By Chelsea Champion

Staff writer

From the classroom to the cafeteria, a growing concern has spread across campus in regard to an apparent trend of both apathy and rudeness within the student body. Doors are slammed, bathrooms soiled, classes disrupted, and professors disrespected.

Apathetic attitudes lie mainly in the classroom. Students are often disinterested in class material, reluctant to participate, and absorbed in their cell phones and laptops. An evident lack of passion for education seems to characterize today’s college students.

One professor in the School of Arts and Science said, “In terms of apathy, I see that in the classroom here, but I have seen it elsewhere also. This would be in the form of a lack of intellectual curiosity, lack of interest in completing work on time, and not answering Challenge.” The lecture featured his studies regarding the academic habits of college students.

His research revealed a significant decrease in student study habits. In the 60s and 70s, students were reported to have studied on their own for 20 hours a week on average. Now students study approximately eight hours per week, of which less than five are completed independently.

Arum suggested that today’s students hold too much power over their education. Concepts such as teacher evaluations and websites such as “ratemyprofessor.com” contribute to student desires for easier classes, entertaining and lax teachers, and a minimum amount of work. This coincides with an increasing apathy on college campuses as well as a decrease in how “work ready” students are, leaving more and more post-grads dependent on their parents for two or more years after graduation.

Though we observe these behaviors here at Iona, this growing academic apathy exists on a universal scale, as was implied by Arum’s discussion. There are countless speculations as to which factors contribute to this attitude.

“Perhaps this is rising out of the incredibly high self-interest of our generation. We always want to know what’s in it for us,” said Iona sophomore Resident Assistant Caitlyn O’Toole. “I also think many students feel a sense of entitlement. A college education is expensive but just because we’re paying that sum does not mean that we are given some right to parents.”

In some cases, parents are seen to be more obnoxious than their children. Many professors have reported speaking with irate parents who were displeased with a child’s grades. The responsibility is therefore unfairly foisted on the professors rather than the students.

The students who share these views offer accurate depictions of our generation as characterized by many reputable researchers and journalists. Our generation, those who were born between 1982 and 2002, has been labeled as “Generation Apathetic,” “Generation Y,”  and “Generation narcissistic.”

College students have also demonstrated more noticeable rude behavior than in the past. One study, mentioned in a 2009 Chicago Tribune article, states that “nearly 70 percent of Americans polled in 2005 said they believe people are more rude than they were 20 to 30 years