For French class we had to write a short paragraph completing the sentence “A good student is one who __”. The next day, we started class by writing our responses on the chalkboard. When I took my seat, I started to read what my classmates had wrote. “Takes good notes”, “gets good grades”, “goes to office hours”, and “always goes to class” were the most popular responses. I was shocked that nobody had written anything similar to me. My first sentence was “Il adore apprendre”, “he loves to learn.”

After we had finished discussing the qualities of a good student, the instructor gave a follow up question: “a well-raised child is one who __ ?” Again, we were sent to the chalkboard to transcribe our thoughts. “Poli” was the word on everyones’ lips. “Polite”, good kids were polite. Again, the class seemed to confuse “well-raised” with “well-behaved”. Not a single person mentioned being imaginative or creative or loving.

Maybe I have a different perspective because I am about to graduate and most of my classmates are freshmen and sophomores.

I am hoping that’s it.