Don’t criticize your teachers
College is a privilege, so don’t waste it by being disrespectful

I am going to begin by making a generalization about the people you and I go to school with.
We are privileged.

It’s true. No matter how we ended up here and what kind of measures we are taking to continue studying here, we are privileged in the fact that we can go to college.

A girl in one of my classes stated this as the rest of us were saying how we don’t fit into the typical “wealthy TCU student” profile, and I believe she is correct.

Granted, many of us, including myself, aren’t wealthy to the point of having everything at our fingertips. But the truth is very few of us have actually experienced poverty and honest need. To be able to go to a college, a private one at that, and expand our horizons and learn and grow is a tremendous privilege that we should appreciate and not take for granted.

After one of my classes, I was positive that this message was lost to many TCU students. I have never, even throughout high school, seen people who were so disrespectful to a professor. Instead of asking questions when they couldn’t understand him, many of the people in my class felt it was their right to tell him how to teach.

“Tell” might not even be a strong enough word; I think “command” is more like it.

They began turning to one another and saying what a horrible teacher he was and how they couldn’t understand what he was saying because of his accent. They weren’t attempting to learn. The class grew louder and louder and more chaotic as the hour progressed. My professor didn’t know what to do and attempted to continue teaching.

As I was walking out at the end of class, completely frustrated with the behavior of my fellow classmates, I overheard a girl turn to a guy and say “Thank you for explaining this to me. At least you speak English.” Shocked and infuriated, it was all I could do not to yell at her right then and there. There was absolutely no respect whatsoever for what this man was trying to do. He has dedicated his life to teaching people like her. Instead of giving him the respect and attention that he deserves, she placed herself above him with that comment and insinuated it was because he was not Caucasian that he wasn’t doing his job the way she wanted him to.

Our professors are here for a reason. They didn’t happen to fall into teaching at this or any university. They have valuable educational and life knowledge that they can bestow on us if we will only listen. Taking this privilege for granted shouldn’t be an option. Learning is a two way street; if we don’t do our part to meet our professors halfway by respecting and paying attention to them, then we might as well not be here.

I do recognize there are professors who are not good teachers. But I believe they have something to offer, even if it is simply teaching you how to deal with poor teaching qualities in a professor.

When talking to my roommate about this issue she also had story to share about a guy in one of her classes who loudly comes to class late, interrupts the professor constantly and packs up and leaves class as soon as his watch says 10 minutes ‘til, even if the professor is still talking.

Therefore, I know the display in my math class isn’t an isolated incident. I am sure all of us have had a similar experience during our years here, but that doesn’t mean that we should accept them.

I am not sure why you are here, but I am here to take advantage of all this school has to offer me. This might sound idealistic or even self-righteous. But think about it — deep down what was your reasoning in choosing to go to any college at all?

For some of you it might be to make more money. Others of you may have a genuine desire to learn. And for some of you, it could be that you were told going to college was your only choice.

No matter what your reasoning, I think you have a responsibility to yourself and your fellow classmates to get the most out of this privilege. Otherwise, what is the point?

Michelle Thompson is a sophomore premajor from Oklahoma City.
She can be reached at (l.m.thompson@student.tcu.edu).

Last fall, there were 14 Student Government Association candidates, including five choices for the president position.

As of the 11:59 p.m. Monday deadline, there are only seven SGA candidates for five positions, including only one candidate at each of the top three positions — president, vice president of House and vice president of the Programming Council.

Maybe the lack of students interested in SGA candidacy is simply another example of the apathy of people ages 18 to 24. Only 381 people voted on the proposal to restructure the SGA in October.

Whatever the reason, the fact remains that support of and interest in SGA has fallen 50 percent in the last year.
Ultimately, this fact hurts the entire TCU population by limiting students’ choices for leadership.

The deadline for declaring candidacy should be extended. While this will reward any students who didn’t fill out the application on time, it will also reward students with choices for leadership.

To comply with SGA procedure, the application deadline can be extended only if no one has applied for a position. If no one submits an application in within two days, the newly elected officers decide who to appoint to the position.

While this year’s election isn’t in the situation of having no candidates at a certain position, it has its own points which deserve special concern.

In 1999, the application deadline was extended when no one applied to run for secretary. Obviously, the president and the two vice-president positions have a much bigger role in SGA than the secretary.

Only having one choice of each of these three positions is unacceptable.