Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Teaching college students social decorum?

Stuart Schneiderman praises the Air Force Academy for teaching cadets social decorum.
All things considered, the Academy is teaching undergraduates many of the skills that I, as one among many, believe are basic to a successful life. They begin with etiquette, because what does it mean to respect another individual when your table manners ruin his appetite. Then they move on to the art of conversation, comprising how to be tactful and diplomatic and how to function under stress. Can anyone have a good relationship, of any kind, without knowing how to conduct a conversation?

Imagine a world were other college students received the same training, perhaps on a voluntary basis. Wouldn’t it be far better than forced sensitivity training and week-long seminars on multiple orgasms?

I live and work just up the road from the Air Force Academy, and have had numerous interactions with cadets in the store where I work. They are invariably polite and respectful.

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