So we all remember the kids in junior high and high school that consistently and emphatically talked in class. If there was a conversation to be had regarding the related material, they were the ones driving it forward with the teacher. These students quickly assumed the nicknames “suck-up,” “teacher’s pet” and “brown noser.”

If the student was indeed drooling over the teacher’s feet, I guess you can say that some of these associated stereotypes were most likely just. The “cool kids” seemed to play it, well, cool, as they allowed a small minority of students to speak up during class. While this was all fun and games in junior high and high school, given that we were still technically kids at the time, at moments throughout my college career it has vexed me to see this trend continue. This is not to say that the kids who do talk in class get made fun of and labeled with derogatory stereotypes, but that at times the level of class participation, even at a school like Wooster, can be lackluster to say the least.

My intention here is not to call out any person who happens to have an Eeyore-esque cloud of gloom over his or her head that day and just really doesn’t feel like speaking up. I’ll be the first to admit that some days I just don’t have what it takes to voice my opinion and contribute to the conversation, and indeed it’s a challenge not to zone out into space during Psychology 101 your first year. Also, there are times when not everyone can get the reading done for class.

However, this does not mean that you can’t at least try to keep up with the discourse that is circulating around you. Come on, folks! At least try to seem interested some of the time! While a quality education† should be a right of every person in this country, and world for that matter, the reality is that it is not. We are privileged to be taking the classes that we are with the professors who are teaching them.

What made this topic relevant for me was a recent article that appeared on the blog Barstool U. In the article, the blogger pointed out that a professor at a college in Texas was arrested and charged after closing a student’s computer on her fingers because she thought the student was on Facebook during class. While the professor clearly stepped out of bounds in this instance, the blogger proceeded to defend the student in a way that represents the narrow-minded and individualistic tenets adopted by so many today. The blogger claimed that the student was paying to go to the school, therefore her tuition paid the professor’s salary and she had every right to be on Facebook or any other distracting website for that matter.

So with this line of thought, should I pay $47,000 to twiddle my thumbs during class? Or should I actually try to learn something? Again, I’m not trying to call anyone out who has opened his or her computer and gone on Facebook during class, and we have all missed our share of class after a rager on Woo Wednesday. What I am arguing for is for people to abandon this mindset that the school, or any school for that matter, is working for you just because you pay to go here. Unfortunate as it is, getting a quality education is a privilege, not a right. Why not take advantage of this privilege? There is a whole lot for all of us to learn throughout our lives, but the chance to converse with professors in quality classes is now. I think as a collective student body here at Wooster, we can all do a little better to contribute to the conversation and build a greater intellectual environment where we all can thrive.

Anthony Dominguez is a Viewpoints Editor for the Voice. He can be reached for comment at ADominguez11@wooster.edu.