Several years ago as an emeritus (64 dollar word for retired) member of the University of Kentucky (UK) physiology department I was asked by Fred Zechman, former Dept chair, to reflect on a personal experience or two which may be of historical significance for the department's 50^th^ anniversary. I managed to do that with as little academic verbiage as I could get by with.
In reflecting on that experience, I would like to comment on something that I was involved in most of my academic career -- the fostering of effective health science education. I have written journal articles and taught graduate students about the merits of such things as active learning and the importance of interaction with students. However, what seemed to have considerably helped me to become a better teacher was not things like mastering active learning, but rather something much more simple: ceasing to wear neckties to class. Let me back up and start from the beginning on this rather odd revelation.
On my 50^th^ birthday I received an AARP membership card from someone who either had it in for me or didn't know any better. So I said to myself , "Self, if you're going to do something noteworthy on this auspicious occasion of reaching the half century mark you had better get on with it. Birthdays don't last very long." So, I decided to give myself a birthday present in the form of permission to cease wearing neckties in all but the most formal and mandatory of occasions, these being but two -- weddings and funerals. Actually, it is only mandatory that you wear a tie to funerals. However, it's best to suit up, tie and all, for both just in case you get them mixed up, which is easy to do seeing how they have a lot in common. Consider that both funerals and weddings are among the rare occasions when the whole family gets together, involve the clergy in some manner, have flowers in abundance and consist of eulogies, for the deceased and for the groom (again, sometimes hard to distinguish between the two).
I started wearing ties on a regular basis when I began my college teaching career at the age of 28. Although, I admit, they did work well as blackboard erasers, by the time I reached 50 I'd had it with their downsides. I was tired of strangling myself every morning getting them on. Tired of getting them caught in desk drawers. Tired of catching them on fire with Bunsen burners. Tired of dipping them in bowls of soup -- our dog Linus fetched one such decorated tie out of the laundry basket and ate it. And I was tired of having my dad fuss at me because I couldn't tie a Winsor knot, whatever that was, or is. So, at the ripe old age of 50 I said "enough is enough" and all of my ties have since made it to the Good Will save two or three that my children have given me over the years. A tie with a picture of a panda bear isn't exactly funeral fare, but I doubt that anyone would notice, deceased included.
A strange thing happened after I stopped routinely wearing ties. My mind started to clear up. I'd been in a fog for over 20 years and didn't know it. But I should have. Any 'C' student of physiology could have told me that you can't put something around your neck that impedes both breathing and blood flow to the brain for long periods of time without there being consequences. I am sure that's why during my tie wearing days I did really stupid things, such as spending an entire election cycle as a Republican.
Anyway, post necktie my understanding of physiology, as well as ability to teach it, began to improve. For example, I could better explain difficult concepts, such as homeostasis, something that even its founders, such as Walter Cannon, didn't have a good handle on (Walter was rarely seen without a necktie!). Another thing that happened post necktie is that I was able to interact much better with students because I became less up tight and anal retentive. On this note, I'll bet that the folks who make laxatives and the folks who make neckties are in cahoots. But the most convincing evidence that chucking neckties made me a better teacher is that all, as in every one, of my teaching awards, deserved or not, came post necktie.
Remember the saying "never trust anyone over 30" that youngsters came up with a generation or two ago?! Now I am convinced that was sound advice which didn't have anything to do with ageing, but rather had to do with the fact that 30 is about the age when men back then started wearing ties on a daily basis. Let's think about this, and consider some of the men folks that we know of who are rarely seen without a tie. The ones that immediately come to mind are Congress, CEOs, Wall Street executives, televangelists and university presidents. I am sure there are more, but that is enough to illustrate that what tie wearing men have in common is that there is not a single one of them you would buy a used car from (used car salesmen also fall into the habitual tie wearing category). In other words, these people can't be trusted, just like the youngsters a generation or two ago predicted for the over 30 crowd.
However, there are habitual tie wearing professionals who you at least should be able to trust. At the top of this list are physicians, but I do fervently wish that the AMA would ban the wearing of neckties by MDs. I get most apprehensive when being treated for an ailment by someone whose cerebral blood flow has been compromised.
To be thorough, professional women, including MDs and college profs, are occasionally seen sporting a necktie, or some such thing, but it is very rare. This is not to imply that women have more fashion sense than men. They don't, as evidenced by spike heels.
Fortunately, in general MDs and college profs don't wear neckties all that much anymore. I think that this fact, more so than anything else, has to with why the quality of both medicine and higher education have improved over the past decade or two. So, all you MDs and college profs, mostly those of the Y chromosome persuasion, who remain hangers on to the old ways, quit wearing neckties to the clinic and to class, or anywhere else for that matter, save perhaps a funeral or a wedding. Your patients and students respectively will be deeply appreciative, and for you profs who remain with UK, you will be moving that institute down the road toward making it into the top 20 in something besides basketball.