Respect-The chicken or the egg?

A response to the Thought Vectors and Nuggets Activity
created by Patricia Uribe (@puribe)

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Thought Vectors Activity

I read “Bigfoot and Blind Spots – Respecting Students” by George Fogarasi and snickered at his stories. I can relate in so many ways. I too have received flowery emails from students calling me “Most respected mam.” His article made me think about the concept of Respect and how it is demonstrated in postsecondary education in Canada.

A couple of years ago, I taught a course in event planning and promotion to a group made up exclusively of graduate students from different regions of India. We discussed the concept of respect regarding events. They told me that, in some regions of India, it is common practice for students to kiss professors’ feet as they come into the lecture hall. I cannot imagine kissing ANYONE’s feet, let alone letting my students kiss mine or (egad!) kissing my own professors’ feet!

I have always loved the word Namaste, which means “I honour the light within you.” The concept of greeting someone, even a stranger with that degree of respect is simply beautiful and something I work to practice on a daily basis.

“Buddhist respect” by Photosightfaces is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

So how do we show respect in Canada? As professors, we do this in many different ways. We keep a distance to respect personal space. We provide options to respect learning styles. We ensure students have a variety of ways of learning to respect their access time, extra curricular and family commitments. We respect special needs and honour accessibility requirements. We show respect for different cultural backgrounds in our multicultural classrooms. We respect our learning environment. I could go on and on.

These forms of respect are expected, however. Is respect meant to be earned? Which comes first: the chicken or the egg?

“Which Came First? The Chicken or the Eggs?” by ShellyS is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

Fogarisi comments that some students must think we are nuts for wanting to be called by our first name because they are used to using an honorific. Just because we are a professor, is a student automatically supposed to respect us? In some cultures, the answer would be yes. However, I remember a professor at teaching college telling our class that respect should be earned. This shocked me at the time, but after teaching for 19 years I completely get it.

My millennial students and my own teen children and their peers in Generation Z have been raised to challenge authority and constantly push the envelope when it comes to demanding respect. A title or honorific does not automatically make them want to bow down. On the contrary, it is an opening to explore why the doctor, professor, engineer, etc. deserves their respect. Their generation will not blindly listen to their doctor’s or professor’s recommendations. They will research alternative recommendations and weigh their options. Right or wrong, this is the culture they have been raised in.

So…honour the light within your students. Do not expect immediate respect. Earn it. Show them how the skills you are teaching will help them now and later in life. Namaste.