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Saturday, January 14, 2006

The Culture of Impersonality

From a thoughtful editorial in the University of Saskatchewan student newspaper, in which the editors argue that “impersonality” will be the keyword for 2006:

Think of the last time you had a question in class; did you raise your hand in front of the entire classroom, did you wait until the class had finished, or did you email your professor later that day? The numbers most certainly increase toward the latter with every passing day.

Even professors feed into this impersonality. Lectures are now put up on the Internet in the form of powerpoint presentations. It is no longer necessary for students to attend classes or even talk to other students to copy their notes. Yes, this is a system of convenience for those that cannot always make it to class, but it is a system that is abused, and breeds laziness as well as a student population that is detached from its university.