Should a person's appearance have an affect on their job status? Where is the line that can't be crossed? Who decides where that line is? This guy could very well be the best teacher any of us have ever seen.

Personally, I think there's a line. It's flexible, but it's there.

This guy mentions he had an existential crisis (whatever that means) which led to the tattoos. I dunno, I think it's extreme and extremes of any sort are abnormal to me. I don't care whether it's faith or exercising.

http://ca.yahoo.com/news/frenchman-says-tattoos-cost-him-095941619.html

PALAISEAU, France (Reuters) - A schoolteacher whose body, face and tongue are covered in tattoos and who has had the whites of his eyes surgically turned black said he was prevented from teaching at a French kindergarten after a parent complained he scared their child.

But the teacher, Sylvain Helaine, 35, still teaches children from the age of six up, and said that, after an initial shock when they see him for the first time, his pupils see past his appearance.

"All of my students and their parents were always cool with me because basically they knew me," said Helaine, who estimated he has spent around 460 hours under the tattooists' needle.

"It's only when people see me from far away that they can assume the worst."

He said last year he was teaching kindergarten at the Docteur Morere Elementary School in Palaiseau, a suburb of Paris, when the parents of a three-year-old child complained to educational authorities. They said their son, who was not taught by Helaine, had nightmares after seeing him.

A couple of months later the school authorities informed him he would no longer teach kindergarten children, he said. "I think the decision they took was quite sad," said Helaine.

A spokesman for the local education authority said an agreement was reached with Helaine to move him away from teaching kindergarten. Pupils under six "could be frightened by his appearance", the spokesman said.

Despite the setbacks, Helaine said he would stick with his chosen career. "I'm a primary school teacher ... I love my job."

He said he started getting tattoos at the age of 27 when, while teaching at a private school in London, he had an "existential crisis". Since then, he said, "Getting tattoos is my passion."

He said he hoped to show his pupils that they should accept people who are different from the norm. "Maybe when they are adults they will be less racist and less homophobic and more open-minded," he said.

I think it's extreme and extremes of any sort are abnormal to me.

hmmm

A couple of years back I volunteered to to cultural lessons to schools that requested an Australian culture class. I had two (older) Korean women ask me to remove my earrings when I visited their school. I though this was ridiculous because the schools were the ones that wanted an Australian culture class and if I had to change my appearance so the students would be more 'comfortable' then what's the point of having a lesson about culture? I'm pretty confident in my ability to present a lesson and having piercings or tattoos doesn't affect one's ability to teach, it's just an appearance thing that doesn't dictate your skills or abilities.

maybe I'm getting conservative in my "old age" but this is a little over the top. it's WAY too distracting. I can't see how children would be able to focus on the class and not his appearance. and for young children, it definitely could be scary.
I have to agree with the what did you expect thoughts. there is hardly any skin to be seen. and then he gets his pupils dyed. just, no.
there are definitely places where I wouldn't give his appearance a second thought, but teaching in a school, mmmm...no thanks.

Mordor?

haha, yes that is one.
I could see this guy working in a tattoo shop, a bar, a music venue, just not a school.

"Kob" is an interesting typo. It could be read in so many very interesting ways...
 

Getting a tattoo hurts, I have a few. However, I have heard the eyes are at the low end of the pain spectrum.

I give this dude mad props because he went through some serious pain getting inked like that.

I'm a little surprised they let him teach Kindergarten to begin with. I'm even more surprised that he's still a primary teacher but kids that age may be old enough to dig it in a strange way.

I'm a little surprised they let him teach Kindergarten to begin with.

He got the job first then got the tattoos. In France and many places elsewhere in the world it's very hard to fire workers.  In the USA, very easy. Which is a big reason they are the world's most successful economy in my opinion. Imagine wanting to replace a bad worker with someone better but not be able to. In economies like this it's harder to be hired because employers are wary. They'll be forced to live with the bad decision. In America however if you screw up or slack  you can be let go. Easier to get a job and easier to lose the job overall. (But if you do good work, that is, provide value, meaning you're earning the paycheck, you have nothing to worry about. You're paid according to what you're worth in the free market.)

Hear! hear!

All I see and hear is a teenager still stuck in their rebellious phase.

yes, exactly. you are free to choose to do what you want with your body, but others are also free to judge you on those choices

yes, exactly. you are free to choose to do what you want with your body, but others are also free to judge you on those choices

"You shouldn't judge people."

- person who does not reflect or ponder in any meaningful sense