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classroom etiquettE
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Treating people with respect, giving them a chance, creating the impression that you are a polite person that is ready to cooperate are great ways to start a semester. These are important skills in the "real world." They represent an essential skill at college. Remember, professors expect students to be ready to accept responsibility for their actions.
High school is more structured; students that are rude or inconsiderate will be "corrected" in a variety of ways. Inappropriate behavior in college will be "corrected" too - often by "academic dismissal" (earning an F). Adults should not need to be told when they are being rude, especially those in professional training programs.
Please think about it - everyone pays for the privilege of being in college. College classes are structured so that students have the opportunity to "take" a variety of skills from their participation. Professors design classes so that those who are ready and motivated to take advantage of learning opportunities will be able to do so. The person that is in school to get a good
education does not want to be in classes
with students that prevent then from learning.
Manners "grease the wheels" of social interactions and relationships. PLEASE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS! Being polite and respectful will make it easier to succeed in college. Being rude or disrespectful may make it difficult or impossible to succeed in college.
High school teachers are required to accommodate ALL learning styles with an "appropriate education." College professors are only required to provide appropriate accommodations for documented needs that do not alter the "essential content" of instruction or a degree program.
High school teachers are expected to accommodate "rude" learning styles, college professors are not. An essential component of virtually all professional training programs is an ability to work effectively with others.
Courtesy
Being polite and courteous is the key that opens doors. ALL difficult situations are easier to handle if we are accepting, respectful, and mindful of our manners. How we present ourselves when we are trying to solve a problem may be just as important as the facts of the problem itself - sometimes even more so.
Remember, schools have many departments and faculty and staff that work together. In a bureaucracy, things can happen quickly or they can happen slowly. Most people that work at schools want to help others, but they are human. When you come to work, do you start with the easiest problems or do you immediately go to the most difficult ones? Being polite and respectful can put our problems at the top of someone's list of things to do. Being rude and disrespectful can put us on the bottom of that list.
Being courteous shows people that we are working to make things as easy as possible for everyone involved. Being rude and having a "chip on our shoulder" does not help - in fact, sometimes it indicates that we will never be happy with a situation no matter how it turns out. Do you want to help people that will be unhappy with anything you do?