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Ward's Words of Wisdom. . .

Ward Cleaver -- one of my favorite TV dads and played by the late Hugh Beaumont -- sets Wally, The Beav, Eddie Hascal, and Lumpy Rutherford straight.

A new university semester starts in just a couple of days, and as I make the final finishing touches to my online course management pages and look over my class lists (I've got 150 students ranging from freshmen to seniors this term across three courses), thoughts turn to polite behavior.  Hopefully, politeness on my part will beget polite behavior from my students.  We'll see.  

I should probably post the photograph above in a prominent place for each one of these online course management pages, but there is probably a university regulation somewhere that says we shouldn't.  I am, nevertheless, a firm believer that there ought to be a required two-semester course sequence on most college and university campuses in the United States on basic etiquette and polite decorum.  Most (though certainly not all) undergrads in my experience desperately need such coaching in the 2st century.

 -- Heinz-Ulrich

Comments

  1. Glenda MooreSeptember 1, 2015 at 6:27 AM

    I've always thought a required college course titled something like "Basics for participating in the adult world after college" should be taught in the first semester/quarter. Could include deportment (walking with confidence, looking people in the eyes, shaking hands, etc.), etiquette (at home, in the workplace, at the table, in the world at-large), hygiene, how to coordinate a minimal and civilized wardrobe without sacrificing your unique style, etc. Some colleges & universities claim in their mottos to prepare "the total man", but I've never heard of a college offering such a course.

    In my idealized world, such a course would actually just be a refresher...

    ReplyDelete
  2. WSTKS-FM WorldwideSeptember 1, 2015 at 8:13 AM

    Good to hear from you, Glenda, and I naturally concur 100%.

    Best Regards,

    Heinz-Ulrich

    ReplyDelete

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All opinions are welcome here. Even those that differ from mine. But let's keep it clean and civil, please.

-- Heinz-Ulrich

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