I am constantly amazed at the attitudes displayed in public by teenagers.  My most recent amazement came at college “orientation” for freshmen students.

After a morning of placement tests and lunch, my soon-to-be freshman daughter and I headed to a meeting for those incoming students that would be joining her in the College of Hospitality and Tourism.  Instead of picking a table where there were two open seats, Susan went for an empty table.  Shortly thereafter a mother and son from Princeton, NJ joined us.

Prior to entering the room, the students were given one packet and the parents another.  Inside the student packet was a stapled copy of what the dean thought the students should be taking their first semester.  Because Susan already had constraints placed on her schedule by a sport, we already knew the times of some of the most basic classes – the ones that everyone would have to take.

The young man – I cannot bring myself to use the word gentleman here – at the table with us took a look at that and said he wasn’t taking the basic Hotel and Tourism class because first off it met at 9 am and secondly, he was not taking any Friday classes.  He was figuring he would only take classes on Tues and Wed.

His mother, while asking him to be quiet, told him he could discuss this with the person doing his schedule.  She was sure he could get a schedule more to his liking.

What was she thinking?  What was he thinking??

When all was said and done, Susan got her schedule done.  It looked nothing like the one her sister and I did for her – which she complained about.  She didn’t like this schedule either.  She has either 8 am or 8:10 am classes every day of the week.  She did end up with a Friday class that goes to 1:15 pm – not good since she will miss about eight Fridays for soccer but the professor was there with her and knew this from the start.  I think she is lucky.  She has several very good professors and is taking some 200 and 300 level courses in her major as a first semester freshman.