Incoming students need to quit high school antics

Age has never been an issue for me. I have always found that whoever I decided to interact with, whether it be professors, peers, co-workers, friendly strangers or my closest pals, that maturity was measured by one’s own personal acts and wills.

I could talk to someone who was 15 years my senior or three years my junior and not feel uncomfortable despite the number that was attached to our identities.

That was shattered when I was waiting in the long line for Tim Horton’s in the Science Atrium last Tuesday.

After 25 painful minutes of eavesdropping, that resulted in a less-than-two-minute iced cappuccino and sprinkle doughnut pickup, I came to the sad and confused realization that being in fifth year brings the contemplation: Am I really that old or do I just suck at being a Laurier “Golden Hawk?”

Being a fifth-year student has developmed a specific mindset based on the behaviours that I have witnessed, causing a hindrance towards those specifically in their earlier years at Laurier.

As if a light switch came on or I finally decided to swallow the red pill, there is a significant behavioral and maturity gap.

This sudden realization should not be fully blamed on the younger students who attend university.

Students who attend universities away from their home experience a new level of independence, which is exciting and liberating. Without confined to rules except the responsibility you must a self-monitor, it is no wonder that students, especially those in first and second year are going to act a little rowdy.

This type of behaviour however, extends onto campus, and while it is unreasonable to judge those who want to go out on Monday nights, it is the acts that are seen within the classroom that raises the most questions.

Laptops are perfect to take notes and saves from having to spend a bunch of money on notebooks.

Solitaire, Perezhilton and creeping that person sitting three spots away from you on Facebook, takes away all the great things about laptops and suggests we can’t last three minutes without being wired in.

Reflection time where we like to go over what we learned or I guess, what was so boring in class that we didn’t have the capacity to soak in, is often considered in the long lines for on campus food vendors.

A hilarious yet embarrassing comment was made by one student who enrolled in a film class, who said: “Yeah, but we have to like watch ‘old’ films you know? Like, black and white and stuff” while others were debating all the Facebook events that they were filtering through in class.

High school antics like talking extremely loud during class, making snarky remarks at the professor just to offer a slight challenge  and the most disruptive and annoying thing of all, anxiously fidgeting, staring at the clock and then rushing to pack your bag ten minutes before dismissal, makes a huge noise and causes the professor to struggle in order to keep the class in order.

We all have the same goal, going to school to earn our degrees.

No matter what program we choose in hopes of guiding us towards the right career path.

Yet, another goal is to make sure we have fun. Being a fifth-year student does not mean that having fun and acting like a hooligan is out of the question, but more so, our need to leave the playground antics and go to school to learn so that we can graduate is the top priority.

So, while my year may put me in a place where wanting to be serious in class, do my work and learn something can be seen snobbish, boring or non-spirited, as young adults who are trying to create new opportunities in order to further our success for the future, shouldn’t we all be working hard to make good impressions?