Within today’s culture, there is a consensus among children and adults as to who is attractive and who is not. We favor a look that is perceived to be beautiful, which can be similar or different to other cultures. These standards play a large role in the way an individual is treated during their life. Aesthetic discrimination has a positive or negative effect on everyone.

In schools, this holds true and can disrupt a student’s learning environment. It is proven that what our culture perceives as an “unattractive” child is chosen less often as a playmate, treated less favorably and characterized with more negative social behaviors by other children, such as being dishonest and unpleasant. On the other hand, attractive children are perceived by some children as having more positive characteristics. They are thought of by teachers as more intelligent, more interested in school and more likely to succeed socially and academically. The same goes for names – children often perceive others with more melodic names as more intelligent and social.

It disturbs me that two people can act in the exact same way, but because of aesthetic value, one is likely to be treated better. I’ve seen this happen, more in high school than in college, considering students interact more with their teachers and other students in class. Sometimes students would want to be in a group with “smarter” students who are also more attractive. I didn’t realize it at the time, but in hindsight, after learning about aesthetic discrimination, these tendencies did hold true.

Looks in our society mean so much and progressive educational research proves how they affect people for their whole lives. Progressive education is learning that goes beyond the walls of the classroom and into the community, such as going on field trips. Lessons include topics other than the basics in order to best address the needs of a student. These needs go beyond the standard information a student can learn, as it addresses the whole child, their emotions, values and character, which I learned all of this in Education 351 with Professor Clement Seldin.

Unfortunately, or fortunately for these people, the pattern continues as children grow to adulthood. In the Business Insider article, “Check Out How Much More Often Beautiful Women Get Callbacks For Job Interviews,” Max Nisen explains how Italian researchers Giovanni Busetta, Fabio Fiorillo and Emanuela Visalli of the University of Messina and University Politecnica delle Marche studied the effect of beauty on job searching. They sent out over 10,000 of the same resumes, changing only the first and last name, address and the corresponding photo to test ethnic and regional prejudice and the impact of beauty.

They discovered that the average callback rate for attractive women was 54 percent and for unattractive women seven percent. For attractive men it was 47 percent and unattractive men had a rate of 26 percent. Other factors played into it as well, as the callback rates for resumes from non-Italians were lower but regional differences weren’t significant. They found that, “the results testing for attractiveness were more statistically significant.”

The callback rate for women is lower than men due to gender bias. Other studies show that gender can play a role similar to aesthetic discrimination. Men are traditionally more favored in the workforce.

Due to online profiles for job searching where photos are included, such as LinkedIn, whether employers realize it or not, they are considering more than just credentials of a potential future employee. If your profile isn’t complete with a picture, it makes you seem less reputable, so there really isn’t a way to win.

Even if employers claim that they don’t take the photo or a person’s gender into consideration, the bias is there. I believe that this background knowledge that can’t be unseen does in fact play a role in an employer’s decision. We need to figure out a way to choose the person who would be best qualified for the job.

Aside from employment, as a society, we also need to put aside our judgmental thoughts and take the time to know a person’s character. Teaching young children the value of character is important because, as some of us can attest to, what is deemed to be an unattractive child can grow up to be attractive. However, these children may grow up lacking the confidence that make them beautifully well-rounded. The “ugly duckling syndrome” has the potential to decline as long as it is recognized.

Karen Podorefsky is a Collegian columnist and can be reached at [email protected].