I chose a liberal arts institution like Brown because it excites me intellectually to hear opinions from all different kinds of people. Not everyone shares my ideas, but why would I want them to? It’s like each English literature seminar is a harmonious melting pot of diverse viewpoints.

Sometimes I do the reading for my seminar and I don’t totally understand it. But when I come to class, my mind is just blown by the insights of my classmates. They bring their knowledge of theory, history, social justice, and so much more to every discussion. I’m extremely grateful that I can learn from such brilliant peers.

Respectful disagreement is also an essential part of any educational discussion. The most dynamic portions of seminar often occur when two classmates address a point of contention between each other. Their debate challenges each of us to take a stance and really dig into the material. For the sake of my own learning as well as the whole class’ learning, I would never want any student to refrain from expressing their invaluable thoughts on the material.

COUNTERPOINT: I really wish that one guy would shut the fuck up. By Theodore McCrae, 9:40am

He’s raising his hand AGAIN. Damn, I wish this guy would put a sock in it. Look at his smug face. He thinks he’s God’s gift to the art of the Socratic seminar. Well guess what, asshole? I want you to shut the fuck up.

Just hearing his voice makes my blood boil. Now he’s bringing up Descartes… I guarantee you no one else in this class has read Descartes. We don’t care what you learned in your freshman year philosophy class. God, what a tool.

Oh man, he keeps looking at the professor. He probably thinks she’s just in awe of his genius right now. I bet he really gets off on asking these completely tangential and unhelpful questions. And someone should tell him that he doesn’t need to make those god-awful listening noises whenever someone speaks. If I hear one more pensive “mmm…” out of him, I’m going to lose it.

News flash, buddy, you already got into college! You don’t have to impress anyone anymore. I don’t want to hear what “really stood out” to you about the reading. I sure as hell don’t want to see you take any more notes with that obnoxious stylus — we don’t even have tests in this class. Just do us all a favor and can it.