The Lecture Theatre Relationship

“You with the black shirt, yes you. Would you like to sit in the sin bin?” is not an unusual statement to be heard in a Journalism and Media Studies (JMS1) lecture of late. I do not think that anyone doubts that there is currently a problem with the relationship between students and lecturers in the JMS1 class this semester. As a JMS1 student myself I feel that the situation deserves attention and discussion.
In an attempt to discover the reason for this breakdown in the student-lecturer relationship I first compared faculties. As someone who has attended some Bcom lectures like economics I can say that when comparing economic lectures to journalism lectures the behaviour of both lecturers and students are continents apart. There are no ten minute discussions about why you were talking during class; the lecturer does not give late comers the third degree nor do students try to sneak out during lectures even if they consider them hellishly boring. It would then seem that the problem lies within the humanities faculty as a whole but as I am currently studying a BA degree with all humanities subjects I can testify to the fact that JMS1 is my only subject in which the behaviour is way below par.
Looking then specifically at the JMS1 class I struggle to understand how we ended up in a situation where students are made to sit in the ‘sin bin’ or as some people have begun to refer to it as the ‘Sim bin’. Does the fault lie with the lecturers, the course, the students or the general attitudes of both? In our previous narrative and genre course the lecturer Priscilla Boshoff also experienced the problem of trying to keep the class under control which makes me think can the problem really lie with three different lecturers or does logic not then suggest that it lies with the students?
I find that students are not behaving in a manner that is appropriate for the situation. I was particularly embarrassed after Professor Pityana’s speech on academic freedom which was compulsory for all JMS1 students as the behaviour was totally unacceptable. What has happened to respect and common decency? Not only for the lecturers, the classroom setup, our fellow students but for people in general. A student even said to one of the lecturers during a class that if the people talking are preventing others from listening than “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if you can’t hear you should sit in the front”. Although I can see the point that the student was trying to make his argument had one fatal flaw which was that if you are not attending the lecture to listen then you should not be there at all. The room is structured so that the lecturer can have the floor, face his audience and address them. From a young age I was taught that it is rude to interrupt someone when they are talking why then do students think that is ok to discuss their social lives or even work while the lecturer is talking. Do not get me wrong I do not think that students should sit like robots during lectures just taking notes too scared to say a word, but there is a healthy balance between saying a few words to your friend and having a full on discussion during the class.
The general attitude of the JMS1 students seems to be that we are all so hard done by which is seriously lacking in truth. The student that emailed Sim Kyazze for an extension gives us all a bad name as from the email you could tell straight away that the student had not even read the assignment brief for the opinion piece never mind gone to lectures or they would not have made such careless mistakes as saying that the assignment had to be 1500 words.
As the dreaded exams creep closer it would be wise for us all to take a deep breathe and get back to basics to ensure a healthier, happier and more learning friendly atmosphere in the lecture theatre.