the Concept of 'Respect'

[PinkFloyd]

Something that has had an impact on me as a person is the concept of respect. By that I mean, the general rules for communication set in place by schools, families, and just society in general.

Why is it a bad thing for be to "have a certain tone" or "talk back?" Why can't I just say what I believe and/or prove something without someone disregarding everything I said and focusing on how I said it and not what I said.

Look at law enforcement. It is not illegal to say "Fuck the police." While it's not a nice thing to say and it really shouldn't be said at all, people have the freedom to say it. the freedom is what's important to me. If I tell a teacher off, I get in huge trouble. When I was in eighth grade about two years ago, I confronted a teacher for being a hypocrite in front of the class. I got in school suspention for a day. I didn't swear once. I just pointed out that she shouldn't be telling us to complete our work faster when she uses a quarter of the hour explaining math that we had learned 4 years ago.

A perfect example is when I was learning how to drive with a driving instructor I backed out of my drive way, and accelerated faster than usual because I wasn't familiar with the car I was driving. The instructor then literally yelled "Whoa! Why the hell did you have to floor it out of the drive way! You tryna kill both of us!?" I told them that the RPM gauge needle never went above 3500. Redline was 7500 in the car. they then got really mad and said "don't talk back to me now." What else would I have done? I stood up for myself and that's all that should matter. My tone should not play into jack shit.

Rant over. Sort of.

[ksdnfkfr]

Know where you are coming from. Especially the "tone of voice" thing :roll:

[Ethe14]

Omg, in school this happens a lot. There is this one teacher that always calls us rude and disrespectful. Yet she turns around. And starts making extremely rude and saracatsic comments to how stupid we are, yet were in geometry. Boggles my mind, although on the last day of the school year she is going to have a nice chat with me.

[PinkFloyd]

Omg, in school this happens a lot. There is this one teacher that always calls us rude and disrespectful. Yet she turns around. And starts making extremely rude and saracatsic comments to how stupid we are, yet were in geometry. Boggles my mind, although on the last day of the school year she is going to have a nice chat with me.

Like, who said that teachers should be respected simply because they're teachers? the people I respect are people like Miep Gies. People that do incredible things. I've always been the type of person to try and be as nice as possible to everyone, but it's still something I wonder all the time.

[ksdnfkfr]

Teachers can be such hypocrites.
Funny I just read a quote from Ender's Game that goes,
Colonel Graff: You have a habit of upsetting your commander.
Ender Wiggen: I find it hard to respect someone just because they outrank me, sir.

[Croconaw]

I definitely agree with you. I would love to say things to certain teachers, but I really don't want to get punished.

[Living For Love]

I've never forgotten one quote my Philosophy teacher once told us: "I only have the right to be disrespectful towards someone if that person disrespects me first." You know, although we all deserve respect from everyone, whether we are teachers, students, dads or sons, I believe there's a certain "hierarchy" to be followed. I mean, do you think you have more knowledge about cars, speed limits, whatever than an instructor, who's someone that has been teaching guys like you for lots of time?

You have the right to talk back and stand up for yourself, and the problem is not if you do it or not, but on how you do it. If you use a louder tone of voice, people will think you're getting mad and angry towards someone who didn't act like that first.

And yes, in the case of teachers, on of the many reasons they should be respected is because they're teachers, because, in their case, they spent lots of years studying and working really hard so that now they are where they are. And I also mean doctors, lawyers, engineers, truck drivers, the lady that cleans the floor of your block of flats, any person, any one. And they should be respected for that.

[Saint]

the remark you made to your teacher just seems unnecessary honestly. you were being defensive in your response,not standing up for yourself. Defensiveness is just a emotional response to the situation,which is what you were caught up in. See,the best response to what happened in that situation is to just suck it up,because hey,it isn't a perfect world.

On that note,expressions and tone of voice plays a big part into what another person perceives your remark as. If you were going ape on whatever the matter is,the other party would more than likely be offended/feel retaliated against. I'm not saying standing up for yourself is wrong,but learn how and when to.

Again,huge difference between standing up for yourself,and being defensive. It's all about projecting your emotions & claims in the right way.

[Verto]

"Homo homini lupus"
Man is a wolf to [his fellow] man."

By nature, people are violet and selfish. With that idea out of the way, you can imagine why we’re taught to respect one another mutually and give way to authority, because authority replaces the natural order of the pecking order. That’s how society works. Instead of might, we fight with intelligence. Power is not entirely physical anymore. It’s about money, charisma, knowledge.

Respect kind of ties in with power. Those with power have control. Respect those with power and you too have a chance at getting some power. It also works the other way, people show disrespect as a form of power. Someone goes against what you believe (be it how your treated ect.) and you show disrespect back because your right.

Humans are social creatures, we communicate with actions and words and that includes tone of voice.
Talking back or having a certain tone shows your aggressiveness, the flaunting of your power, per se. You can say what you believe, but if your beliefs clash with another person’s beliefs then the person with more power will win and at that point, the outcome depends on the person. Some teachers give a suspension.
Some teachers let it pass or even discuss it.
That said, it seems bit more prominent in school because it’s a somewhat safe haven.

Respect is something everyone should keep in mind, even if you’re in the right. It’s called preservation and smart thinking. You talk back to a teacher, suspension. You talk back to your boss, you could lose your job, or get a slimmer paycheck. Better now than later.

But there are times where you should demand respect. Younger people such as kids need to learn when to be respectful. Someone of equal status (i.e. Not someone who is going to impact your future goals for gods sake.) such as arguments with a friend or when you’re a paying customer arguing about service is a tactful time. There’s a time and place for everything.

So really, if your going to fight for your beliefs and have a certain tone/talk back, think, is it worth it? And if it is, can you go about it smartly and do it respectfully? (Or even make them feel bad if you have a way with words) Perhaps PinkFloyd was in the right with the RPM issue, but is it worth the hassle to take an aggressive stance instead of being respectful? Maybe the instructor had seen how little it takes for a car crash to happen. Maybe he feared for his life at that moment? I wasn't there, I don’t know.

Yeah, walls of text. Feeling philosophical at the moment so bite me.

[On a side note, one of my parents is an English teacher. They get home and they spend up to another 3 hours marking essays, and that’s after dealing with parents and other troublesome kids. You can punish stupid kids. You can’t do a thing to stupid parents or stupid co-worker teachers. The people here most of all know how stupid some teachers are. Imagine how the frustrated the ‘good’ teachers feel having to organize and teach beside them daily.]

[Ben101]

I agree, nearly every time I speak to certain people I get told 'Not to talk to them like that' when its how I speak.

Another classic example, is our music teacher. When we throw a pen for example we get sent out, but a few weeks ago someone threw a pen for him to catch, he missed, and threw the pot of pens he had in his hand all over the room, just missing people, and nearly started to cry! So when we throw one pen we get into trouble, but a teacher is allowed to throw a pot of pens all over the room, and get away with it all!

[Miserabilia]

I COMPLETELY aggree.
Though those social differences are different from region to region
(I noticed huge differences when visiting the USA),
it's annoying in most places.

In my humble opinion,
respect should be earned.
I'll respect someone if they earn it.

The whole concept of "not talking back" to someone annoys me SO MUCH....
It happens to me in school allll the time.
ughghh