Has something been lost in our "casual culture?"
Jane Jeffries
Issue date: 4/30/09 Section: Opinion
English 101 started like any other class this semester. I came in for the first day of class, got out my books, plugged in my laptop and then took a moment to look around the room. Most students already had their laptops turned on and were busy on Facebook or e-mail or just “surfing the net.” There was one student, however, who came in, had a seat, and left her laptop closed. I noticed her because she sat up straight in her seat and had her hands folded on her desk as she waited for me to begin. Since I am a highly- trained professional with a master’s degree, I was able to deduce that she was not from around these parts. One thing was clear: She didn’t grow up in America.
I am American, however, and have grown accustomed to the way we do things over here. We are very casual, for one thing, with authority figures. This may not be surprising considering that our current President has done everything from bowling to downing a few Budweisers to prove that he is just a regular guy. Since this is my culture, I accept that my students are very casual in the classroom, but there are days when I wonder if we Americans haven’t lost something important. I might not have noticed at all except that I now see the differences between my foreign students and my American students.
Take my student from Nepal, for instance. His demeanor is courteous, and he almost never makes direct eye contact with me. OK, my American students don’t make eye contact with me, either, unless I post a comment about their status on Facebook. Anyway, I was handing tests back one day at the beginning of class but had some separate instructions for this student. After finishing, I started to walk away but remembered another instruction, and as I turned to walk back, he, who was almost sitting, stood up again quickly. It was then that I realized he had stood up—out of respect—when I came to speak to him. He may not have noticed my pause of shock; I simply am not accustomed to such behavior.
I’ve had conversations with my students about their apparent addiction to the technology before them. Why do they check e-mail when other things are going on? Why do they text? The answer is always the same: because they are bored. Implied, of course, in this thinking is that if one is bored, it is all right to be rude. They might text during a class, for instance, and not consider that such behavior is disrespectful to the teacher. Of course, I’ve also seen young people texting while at a restaurant on a date. Are they texting their date? Do they give each other a good night “luv U! <3 ”? Again, maybe it’s just a cultural thing.
But it isn’t just the classroom; there are noticeable differences in how students e-mail, too. One student e-mail this semester went exactly like this: “O crap! I just realized what I was supposed to do for the assignment. I think I missed the drop box.” Was there a question in there somewhere? Of course, it didn’t start out with “Dear Mrs. Jeffries” (unless “O Crap” is his nickname for me). Compare that communication with another message sent by a foreign student which began, “Dear Respected Ma’am.”
A student from Saudi Arabia shared this comment, “One thing a teacher said that surprised me on the first day of class was that he asked the students to respect him this semester. In my country, to respect a teacher is understood already, he would not have to ask for it.” Where he comes from, great respect is given to “those who have knowledge.”
I have to ask myself: am I “one who has knowledge?” If not, I can understand why I’ve lost some respect. Still, it feels as though there’s a broader issue—that something has been lost in this casual culture of ours. Maybe it’s me, but scanning my classroom, I have to wonder what a foreign teacher might think.
I am American, however, and have grown accustomed to the way we do things over here. We are very casual, for one thing, with authority figures. This may not be surprising considering that our current President has done everything from bowling to downing a few Budweisers to prove that he is just a regular guy. Since this is my culture, I accept that my students are very casual in the classroom, but there are days when I wonder if we Americans haven’t lost something important. I might not have noticed at all except that I now see the differences between my foreign students and my American students.
Take my student from Nepal, for instance. His demeanor is courteous, and he almost never makes direct eye contact with me. OK, my American students don’t make eye contact with me, either, unless I post a comment about their status on Facebook. Anyway, I was handing tests back one day at the beginning of class but had some separate instructions for this student. After finishing, I started to walk away but remembered another instruction, and as I turned to walk back, he, who was almost sitting, stood up again quickly. It was then that I realized he had stood up—out of respect—when I came to speak to him. He may not have noticed my pause of shock; I simply am not accustomed to such behavior.
I’ve had conversations with my students about their apparent addiction to the technology before them. Why do they check e-mail when other things are going on? Why do they text? The answer is always the same: because they are bored. Implied, of course, in this thinking is that if one is bored, it is all right to be rude. They might text during a class, for instance, and not consider that such behavior is disrespectful to the teacher. Of course, I’ve also seen young people texting while at a restaurant on a date. Are they texting their date? Do they give each other a good night “luv U! <3 ”? Again, maybe it’s just a cultural thing.
But it isn’t just the classroom; there are noticeable differences in how students e-mail, too. One student e-mail this semester went exactly like this: “O crap! I just realized what I was supposed to do for the assignment. I think I missed the drop box.” Was there a question in there somewhere? Of course, it didn’t start out with “Dear Mrs. Jeffries” (unless “O Crap” is his nickname for me). Compare that communication with another message sent by a foreign student which began, “Dear Respected Ma’am.”
A student from Saudi Arabia shared this comment, “One thing a teacher said that surprised me on the first day of class was that he asked the students to respect him this semester. In my country, to respect a teacher is understood already, he would not have to ask for it.” Where he comes from, great respect is given to “those who have knowledge.”
I have to ask myself: am I “one who has knowledge?” If not, I can understand why I’ve lost some respect. Still, it feels as though there’s a broader issue—that something has been lost in this casual culture of ours. Maybe it’s me, but scanning my classroom, I have to wonder what a foreign teacher might think.
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