MANUAL
Hand
DON'T BE THAT GUY
DOES A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT BLIND STUDENTS TO THEIR POOR BEHAVIOR?
// SARAH CHAMP
You're minding your own business on campus when that girl subjects you to overhearing an explicit account of her wild weekend or her phone fight with mom about how the wild weekend overdrafted her bank account.
You're trying to stay focused in lecture, but that guy in front of you, who always emails the class for the notes he never takes, distracts you by playing Angry Birds on his laptop.
We've all witnessed it, been annoyed and wondered how someone justifies such personal conduct.
In a survey of 50 KU students, respondents listed their top five student-behavior pet peeves, and answers covered everything from slow walkers to a lack of respect for professors; the top one being conversations during class.
Caitlin Wise, Mulvane senior, falls into the majority, saying people talking — especially at normal volume — when a professor's lecturing bothers her most. She says it's common behavior, but because she's often subjected to it while working for KU Info, Wise makes a conscious effort to be respectful.
"There will be times when I'm at my job and people come up to me, on the phone talking
to someone, and ask me a question but won't stop their phone conversation." Wise says. "By having another conversation when someone else is talking to you, it's like putting them on a lower level or saying, 'I don't value you as much as the other person I'm talking to,' and it's not civil."
The way you act determines how both your professors and classmates perceive you and your credibility with them, says Ryan Milner, communication studies graduate teaching assistant at KU. "If you show up late, don't look engaged, you're reading the paper, playing Farmville or are zoned out on your laptop — even if those around you aren't keeping track of how many times you do that — enough times ad up and can create to a more negative perception of you," Milner says.
Like Milner, Bre Alholm, Leawood sophomore, believes your behavior speaks to the quality of your character; if you value an education and give thought to others, it's evident in how you act. Even just knowing your syllabus says a lot. "It shows consideration for [your classmates] because you don't waste their time and tuition dollars asking unnecessary questions," Alholm
says.
That very consideration seems to escape more and more students each semester — not only at KU, but also at universities across the country. Every school and every year differs, but it's a worrying trend, says Elayne Clift, Granite State College humanities professor and author. In her 20 years of teaching, 68-year-old Clift has taught widely and at many levels: community colleges, Ivey League schools, graduate courses and even abroad. She said her students in Thailand had a genuine hunger for an education and saw it as a gateway, which is how American academia was when she was a student. Today, higher education is more "kick the can down the road" as students at U.S. institutions feel entitled to go to college.
She attributes the trend to the information technology revolution. "We're losing the ability to be patient, kind, and responsive, and I think it all has to do with this lull of face-to-face communication," Clift says. "A lot of this emanates from a culture in which we want everything fast and we don't think we have to respond well to people."
Combative and ill-responding students nearly
What annoys you most?
"That person in class (there's always one) who feels the need to interject their thoughts and opinions into everything, all the time, regardless of whether they're intelligent, relevant or wanted."
- Anonymous
"The chatty chick — I know that your spring break in St. Louis was 'OMG SO AWESOME,' but I'm taking notes and I'm afraid I might stab you in the eye if you talk about how much you
hate Jennifer's new boyfriend again."
- Sheila Sadeghi, Marietta, Ga., senior
"When a person sits at a table for four in the underground, and puts his backpack in one chair, his coat on another, and spreads his stuff over the last two spots to prevent somebody from sitting down. Would it kill you to eat lunch with a stranger for fifteen minutes?" -Anonymous
drove Clift to give up teaching. She says that current imbalance of punishment and reward in academia push teachers away or demand they restructure, outlining each and every policy with no wiggle room.
Some professors go that extra mile, answering poor student conduct with longer, stricter standards that leave no gray area. Amy Rossomondo, KU Spanish professor and co-director of the Basic Language Program who oversees 22 courses and multiple GTAs, makes her expectations transparent, codifying them in her syllabi to prevent debate from ever happening. One rule states that any use of an electronic device during class results in a loss of that day's participation points. Rossomondo says these rules exist out of value for her time and the students' educations.
She acknowledges students have different priorities and value some classes more than others, but feels there's something to be said for consistency in academic performance and classroom conduct. "I know people have good days and bad days," Rossomondo says. "But if you've taken the time, come to a university and you're going to be using my time, I'm serious about what I'm doing and I expect you to be, too."
In the classroom, on the sidewalk, in the library and anywhere else in life — even if you're not that guy — a little consideration goes a long way. JP
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