On Being Respectful

When I was teaching, each semester on the first day when I introduced the syllabus I told my students I had one classroom rule:

Be Respectful.

I explained that rule had 3 parts:

1) Respect yourself. This is your education and you will carry it with you for the rest of your life.

2) Respect others in the classroom. They, too, are on their educational journey and what may be easy for one person is not for another.

3) Respect your environment: the classroom itself, the campus, etc. This is your physical space and how you treat it is a direct reflection on how you treat yourself and others.

It has been many years since I was at the front of a classroom, but that message is never far from my mind. May we all adapt it to our greater social world and use it well.