical conference to speak on a particular area of expertise I possess. I have been to this conference around the country several times and have observed that most of the men do not wear ties, even those who are presenting papers or other scientific data.

I will wear a tie, in part because I want to look the part of an expert, but also because there is a certain decorum in a highly professional setting that should be maintained.

Yes, I’d like to see more enforcement of dress codes for teachers. At the headquarters of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, they set a very good example. Men, for example, wear ties. If it’s good enough for the brass, it should be good enough for the rank and file.

But there’s another reason. When he saw how Kokubo was wearing his suit, one Japanese Olympic official said, “It is not the way the Japanese delegation should dress themselves while taxpayers’ money is spent on them.”

STEVE SMITH is a Costa Mesa resident and a freelance writer. Send story ideas to [email protected] .