EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the fourth and final column in a        series about good behavior on and around campus. To see Sara’s previous columns, check out our Web site, lsureveille.com.My mother spent a lot of her time trying to raise a good Southern belle. Seeing how I’m as much my father’s daughter as I am hers, she definitely had her work cut out for her. I didn’t quite turn out a prim debutante who loves to host teas and never raises her voice, but Mama managed to at least instill a good sense of how to act in public and a respect for other people. My November columns are dedicated to those classmates who weren’t quite so lucky.Speaking of classmates, here’s a brief guide for how to behave during those classes we share. Granted, there are many different kinds of classes, each with its own unwritten rules of conduct, but consider these general guidelines for classroom behavior in general.1.  Put your phone on silent. This rule goes for you, too, teachers. It’s telling that I have to list this in every single “manners” column I write, no matter the setting.2.  Learn the difference between “answering a question” and “telling a long story that is only funny to you and vaguely related to a topic briefly mentioned in class.”  However compelled you feel to brag about yourself, 200 people do not need to hear about the time you fashioned solar panels from your toenail clippings and used them to heat your indoor pool.3.  If you’re late for class, sit as close to the door as you possibly can. Try not to walk all around the classroom searching for the perfect spot like a dog that needs to pee. 4.  Being the first to turn in your test/paper/project doesn’t mean you’re a genius. It means you’re a nerd, so wipe that smug grin off your face, nerd.5.  If you didn’t have time to shower during the last three days, that means you also don’t have time to come to class, OK? Take a personal hygiene day, please.6.  Coming to class wearing last night’s makeup, a wristband and a bar stamp doesn’t make you cool. It makes you a dirty skank. I don’t care how hungover you are. Wash your face and hands before you give anyone else mono.7.  Pajama pants are for your house, not my school. High heels are for places where you might get a job or get laid. Or jobs where you get laid, if that’s your style.8.  Why did you come to class to play “World of Warcraft” or chat with your friends on Facebook? You know you can do that at home and be naked at the same time, right?  9.  In the same vein, there’s no reason to come to class still drunk or high. You’re not going to get anything done and really, it’s just unseemly.10.  Talking with your neighbor/friend during a lecture is rude and obnoxious. People don’t hear you talking during class and think, “Oh, so-and-so must be so smart and interesting and popular!” They think, “I wish so-and-so would shut the hell up. I hate that guy.”It’s generally pretty easy to be polite at school. Show up clean, on time and mind your own business during class. Try to be considerate of the people around you no matter where you are.I hope you’ve enjoyed my ideas on etiquette and you think of me next time you’re at a movie, a bar, on a date, or in class — whether fondly because you agreed or with malice because I called you out on your rude, obnoxious behavior. Sara Boyd is a 22-year-old general studies junior from Baton Rouge.  Follow her on Twitter @TDR_sboyd.
 
 
 
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