CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE

1. Etiquette: 礼节lǐjié Polite  using good manners CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE Civil: 市民社会shìmínshèhuì IN A CIVIL SOCIETY

2. I Know… • Most of you are already probably thinking about going to sleep now. Please don’t! • Some things in this presentation will surprise (诧异 chàyì) you, some will shock (震骇zhènhài) you, some may even scare you. I hope so.

3. THINGS MOST FOREIGNERS AND HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS DON’T KNOW ABOUT AMERICAN SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES… • Some students have told me that classrooms in the U.S. are often very free and wild. Students have “a lot of freedom and can do what they want!”

4. American TV and movies give the wrong (错误的cuòwùde) impression (感受gǎnshòu) of the U.S. They reflect: • The casual liberal (自由派) attitudes of southern California and • Are usually fantasies (幻想huànxiǎng) designed to make money.

5. These are serious people! In the U.S. at least 50% of the people are conservative (保守的), and the majority of schools (90% at least) are very conservative.

6. However, it is also true that some schools have many Low Socio-Economic Status [low SES 社会经济的 poor/low class] students that behave very badly.* * They usually end up as taxi drivers and drug dealers, in prison or dead. Education ain’t no joke!

7. But teachers must try…! • In those cases annoying students are sent to the principle or vice principle and either scolded (责骂zémà 叱 chì) or sent home. If the student misbehaviors continue they will be referred for a psycho-educational (心理教育的) evaluation and may be sent to an ED program.

8. E.D. Programs • 511 IAC 7-26-6 • Emotional Disability • 感情的gǎnqíngde残疾cánjí • Sec. 6 (a) An emotional disability is a condition that, over a long period of time and to a marked degree, consistently interferes with a student's learning process and adversely affects the student's educational performance. An emotional disability may include, but is not limited to, one or more of the following conditions: • (1) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems • (2) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression • (3) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors • (4) Inappropriate behaviors or feelings under normal circumstances.

9. Real teachers in real school… • In civilized countries do not have to deal with uncivilized (野蛮yěmán ) students. They go into special programs!

10. Civilized (adjective) Civilization (noun): 文明wénmíng • having an advanced (先进的xiānjìn de)or humane (人道的réndào de) culture (文化wénhuà). • polite; well-bred; refined. • well organized or ordered: The car is quiet and civilized, even in sharp turns.

11. WHY? WHY? • I know you all know the basic rules of etiquette in a classroom. But, I think you might not know exactly WHY those exist. There are very good reasons for those rules, especially in the U.S. and Europe.

12. First, a PRE-TEST!!! 1. What is a tenured(转正) professor教授[jiàoshòu] and how is a tenured professor different than a professor without tenure?

13. The United States and Europe have a system for professors called: Tenure 终身所有权 zhōngshēnsuǒyǒuquán. • Professors who teach at a university for a few years, and publish (出版chūbǎn) enough research are usually given “Tenure,” which makes it very difficult and in many cases impossible to fire (解雇jiěgù) them no matter how crazy or strange they may seem.

14. Believe it or not! Universities are NOT democracies. The professors are kings and queens (sometimes tyrants霸bà!) and Teaching Assistants (TAs) are their knights in armor.

15. Tenure… • Why is this? • The answer lies in history. This system started in the 1800s and protects the freedom of professors. What happened is that some of the most brilliant (英明) university professors were not understood and then fired. Later, somewhere else, or in some cases after the death of the professor, people suddenly realized: “Wow, that guy was a genius (天才tiāncái)!”

16. Sigmund Freud for example, the father of modern psychology was considered crazy by many people because of his theories that people are primarily motivated by unconscious forces, especially sex and aggression. A lot of people really hated him. Hitler burned his books in fact. Later, people figured out his theories were actually rather interesting and in many cases true. • In order for professors to have the courage to do revolutionary research and writing, they need to be protected. So, today most American and European universities have the Tenure system.

17. 2. Following classroom etiquette in the U.S. is a good idea because: a. Professors are like kings and queens and can give you any grade (成绩 chéngjì) they like; they can even seriously damage (损坏sǔnhuài) your chances at another university. b. Serious students will dislike you and can make your life at the university miserable (悲惨bēicǎn) if you disrespect the professor and behave badly in class. c. You won’t learn much and will fail if you don’t follow classroom etiquette in the U.S. d. Many professors have done favors (帮助) for gangsters 歹徒dǎitúand can easily have you killed. e. __, __ & __. ? f. All of the above

18. Correct answer... • Letter “e,”  a, b& c • It is true that in big cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, etc. many if not most professors probably have done favors for gangsters at one time or another. BUT, to be a good teacher (or parent) one has be able to forgive and forget. • By the way, many teachers around the world in are killed by students.

19. Next…I would like to apologize on behalf of myself, and all of your former teachers for having failed (没有做某事 ) to sufficiently explain classroom etiquette in a civil society. If it had been taught this lecture would not be necessary. The fact that I am presenting this lecture now implies that your former teachers and I have failed. For that I apologize again. • In a civil society, people, even teachers are not too proud (自豪zìháo) to apologize when they have made a mistake.

20. SOME BASIC RULES OF CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE • I know you know this one but… perhaps forgot…! • When the teacher enters the room, the students should be aware (意识 yìshí) of it. Students may smile, nod, say hello, or otherwise at least somehow - acknowledge (打招呼dǎzhāohu) the entrance of the teacher. Thank you but kowtowing is not necessary! (ha, ha) Westerners don’t kowtow to anyone, even god!

21. Rude! • To simply ignore (不理bùlǐ) the teacher is considered – in civil society - rude无礼的wúlǐ de. Do you really want to be like George W. Bush or a monkey?

22. Many if not most teachers may require (= need) a couple or few minutes to prepare before beginning the class. These preparations may include starting a classroom computer and inserting a CD or USB and finding the correct files. It may also include finding the correct place in his/her notes and/or books necessary to begin the class.

23. During this time… • During this time students may quietly review their notes, or the book or even finish whatever they were working on before the teacher entered the classroom.

24. Civilized students… • When the teacher begins to address the class, students should immediately (立即地lìjí de) stop whatever they may have been doing, listenand be prepared to take notes. There are a whole lot of reasons for this, not just the obvious ones.

25. To continue chatting with friends, doing homework for another class, talking on the phone, or anything else besides listening to the teacher after class begins is considered extremely (非常) rude (无礼的wúlǐ de) – an insult (侮辱) to the teacher – at least in a civilized society.

26. Did you know…? • What may be normal (正常zhèngcháng)in your school or culture may not be normal in an advanced country 发达国家fādáguójiā

27. And, believe it or not • Your habits will follow you! • People cannot suddenly magically change.

28. Believe it or not! • What you see on TV is not the reality of American university education. • This school (Huijia, IB and GAC) is supposed to prepare you for a Western university.

29. To not be prepared to take notes when the teacher starts teaching is an insult (侮辱wǔrǔ) to the teacher. It says: I don’t think what you are saying is important. • Or: “I’m so smart I don’t need to write anything down. I have a perfect memory.” • In fact, very, very, very few students have a “perfect memory (过目成诵guòmùchéngsòng).” • This is a lie many students tell themselves and their teachers. It is a sad and pathetic attempt to cover a lack of preparedness which is usually based on laziness or contempt (轻视qīngshì) for authority (职权zhíquán). It is a stupid, childish(幼稚yòuzhì) lie.

30. Chinese culture works to avoid confrontation (冲突chōngtū) so teachers will usually not call a student a “liar” to their face, especially in class. • In the U.S. however, teachers are often extremely direct (直接的zhíjiē de) and will sometimes openly confront students in class. If you’re lucky they might just make a joke out of you and everyone will laugh at you and think you’re an idiot.

31. If a student thinks he or she can then go about getting revenge (报复bàofù) on the university professor for that direct feedback, like gossiping (闲话 xiánhuà) about the professor that student had better pack his or her suitcases and prepare to leave the university – for a large number of reasons. This can be very dangerous in the U.S. Back stabbing: 暗箭 暗害 Is not appreciated!

32. WHY? • Many or most American University students have to get student loans 学生贷款，贷学金 to pay for the university. It usually takes 10 years of hard work to pay that back. So, they don’t like someone stealing their time learning by playing idiot games.

33. If some students are chatting with each other during class, or otherwise not paying attention (注意zhùyì; 抓紧zhuājǐn), the teacher will have to repeat (重复chóngfù) him/herself and waste everyone’s time for those that were not really listening.

34. The math • A student that wastes two minutes of the teacher’s time is actually stealing from the whole class. If there are ten students in the class, stealing two minutes from the teacher actually adds up to two minutes from each of the other students and the teacher, some 20 minutes. That is theft. It is very selfish and extremely rude. 2 minutes X 10 students = 20 Am I wrong here? How about wasting an entire class or two or more?

35. Which of the following do you believe? a. I think rules and laws decrease (减少jiǎnshǎo) our freedom. b. I think rules and laws increase (增长zēngzhǎng; 提高tígāo) our freedom. It is my belief, and the belief of most educated (受过教育的shòuguòjiàoyùde) people that most laws and rules increase (增长zēngzhǎng; 提高tígāo) the freedom of everyone.

36. The law against murder protects everyone’s freedom to live. • The law against stealing protects everyone’s freedom to own things. • The rule against talking in class protects the teacher’s and other student’s freedom to have a class in a peaceful environment. • The rule against playing on computers and phones during class increases everyone’s freedom to not have the teacher repeat everything he or she says several times.

38. Another thing most high school students don’t know about American universities is that in every class professors are required (必要) to fail (落空) the lowest 15% at least. If they don’t fail the lowest 15% their department can lose its accreditation各大学特许升学的联合委员会and federal funding. • So, if the average exam score in a class is 95% and you only get an 88%, you may get an “F” and fail. All classes are graded on a statistical curve 常态分布chángtàifēnbù (normal distribution).

40. But, the reality is sometimes even worse than this. • I remember in the late 1970s too many people at my large state university were registering for classes in the business department. So, they started failing 90% of freshmen students so that only 10% would go on to more advanced courses in the department.  90% FAILURE!!!! 

41. Also most high school students don’t know that in American universities they will be competing (竞争jìngzhēng) against the smartest people from the 196 countries all over the world (South Sudan is a new country as of last year in case you don’t know).

42. Most of the Chinese students in American universities are not from private schools, but from public schools (公立学校gōnglìxuéxiào) there on scholarships (奖学金jiǎngxuéjīn) and are extremely intelligent and very, very hard working. They have excellent study habits. YOU WILL BE COMPETING (竞) AGAINST THEM to not get failed out. Remember the lowest 15% gets failed, not matter how good you are.

43. To get into good Graduate Schools (研究生院yánjiūshēngyuàn) students must have a high GPA (成绩chéngjì). • So, some students will do dirty tricks (奥步ǎobǒu) to improve their scores and push other students’ scores (成绩) downon the curve.

44. Believe it or not! • For example some students may steal other students notes so their grades go down, pushing the thieves grade up on the curve. • If you ask to borrow someone’s notes, they might give you notes with wrong information, again, to push your score down and their score up on the curve.

45. Some students will read everything a professor has published and then go and talk to the professor in his/her office. Professors tend to remember such students and like them, consciously or unconsciously giving them higher grades.

46. When a professor assigned a class to read some articles from scientific journals, I’d go to the library and photocopy the articles, then find the references – and photocopy all of those articles, and the references used in those articles, so that I’d know more about each assigned reading than any other student. I rarely answered questions in class unless no other student could answer. But when I did answer, I knew more about the subject than any student and sometimes as much as the professor on those particular subjects because I had just read the entire history of research relating to that subject. Professors are usually extremely smart and they always knew how much research you do. It took a lot of time, but that’s what I did. Why? To be the best. I wasn’t always the best test taker, but my research was always number 1!

47. TV shows make going to a university easy. They often show lecture halls with a professor asking the class a question and some bright eager student cheerfully answers, usually right. • In fact those TV shows never, never, never show the hours and hours and hours and hours and hours of study the students must do, and it’s 10 times harder for a foreign student who has to use a dictionary to understand half the words in the very large complex books.

48. I personally spent hundreds of nights working on writing papers and studying for exams all night longgoing to classes the next morning with no sleep. And, I never slept in a class. That is (suicide自杀zìshā) in a university. Why? • A professor can give a student any grade they like on papers and essay exams (考试kǎoshì) and there is virtually nothing a student can do about it.

49. Sad, but true… • There is an appeal (上诉shàngsù) process, but they rarely succeed in overturning tenured professor’s decisions. Remember, professors are like kings and queens.

50. Old habits (习惯 [xíguàn] die hard. • If a student in high school likes to play games in class, and avoid working hard, it’s going to be impossible to change suddenly when they enter the university and become a model student because: • They don’t know how to take good notes. • Listen for key points • Organize and write notes clearly • Systematically review and memorize notes and text books • They don’t know how to ask good questions. • They don’t know how to study for exams. • They don’t know how to do good research. • They don’t know how to write good papers. • They don’t know classroom etiquette.