Lately, I've noticed many people swearing during class. Call me old fashioned, but I think these whippersnappers need to leave their bad language behind. I might start bringing a swear jar to class and collecting fees.
Granted, a lot more discussion-based learning takes place in college than high school, and often that sort of learning works best when students are comfortable and willing to talk about what they really think. But in the past week, I've heard many students pepper their classroom contributions with some rather colorful syntax.
In my History of Disease: PLAGUE TO AIDS (yes it is as amazing as it sounds) class, we had a reading about a husband in the early 19th century who contracted VD from a prostitute, transmitted it to his wife, and then fled town before the symptoms showed up in the Mrs. A real class act. When our professor asked us what we thought about the reading, many said, "What a douche bag!"
Guys. No. You could say "scum bag" or "sleaze ball" or "meany." I think it's unprofessional and unnecessary to use that kind of language in a setting that is supposed to have some sort of decorum. Maybe they felt more liberated to speak that way because we were talking about sex and STDs. Maybe they're just rude. In my magazine class this week, one student ended a sentence with "and all that other shit," which my professor then repeated later to echo the student's earlier points. My mother always said people who resort to such obscenities are simply not intelligent enough to have better words at their disposal. Perhaps lessons like these, and the fact I was not allowed to use the word "butt" as a child made me more more sensitive to those who vituperate so freely.
What do you guys think about swearing in the classroom? Is it only me that this bothers? AM I BEING A NINNY!? You an tell me.
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