Chapter 10 Reprint from 1st Edition: The Intersection of Aestheticism and Administrative Placement at Payton High: Case Study

This case is centered on the term “aestheticism,” the discrimination or bias against those who do not possess the most desired physical qualities. In this particular case, the authors have chosen to highlight how African American administrators might be selected, assigned, or appointed based on their physical attributes and characteristics. The authors have chosen to reintroduce the term “aestheticism,” which originally appeared in Victorian England in the mid-1800s. It had a connotation of an appreciation and dissemination of middle-class beauty with regard to art and style. However, it is the authors’ goal in this reintroduction of aestheticism to “ismatize” it as a potential “ism” that highlights a void regarding the covert and overt discrimination that many individuals face on a daily basis as result of physical appearances that are not directly related to their race, ethnicity, religion, or gender.