Community

Teaching Class and Decorum

One Senior Examines Etiqutte at SLC

by Dana Stewart

Tuesday February 7, 2006

I’m sure it’s not my place to say this, but some manifestation of senioritis makes me not care:

There is an abundance of overconfidence among some of our newer undergraduate students.

Second-guessing or mouthing off to a professor within your first six weeks? Screaming at inhumane decibel levels across a public commons to attract attention to yourself? These things are not okay.

A friend of mine once said that she wished we had a football team here, if only to have some personnel available for corporal punishment, should the need arise—heads in toilets, getting dumped in a river hog-tied, things like that.

But I don’t advocate for a football team, nor do I advocate violence. I just think many of us could carry ourselves with a lot more class. Just because we are in an ideological, and somewhat geographical, bubble doesn’t mean we are immune to the social norms and laws of society.

You need to understand how and when to pick your fights. For instance, you have no cause to argue with security when they bust you for drinking outdoors. You would do best to take that up with, I don’t know, George Pataki? Anyway, you’re not going to get very far.

This lack of decorum, manners, Emily Post-style etiquette; in my opinion, it’s what leads to things like our school’s reputation at Lawrence Hospital. If we understood that drinking to the point of death is, as it should be, a major social faux pas, maybe it wouldn’t happen.

But common sense is not common, is it? Some of us seem to lack even the smallest bit of humility or basic social skills. Let me lay it out for a few of you.

1). Do not take things (beer) that are not yours, especially if you’re not even twenty-one.

2). There’s no excuse for yelling at levels of earsplitting loudness unless you are trying to arouse alarm in case of an emergency, for instance if someone’s having an asthma attack or being robbed. Otherwise you are forcibly subjecting everyone around you to your situation and conversation, and unless you are famous (which none of us are, lamentably. Why didn’t the Olsen twins come here? At least one of them. We could do for a bit of excitement), nobody gives a good goddamn what it is you’re shrieking about.

3). Even though we call our teachers by their first names, we cannot treat them like babysitters. I’ve more than once witnessed a student saying something in class that would surely get one expelled from Yale, Dartmouth, maybe even SUNY-Purchase. Whether you agree with them or not, respect your elders. I assume we have no child geniuses or Doogie Howser types among us, so there is virtually no possibility that you are smarter than all your teachers.

4). Lastly, and this goes for upperclassmen as well as new students: Why do so many of us feel the need to be on our cell phone all the goddamn time?

Again, it goes back to decorum and manners. Leave the room if you’re going to talk on the phone. Whatever room you’re in. Too bad if it’s an elevator, huh? Or driving the shuttle! You’ve got to be kidding me.

Too bad, indeed. For me. Because I know for sure that I don’t (and didn’t) want to hear your conversation. It seems like some people cannot walk or even exist alone for more than 45 seconds without calling someone. I just don’t get it.

The only other thing that is bothering me right now is the lack of fun school-sponsored events, such as live music that we’ve heard of. I would like to publicly propose a referendum on how to spend $5,000 – $10,000 of Student Affairs’ money on a band… one that’s not Dashboard Confessional. Does anyone else see the dire need for this? Probably wouldn’t happen before May, but it’s an idea…