And if this ain't love.

I totally understand that as school kids most of us are guilty of this at some point, but as far as being in a classroom situation is concerned, and especially at university level, nothing annoys me more than people talking amongst themselves when the lecturer/tutor is talking.

And I have realised, to my dismay, that it is almost always the Aussie students who are doing so (yes I am blatantly pointing my finger).

I was in a lecture on Monday and trying to listen very hard as I was seated at the last row, and while Sensei turned her back to write on the board, people started chattering away at the top of their voices, laughing, giggling, etc. They did not stop even after Sensei started to speak again, and from my bird's eye view from the top I could totally see that it was the local students who were the disrespectful ones, while the international students (who pretty much stuck to their own little "Asian international student" groups, but hey, at least they were paying attention) were listening attentively, or at least it seemed like they were ;)

The chattering from the lecture continued in today's tutorial for the exact same subject, and poor Sensei had no choice but to very exasperatedly tell us that we were noisy and to keep quiet, which I thought was pretty embarrassing considering we were all doing an advanced level subject. I can imagine that frustration of trying to get a message across, only for your voice to be drowned out by other people talking ABOVE yourself.

This subject is not the first one in which I'd experienced such impolite behaviour towards a teacher, and strangely enough it was only in Japanese-language subjects that I've come across this (Japanese 2A immediately comes to mind). I wonder if it's because female (and Japanese) teachers seem more easy-going/less strict/less aggressive, so people take that for granted?

I am actually rather thankful that international (Asian) students like myself were brought up in environments which emphasised respect towards teachers and superiors (even though I didn't care much about these values then), because now it totally reflects on who are the ones who practise basic classroom etiquette and those who ignore it. It just makes me feel like, okay, so the education system in Western societies allows more freedom for choice and cultivates more room for creativity and all, but surely there is something just as important that they've failed to properly teach their kids at school?

So SHUT UP already, all of you.