Though I see the logic in some of Fabio Albertin's arguments ("Please Show Some Respect," Feb. 11, 2001) regarding the behavior of students in class, I feel his unequivocal criticism to be both overly simplistic and negligent of several unfortunate truths.
Of course, the conversations of students during class regarding social activities can be disruptive. But when citing the inability of an instructor to control 200-plus chatting youths, he fails to propose an alternate question: why are there so many impersonal classes burgeoning with hundreds of students to begin with? Perhaps it is the inherent structure of such a cattle-call approach to education that is the problem; perhaps it is the sheer number of students that is distracting, more so than their specific behavior. With so many bodies, irregardless of their conduct, anyone will find it difficult to concentrate at times.
Too often, I feel the university requests of its students an undue amount of loyalty and acceptance of some illogical, counterproductive, disrespectful and even adversarial policies. I view my education as a market purchase; the act of a consumer exercising product choice. But the university fails to view students as customers in a competitive market as soon as they hand over their tuition deposit, taking their business for granted. Think about any commercial store - a supermarket, for example. Imagine having to drive there hours before you intended to shop just so you could get a parking spot. Or imagine having to compete for that parking spot with other shoppers, just so you could go inside and spend your money. And another thing, since when is employee parking better than customer parking? Yet we just swallow these truths because the school is a bureaucracy and it is difficult to place blame. We can't just shop somewhere else.
I have an alternate plea for students: realize when you're being slighted and be your own consumer advocate. Any private company would be out of business if there was so much dissatisfaction with their product. I am left pondering what the true cost of my SUNY education is: the tuition may be cheap, but at what price?
