Respecting elders is a common moral that people share. Whether that means people who are 60 or people that are only a couple years older, respecting people that are older is something that some people believe is important too. But sometimes teens are rebellious and don’t want to be like their parents, so listening and respecting people who are older than them may become difficult.

Some students, like sophomore Ana Goodlett, believe students should respect people with authority as long as they are people that deserve to be respected.

“Students should respect authoritative figures if the authoritative figures give the grounds and intelligence for respect,” Goodlett said. “Ninety-nine percent of those people deserve the respect they get because they work very hard at what they do, but being in a place of authority does not mean you have the only right to receive respect when you show none of the qualities I just stated.”

Students go to school every day and have to interact with teachers and make sure that not only are they doing well academically, but also behaviorally. Fulfilling those expectations are part of being a good student, but while some students do well in the classroom, outside of the classroom might be a different story, according to junior Emily Prine.

“I think that most students show respect to the authority figures to their faces, but behind their backs the students are more likely to show disrespect because there is no backlash.”

She adds that students might disrespect authority in ways to get attention.

“Most of us know to show respect to adults, but some people will stop at nothing to get a laugh, or to stand out in the crowd,” Prine said.

Teachers’ goals are to educate students to give them a head start to their future and to help them become a well-rounded individual. Though students may show respect to teachers, Goodlett believes there’s a difference between respect and appreciation for what they do.

“Students don’t think about the fact that teachers take out so much time of their day to grade our homework. We have to do four pages of homework? They probably have to grade fifty times that amount,” Goodlett said.

Students may want to pave their own path, but adults may have more experience to try and help students to become better and smarter individuals in life. Students are constantly growing and learning to become better people under the influence of adults, and the information that teachers say may last in students’ minds for years to come.

“I feel as though if the younger generation were to be more respectful to the older generation, that we could avoid making the same mistakes,” Prine said.

15rarthur@usd489.com