Hello everyone, I’d like to run by a theory that I’ve been noticing during my time in college. It might appeal to you and I would like y’all to hear me out on it, okay?
Now we’re all, unfortunately, aware of the concept of mansplaining, right? Well, for those who don’t know, mansplaining is when a person talks in a condescending tone to someone about something they may not have complete knowledge about, but has the mistaken assumption that they definitely know more about than the person they’re talking to does.
These interactions are usually done between a man and a woman, where the man doesn’t consider the fact that a woman might know about the topic already. Or better yet, might even know more about the topic than he does *gasp*. Shocking, I know. (Did I just mansplain, the mansplaining explanation? Oh my god, the layers go too deep, my friend.)
It’s almost as if women have the ability to comprehend things. But that’s a rant for a different day. This rant is about my status as a senior toward freshmen who constantly cross a line with my patience.
As a senior, I have an established social position on campus. This is based on the number of credits I’ve earned, my upper division classes and the impending reality that I have to leave and make something of my life. I have earned my status and worked hard to do it, too. So tell me how a freshman who’s only been around for about a blink of an eye is telling me what to do. As if I don’t know how things are being run or if I’m running them myself.
This is an advanced form of mansplaining that I like to be dubbed as Fresh-mansplaining. Now, I have learned to keep my emotions in check. Mostly because some arguments are not meant to be had. But a freshman cannot go and explain how certain things are done after being given a little taste of how things are done. You have to learn and grow with the process. Responsibility is learned and given to those who can handle it, not because they went to a meeting once and think they know everything.
I get it, you just came out of being top of the world. You graduated high school, you’re finally figuring out your place in life, everything is great and good. Nothing can stop you now. Except, the hard crushing blow that everything is different now. You may have been a big fish in your little pond long ago, but now you just got moved into a lake, my friend. You are a tiny fish once again. Be aware of your place in the food chain or you will pay.
Don’t get me wrong, sometimes it’s appropriate to challenge the status quo. That’s how policies get changed. I don’t want to crush anyone’s dreams of becoming bigger than what they are. I just want people to be aware that before things can get changed, you must learn how they work in the first place. You must learn how the rules work before they can be broken efficiently and effectively. So, if you waltz in a place knowing nothing and expecting everything to fall into your lap, you’re in for a rude awakening. The world doesn’t work that way.
Let this be a lesson for how the rest of your college career will go for you. I’ve been in your position and I have grown in the ranks of college standing. You will, too.