You are in class and you feel comfortable in your seat. But then, you feel yourself shake and grow confused at the disruption of your concentration. This lecture is an important one so you try your hardest to pay attention, but can’t because of the shaking and you realize it is the student behind you. 

   Students should know better than to put their legs on the back of the one in front of them and shake and kick. Don’t get me wrong, I have had my feet on the chair before me, but I have never shaken or fidgeted with my feet. 

   I get so bugged about the shaking because it becomes all I can focus on, taking my attention away from what is important. Some people do not notice they are doing it, or they may be readjusting their positions in their chair, but they should be more empathetic to the person sitting in front of you. 

   If students do not use the back of the chair, they sometimes will simply extend their legs as far as they can go, so much so, they invade your feet space.Or if I have something under my desk, like my lunchbox, the student’s feet will push it up. 

    If extended feet can touch the person in front of you, then you are not sitting correctly. 

   If that is not enough to ruin the flow of concentration, sometimes a student sitting behind me has their laptop so close to the end of their desk that when I lean back, my back hits their computer instead of the chair. It is uncomfortable especially when I do not know the person behind me because I want to lean back but they’re in my way. 

   You could say I could simply scoot my desk up, which is an idea I have tried, only to be met with gum under the desk when I grab the edges to scoot. There is nothing that makes me reach for my hand sanitizer like my life depends on it than when I am moving desks and the underside of the desk is bumpy. It is disturbing to know that some students think they are an 80’s cliche and stick their gum under the desks. Why not just throw it away, or swallow it if you don’t want to get up?

   When desks are already moved in tables, I am thankful because I do not have to worry about the high possibility of gum. But the closeness of desks creates other issues when a classmate’s belongings end up on my desk, it makes everything awkward because I want to move it. In class, I scooched a pencil pouch over because it was in the way of my hand, and my friend gave me a side eye, even though it was on my desk . Or when they sit on your desk that is right next to yours and you just stand there awkwardly. 

   Not to mention the other problem with space is if you intend to walk away from your row, students find it okay to cut you off right before you get to them. Most upperclassmen have their license and drive and even if they do not, no one would do that in a car, so why do it in real life? We do not have side mirrors we can look at but take a peek behind your shoulder before abruptly getting up to avoid a possible collision. 

   These all may seem like little things that I am complaining about but when I am in a class I already struggle in, these distractions are more than that. Take a moment to think of the students that you might disrupt.