Arguing Against "The Seven Deadly Sins of Students"

            In Thomas H Benton’s article, The Seven Deadly Sins of Students, he is describing a few things that he believes students do wrong in their educational years. They are “sins” that he has noticed as a student as well as during his time being a teacher. The first sin in his article is about how students are “sloths,” meaning that they procrastinate on their work. Although this is fairly true for many (including myself), I know many people who stay ahead of their work. My roommate, for example, writes down everything she has to do in the upcoming month, and gets everything done directly after class, and I know many students like this. The next sin Benton describes is that of greed, saying that students only want certain degrees for a good salary. My major does not provide the highest paying jobs, and every person who I have talked to is in the major because they love it, so I know this claim is false. Another sin in students according to Benton is anger. Although there are those students who get angry with the professor when presented with a challenging assignment, I do not see it often. Of course, I don’t think that difficult assignments are fun, but since we do pay for an education, we should be learning and pushing ourselves. The fourth sin that the author describes is lust, meaning that students rate professors on “hotness,” and come to class dressed inappropriately. I personally do not rate my teachers or come to class in clothes that will make other people uncomfortable, but I don’t see much harm in people who do those things. If you find it bothersome, it is not necessary to pay attention to what someone else is doing, so don’t. Another sin Benton describes is gluttony, saying that students eat and drink whatever they want during class. He does address the fact that students might not have time, but some students truly may not. Unless there are allergies, which can be addressed, this is not hurting anybody. Something else that he addresses is envy. I personally have never worried about how others are doing in college, because I have never seen it as a competition. I have also never heard anybody comparing their academics to others in an envious way, so I do not think that this is a common occurrence. One last sin that Benton mentions is pride, meaning that students think they are better than their teachers. I think that this is another generalization, and mostly depends on the maturity and respect of each individual student. Not everybody thinks that they are better; in fact many people really respect their professors, which is why they spend their time and possibly even money to get an education.