Be
respectful or pack up and leave — for
good
Jamie Rowe
Oh God, here it comes.
Class ends in five minutes. Only five! I had better start putting my notebook
in my backpack. I
might as well zip my backpack up as well.
Ah, packing up early. We all do it. We all like being able to just grab our stuff
and leave right at the time class gets out. But what are we leaving? The classroom?
The professor standing behind a lectern? All those losers who are too nerdy to
put their stuff away early? Or are we really just leaving behind our education?
While sitting in my mythology class, with 10 minutes left, I suddenly noticed
all the people around me were putting their notes in their binders, their binders
in their backpacks, their backpacks on their shoulders and their sunglasses on
their faces.
The professor was still talking as people were practically jumping out of their
seats in a rush to leave the room and go God knows where — another class,
to get lunch, meet up with friends or a significant other, work — really,
the possible destinations are endless.
I feel sorry for the people who disengage their brains for the last few precious
moments of class time. Just because it is at the end does not mean the material
in the lecture is any less important.
These students are missing out on the very education for which they pay thousands
of dollars. We bitch and moan about fee increases and yet we completely blow
off the very thing we are paying for.
Professor Tom Guffrey in the chemistry department always said he wanted to make
sure his students got their tuitions’ worth out of his class. More teachers
should have this philosophy.
Sure, it’s nice when they recognize they will
not be able to finish a point with five minutes left in class and so let their
students leave early, but for those who know they can make one final point, give
us one final nugget of knowledge, those last five minutes are precious and need
to be used. We, as students, owe those professors our respect and attention.
We all know if we were at the front of a classroom and our students stopped paying
attention and started leaving, we would be hurt and wonder why we even bothered
to show up and do our job. I am sure many of our professors currently feel this
way every time they teach a class.
This lack of respect is causing them to hate
their jobs, which lowers their desire to teach. This can have drastic effects
on the education we worked so hard in high school to earn.
Students today lack respect for their professors. If a professor is too strict,
we tell all our friends how much of a jerk he is and look down on him in any
way we can possibly find. If a professor gives us too much homework or actually
tests us on the knowledge she has provided us, we think she is evil and out to
get us.
But really, all they want to do is their job. Professors really do care about
their students. They put a lot of time, effort and energy into creating a course
that will educate and enlighten their students.
But aside from the complaints we make outside of class, there are issues with
our behavior inside the classroom itself.
Cell phones have pervaded every faction of our society. Only our grandparents
and out-of-date people do not have one of these handy little gadgets. As such,
we should know to turn them off before we go to class. It is disruptive and annoying
to hear the Black Eyed Peas’’“My Humps” coming from the
backpack of the girl sitting next to you, just as the professor is explaining
a crucial detail about differential equations.
In general, unnecessary noise is, well, unnecessary. I do not want to hear you
talk about your date from the night before or what you had for lunch when I’m
straining to hear the professor explain how a preposition takes an object. If
you need to share your personal life with your fellow classmates, do it before
or after class.
And please, eat on your own time. Crumpling paper or plastic bags to get another
tiny morsel of strudel is another addition to the unnecessary noise, not to mention
the mess typically left behind, like the Nutra-Grain bar wrapper I found under
my seat in class last week.
If you really do not want to be in class, then don’t be. Go to the beach,
go to the mall, go hang out with that hottie you met over the Internet. But don’t
expect any favors from the teacher should you decide to show up in class next
time. You made the choice to not go to class and to sacrifice your education;
you can deal with the consequences.
As a wise man closes each of his classes, “Remember scholars, be kind.
It’s the last revolutionary act left to us.”
Jamie Rowe is a senior print journalism major and Daily Forty-Niner editor in
chief.
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