When you meet someone, the first thing they notice about you is your physical appearance. Your physical appearance controls your future; having visible tattoos, body piercings, and dyed hair are not things society takes lightly. When you look at people who hold a lot of influence in society, you usually don’t see people with body modifications.

When you look at someone the first thing you do is judge them. You take in their physical appearance, what they wear and how they wear it. The second thing you do is make accusations. You assume things about their personality or about their life in general. It is something we all do, even if we don’t mean to intentionally. Some people treat others badly because of their first impressions when in reality, they do not know the person or their abilities. When you finally talk to that person, you may find out that their personality is nothing like you thought.

Mr. Morrow, a teacher here at Back of the Yards College Prep, was asked about his experience of how people acted towards him and his teaching career since he has body modifications (visible tattoos). His response was, “I used to have to cover my tattoos at my old school, but there wasn’t as much support for the arts where I came from, and things were more conservative overall. However, I’ll never forget Dr. Brekke asking me all about my tattoos with great enthusiasm when I was hired here at BOYCP! I think our team really appreciates and respects diversity and all the crazy things that make us who we are.” People here at Back of the Yards College Prep don’t judge one another based off of physical appearance but off of their skills and abilities.

As a young adult, I’m told to not get visible body modifications because I will not be able to receive a job since it’s believed to be unprofessional. People who have a job requiring them to interact with various customers or business partners are, sometimes, asked to cover up. Many people think that their body modifications will affect a person’s work performance because their appearance may represent something negative. But, as I get older and meet more people, I notice a large pool of working-class people who have body modifications. Some of these people are teachers, doctors, or people who are on their way to becoming successful. If you walk into a high school or a college you are going to find many students with body modifications. The youth is our future and our future generations will be the game changers. In the future, it will be acceptable to have body modifications since the majority of the young adults today obtain them. With today’s generation changing, 1 out of 5.21 percent, of adults today have tattoos, and 40 percent of people who have tattoos range from the ages of 18 to 29.

– Josephine Sulls