Does Appearance Matter?

Does one's appearance make a difference? When does it matter?

Some students were asked for their opinions in a Chinese newspaper, and they had differing opinions. Most said that appearance does not matter much, especially for students; as how a person looks may not be what they are like. Some of them said that some of their classmates even put on make-up before going to school. One of the students said that those who do so usually get help more often from others, but most have bad impressions on such people. Also, she comments those who buy and use such beauty products, but do not have good results or moral characters are just wasting their time and money. Another also added that most people dress nicely so that they can get more friends, but she thinks that students who have good attitudes and morals generally have more friends than those who purposely dress up and buy beauty products.

On the other hand, some others argue that appearance is very important as most people judge a person by his first appearance. One student also says that those that go for plastic surgery have a significant increase in confidence after they come back as they feel more beautiful and have greater confidence in oneself.

I think that appearance can be important at times. For a student, when going for formal events such as interviews for DSA (Direct School Admission) and during his oral examinations, he has to be presentable to the interviewer/ examiner and it is true that most people judge a stranger by his first appearances. However, a student goes to school to learn new things and does not need to waste time doing such things. Not only is time and money wasted on such beauty products, the time used on such things can be used alternatively can be used to upgrade oneself, academically and non-academically.

In my opinion, beauty products should not be used by students. Like what one of the students said, how a person dresses does not reflect entirely on the person's personality and his attitude. I think that parents should step in if their children buy such beauty products to use. If their children buy them in an attempt to make more friends at school, they should explain to them that changing their attitude or improving their studies would work better and they need not use beauty products.

In conclusion, I think that appearance does matter, but not so much that one needs to specially make an effort to look nice all the time.