Normally when you walk into a classroom, you would expect students to sit quietly and attentively taking notes of their professor’s lecture. However, as the amount of students attending college are ever increasing and such strict “norms” are becoming more relaxed and broken, one can now expect something different upon walking into a classroom. Along with breaking the other two social norms in the area of eating and library distractions, we also observed the social norms that were broken in various classrooms. Instead of assuming the role of the social norm breaker, I instead focused more on observing the behavior of students in classrooms. This I did for four different classes for three to four days. Being a student who normally sits in the front, sitting in the back was a new experience and gave me a whole other perspective of considering what the actual social norms of classrooms were.
In observing students from the back of the classroom I found an overwhelming number of students that intentionally did not give all their attention towards their professor. Such was seen through students playing games on their laptops or on their phone such as angry birds or bubble spinner. When students did have laptops I noticed the majority did so to access their notes, however the amount of students who would be on their Facebook or on other social sites would increase towards the back of the classroom. What surprised me was that many students without laptops would simply choose to sleep, sometimes even without notes present making it seem intentional and obvious. However, I noticed the number of those students who would come to class simply to sleep were in the class simply to take attendance afterwards. Perhaps the most shocking observation to me was seeing that eight students out of about eighty were sleeping. At this sight, the professor became quite angry and attempted to wake the students through loud noises such as clapping upon which the students still did not wake up leaving the professor disappointed along with many of the other students that looked at them either shocked or negatively. Other students multitasked in doing work for other classes yet used selective listening to ensure they got important notes down.
Another trend I noticed with the students who sat towards the back was that they were often friends who sat in groups. This at first I believed was done simply because there was more room in the back that would ensure that they could sit together. However, one of my observations has led me to other conclusions. In one class where the bell had not yet rang, a group of students were deciding where to sit at and one student in the group mentioned, “that’s too close, he (the professor) may be able to hear us.” Such negative assumptions could be made, however hearing what the students talked about could confirm such assumptions. Among these groups, the majority did take notes and stay on the subject matter presented by the professor. However, being with a group also means the influence of peer pressure is present, thus when one of the students would stray away from the subject matter either through going to a social networking site or whispering about an irrelevant topic, the others would follow as well.
In order to experience both sides of the perspective of not only being an observer but also a social norm breaker, I went to one class with a blanket and sat in the back and pretended to sleep. This I did for a short amount of time so as to minimize the distraction; however the response that many students had was unexpected. Although I had expected reactions of anger from having a lazy classmate, many students simply ignored me or laughed. One student remarked that a snuggie would have been more convenient. In seeing how other classmates would react to me playing games and accessing social networking sites on my laptop, I asked a friend to observe the row above me and their reactions. As I had suspected my friend had told me that the students above would become easily distracted and turn their attention towards whatever was on my computer screen, the more movement and color it had (such as games), the more distracting it seemed to be.
According to Hoffman’s dramaturgical theory, civic inattention is one way someone may react towards someone else breaking a social norm in attempting the corrective process, in this case causing distractions with the stage being the classroom. Such gestures or reactions signal that another’s behavior is inappropriate or not normal in such a public area as was observed in the reactions of other students. However, it is also important to consider if and why such social norms are changing. As an average student, observing the current norms and how they have changed as opposed to 10 or even 5 years ago is an interesting process. Of course, certain norms such as remaining quiet and being respectful towards the professor will always remain for the professor to be able to present the lesson or lecture. For the few days that I observed the classrooms, I would notice that it was the same students who would fall asleep continuously. America is quite known for being the most overworked and stressed developed nation in the world (Miller). Such trends and mindsets can also occupy college students. Although stress and tiredness is normal, to what extent should it be considered okay? Normally it isn’t acceptable for students to fall asleep in class unless they had gotten little or no sleep the night before. For a student to not be able to remain awake when continuously coming to class can prove in itself to be a hazard not only to the student but to the college climate in redefining the standards of sleeping in class. Clearly time management can prove to seem more difficult and the effects such as sleeping in class are unfortunate consequences. Other factors that contribute to sleeping in class besides not having a good night’s rest can blame professors as simply not being interesting enough or that the environment (warm or cold classroom with lights off) encourages sleeping.
Due to the process of socialization, we have learned internalized behavior that has taught us how to behave as a student, professor, or any other role we may possess in society. However, the process of socialization is a continuous process as we are constantly learning and analyzing new behavior and stimuli. Thus, how we shape the world is also a continuous process in which the more we take in and experience, the more we understand. Right now in college, for instance as a business student we would be learning the appropriate greetings and what attire to wear. As children, learning how to behave in the classroom is perhaps one of the earliest examples of socialization and therefore certain behavior is expected in our role as a student. Now as college students, perhaps the minimum expectations is that we are expected to sit properly, face the front of the classroom, and take notes on something.In the instance of breaking social norms, many will not know how to respond or function in such a situation. Upon coming to college, some of us may have experienced a form of resocialization in which our values, beliefs, and norms may have changed in response to a new environment or institution. With such experiences, some classroom behavior may have changed. Depending on the strictness or leniency of the professor, some of the classroom social norms are frequently broken to the point where they actually become normal in the action being expected. Another factor of the shifting of such norms also depends on how well the students are socially integrated with eachother, so while one group may make checking their Facebook on their laptops a social norm, another group may find such an act as breaking the social norm by not giving their full attention to the professor.
No matter the social norm whether it is that of eating at a table with appropriate utensils or being quiet in the library, it is important and interesting to see if such social norms are changing. For instance, with the introduction of laptops and rise of cellular phones in the classroom, the need for passing notes has been diminished and has instead been replaced by chatting through an instant messaging system or through texting. In such a case it is important to consider why such social norms exist and how or why we do or don’t contribute to its existence. Although we may even be unaware of it, such social norms shape our society and vice versa, thus it is important to recognize how social norms are established and how they may potentially change.
Works Cited:
Miller, G.E. 20 Something Finance: The U.S. is the Most Overworked Developed Nation in the World – When do we Draw the Line? 12 Oct 2010. http://20somethingfinance.com/american-hours-worked-productivity-vacation/
Pictures courtesy of Google images
Luz Yesenia Angeles
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