It seems as though we, as a class, feel very strongly about our opinions and viewpoints. Sometimes, I think we feel too strongly about them though. It's not wrong to deeply believe in an idea/tradition/ect, but when do we pass the line of strong opinion and cross into the territory of disrespect and ignorance? Yes, we're smart, extremely smart; there's no doubt about that. Does this give us the right to believe we're better than other people? Nope, not at all. I don't see myself as being any better than someone who doesn't take AP English, although I feel as though I may act like it, unfortunately.
I didn't notice it before, but I realized the behavior after Ms. Serensky talked to us about the substitute and our reaction to him. I looked back on that day and really thought about it. Sure, the guy was a bit annoying because he kept interrupting us and spoke for the majority of the class period. As Ms. Serensky brought to our attention: Don't most teachers do that? Why would he assume our class is any different? He thought he was helping us by researching the book and trying to add to our conversation. What did we do instead of realizing the effort he put into attempting to help our class? We ridicule him and make jokes about a guy who was just trying to do his job, which is teach. Substitutes usually sit back and do nothing, but he actually tried to teach us with what little knowledge he had over the book. He was under-prepared, but still ready to tackle the task. If anything, he should be commended.
Yes, this may sound extremely hypocritical, considering I just wrote a blogpost about how annoying I thought he was, but Ms. Serensky talking to us about it made me realize that I had been judgmental for no reason. This now makes me paranoid, because I want to make sure I don't act this way when I'm not in the AP English setting. Do I accidentally belittle/berate people, without even meaning to? I don't believe so (or sure as heck hope not), and I'm definitely going to be having this irritating fear sit in the back of my mind for the next couple of days at least. Awesome.
I feel the same way. I recently posted about how we quickly make unfair judgments about others. I feel that although we had the upper-hand over the substitute, we have no reason to think he does not excel in something we do not. Everyone has their own special talent. AP English students have a passion for working hard and reaching intelligent conclusions to issues in our novels and the class in general. Others may direct their energy toward something else in which they show their magnitude of knowledge. I feel we should not put ourselves superior to others because one day we will not be the all-knowing group of students.
ReplyDeleteMarc, I agree with you that, on many occasions, people, myself included, allow their opinions to control their emotions to the point that they lose sight of their character. I believe that we all need to keep an open mind and realize that many different viewpoints exist in the world on all topics. I have begun to realize that everyone has a different personality and a different way of thinking, and we all must respect each other's perspectives.
ReplyDeleteMarc, I agree that people let their opinions go wild over the substitute. I know that we all found the change extremely unsettling and obnoxious, but, as you said, he did nothing that he wouldn't have done in any other class. I never really noticed how much of a difference there was between AP English and all of my other classes until this incident. I have become so accustom to the atmosphere that such a small discrepancy causes a huge shift in my day. It's kind of scary to think that our days can be thrown off so easily, especially while we are feeling so superior and intelligent.
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