How to Be Well-Liked in Your Classes

Image via Wikipedia

While in college, one of the most important things you will do is study. If you are smart, your biggest goal will not be to become the best liked person on campus. If the latter just comes naturally, of course, than more power to you. That being said, my title seems pointless. The goal of this post is not so much so that you will be popular among your classmates so much as it is to give you tips so that you do not make their college career more difficult.

1. Before you ask a question, decide whether it benefits anyone in the class other than you. If it is something that the teacher has gone over more than twice, or about a situation that applies only to you, wait until class is over to talk to the professor one-on-one or go see him or her during office hours. On that note, keep the "What if" scenarios to a minimum and keep them reasonable.


2. College is a great place for debate, and everyone has their own opinion. However, the middle of class is not the time or place to get aggressive. If you and another student or the professor disagree, handle it like the adults you are and discuss things calmly. If necessary, agree to disagree.


3. Before you go on any kind of tangent or attempt to steer the professor down another track, decide whether or not what you have to say is relevant, at least in part, to the class. For example, your feelings about the nation's exercise habits may be a very good thing to share during health class, but not in the middle of marketing class.

4. Respect your fellow students and the professor. There will be annoying classmates no matter what your major is but resist the urge to roll your eyes every time they open their mouths, or talk about them behind their backs. This goes for your professor as well. Don't interrupt anyone while they are talking, have patience, give everyone a chance, they might surprise you.

Readers, is there any advice that you would add to the list?

Empathy is Dead.

According to a new study, we as modern-day college students have as much as 40% less empathy than our counterparts in the 80s and 90s. When I think about it, that may be true, but I don't think its necesarily that we care less.

I consider myself a pretty empathetic person. I feel bad when bad things happen, even if it is to bad people, or someone I don't know at all and I know other students, or recent students, who are similar but to a different degree. However, it doesn't get me all that far.

Think about when a society asks for donations, which is usually every day. Do we see the results of the donations we do make? Most likely all we see is the suffering continueing, or that same organization asking for even more money. Or we see just as valuable causes fall by the wayside for more popular one. And we've all witnessed administration get in the way.

When we try to be empathetic, is it returned? Or do we have poor empathy role models who show us that it is not worth the trouble?

So yeah, we're less empathetic than some former college students when they were our age. But maybe its because we had to enter the real world before graduation. After all, are working adults so much better?

Here is a link to the article and one psychiatrists theories about how it happened: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,593832,00.html