Each semester, in every class, every day, there is that one student that truly does not want to be in class, and they're not shy about it. They want everyone to know that they don't belong there.
To those students, I have some questions for you:
Why are you there?
Think about our world: it's huge. Think about how many countries in the world deny education to its citizens. Think about how many of those citizens would do anything to have the opportunities you've had.
Now think about yourself.
What are you doing?
You're complaining. You're trying to start an argument with the professor. You're wasting not only your time, but time that doesn't belong to you. You're wasting the professor's time. You're wasting other students' time. You're wasting my time. And those who are denied education? You're slapping them in the face.
I know you probably don't think about how you're taking the opportunity that has been given to you for granted. I know you're probably only in this classroom because someone pushed you into going to college and choosing a major that put you in this room. I know they've told you that one day you'll thank them, but here's the thing: you won't.
You won't thank those people who want better for you because you don't seem to want better for yourself.
It is nearly impossible to get anywhere in the world today, and it's harder if you don't have a skill or a degree. You absolutely will not develop a skill or earn a degree with your attitude. You come across to other students as selfish and thoughtless. You don't realize that you are missing out on information that may be critical to your future and harming relationships with professors from whom you may one day need a letter of recommendation.
Let me be perfectly clear:
Teachers and professors don't owe it to you to be "nice" to you. Even if you're an adult. By nice, I mean, they don't have to let you text in their classroom. They can ask you to leave. They should call you out on being disrespectful. Frankly, the same as in high school, you are still going to be under someone else's authority. If you can't handle that, leave. Evaluate your life.
I once had a class with a girl who was often on her phone or laptop, generally not involved with the class. The day of exams, I overheard her telling her friends that the professor was going to fail her because she didn't like her. Are you serious?
In another class, one student would start singing or talking loudly in the middle of the lesson, and when other students would plead for him to be quiet, he would tell them to leave him alone. The professor asked said student to leave and stood in front of his desk until he decided he was going to stay. But things in that class never got better.
Maybe a few people thought your act was cool when you were in high school. Maybe. But to be completely frank, no one in college is going to respect you for these actions. You owe it to yourself- and those of us around you who are happy to have the opportunity- to learn to grow up.
If you ever find yourself being this person, please remember that you're doing more harm than good.
