"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if you want to listen you should sit in the front!"

I once again tossed aside my pen in frustration because once again the journalism lecture was spent trying to control students who do not seem to realise that they are at university now and really do not have to come to lectures if they wish to socialize. Two students were sent to sit in the front of the lecture hall like children once again and one was our very own class representative who rallied about her diligence and commitment to the course and its students. She then still has the cheek to walk to the front, dripping with attitude as if she honestly believed that the lecture period was her personal Rat and Parrot! I know that the lecturers are attempting to make an example because singling out one individual does bring a groups attention to the fact that they are not invisible. But everyone just laughs it off, which results in the lecture yielding the same fruitless results. Last term during another journalism lecture (notice the trend?) a student eventually stood up and shouted at other students because of the noise levels, saying that she had not woken up early to come and listen to trivial tales from other students. Instantly another student shot back saying, “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that if you want to listen you should sit in the front!” I don’t mean to be rude or to offend the student that made such an insightful comment but I do recall paying R50 000 to sit wherever the hell I want to! Many fellow students have also begun to notice how discipline and respect have been slipping as the novelty of being a first year has worn off and now we seem to think that we can swing form the lecture rafters like a bunch of monkeys and then still have the audacity to call ourselves rocket scientists!