Last week I had a seminar in which we discussed the ideas of feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft who dislike the fact that women are given respect simply for being women in much the same way that a King is given respect just for being born into the royal family. This left me thinking about all the people I have respected for no reason other than their job, or role in society, and in particular to teachers.
When walking around campus today there were students who were shouting out random words each time someone passed them. They were students who I know to be performing arts students and I assumed that this was a task they had been set by their teacher. After walking past them I heard the guy in front of me say "the teacher's not watching why the f*** are they bothering?!"
I have to say that in some ways I completely agree that if I was given a task by a teacher, but they were not going to know if i had done it or not then I probably wouldn't bother! In fact that is an attitude that I have held for the majority of my school life because I do not have any particular respect for teachers and I always questioned why on earth all the other pupils did exactly what the teacher said even if it was something they found boring or pointless.
In a secondary school in an classroom environment students outnumber teachers on average 21 to 1. This means that students theoretically have the power to do over ride the teacher by working together - but this rarely happens. Students who dare to challenge the teacher are often standing alone without the support of the rest of class. I think that this is a great shame, because if students rebelled together then there is absolutely no doubt that they would get the result that they want.
As far as I am concerned the Queen is a perfect stranger to me, yet if I ever saw her I would not simply carry on my way ignoring her existence in the same way that I do with other strangers. If I was ever to converse with the Queen I would not talk to her like "Sup Lizzy how's it going?" because this would be incredibly disrespectful. But the Queen has never done anything to personally earn my respect so why would I treat her with respect? It seems very hypocritical!
I would not suggest that you start treating everyone disrespectfully, but the next time someone asks you to do something that you don't want to do, it might be worth stopping to think why you should do it! It is always good to challenge authority - as long as the consequences are not going to be too disastrous!
good thoughts - it is never a good idea to do something just (I mean only) to please somebody else, like a child performing for a teacher - it is bad faith. It is always best to do things because you see some purpose to it, in your own terms.
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