R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

We all have them, those classes that we just can’t stand to be in. Maybe it’s that we don’t like the professor’s style of teaching, the environment of the classroom or perhaps it’s simply a general-education class we don’t think we’ll ever need. I’m not immune to being annoyed by these things either, in the three years I’ve attended VCU, I’ve had to deal with at least one of the preceding annoyances per semester, usually more. However, what I can’t understand is why some people can’t show the common respect of staying seated until the professor’s dismissed the class, or has actually run over the allotted time the class scheduled.

Getting up five minutes prior to the end of a class, while the teacher is still lecturing not only shows a disrespect for what they have to say, but a disrespect for your fellow classmates as well.

Perhaps you feel that you have a firm grasp on the material and therefore are wasting time by sitting in a class and listening to someone go over it. That’s understandable, we are for the most part in our late teens and early 20s so we do know everything about everything, right? However, it’s never just one person getting up and leaving the room quietly, but rather that one person begins a mass exodus from the classroom, which may disturb a professor’s train of thought while lecturing and it certainly is disruptive to those trying to hear the end of the lecture.

I know what you’re thinking, we’re adults and we pay good money to attend these classes, so it’s our choice if we want to leave early. Perhaps it would be a stretch for you to put yourself in the professor’s shoes and wonder what it’s like to have people just leave while you’re explaining something. I can understand that many people aren’t interested in becoming teachers or professors, despite a need for good educators this country; but that’s another article entirely, so perhaps you should put yourself in the shoes of your classmates before making the decision to run for freedom.

Just as I feel safe in saying that we’ve all had classes that we don’t like for one reason of another, I’m fairly certain that we’ve all had classes that we’ve struggled with as well at some point in time. How would you feel if you were struggling with a concept that the professor was explaining near the end of a lecture when all of a sudden half the class decided it was time to pack up and leave? Probably frustrated is my guess, perhaps even a little disrespected? I mean after all, you’re paying for the same quality education the other people are, so why should they be allowed to lower the quality of your education by not having the patience to wait until the end of the class to leave?

I understand that it can be hard to stay still in a class that you don’t care for. I’ve had more than a few of those myself and they still irk me. It’s even possible that your next class is only minutes after the conclusion of the annoying one and you have to run across campus to get there on time. In that case, choosing a seat toward the back of the room and leaving quietly if you absolutely have to is an understandable decision. However, most of the time it would seem that the desire to just get free is the motivating factor in the exodus. I know sometimes there’s nothing a professor can say to make a subject interesting, or clear something up that you have difficulty with. It can be even more of a pain to sit there and feel that you’re not getting anything for your money. However, that isn’t necessarily always going to be the case, there may come a time when you’re just five minutes from grasping a key concept for your next exam. How would you feel if that’s when everyone else decided to leave? With that thought in mind, that next time it could be you needing the full class period, I ask, what’s five more minutes of respect going to hurt?