Who are you to judge?

“Hungover today?” How many of Olivet College students belonging to Greek society on campus has heard this on a Wednesday when you just happen to be tired with an honest crisis or sickness keeping you from your best? I’ve had many a teachers assume I was hangover when I was a little under par in the morning. I felt demeaned and hurt, I was judged. Being judged isn’t something most people like to have done to them; it isn’t fair to assume things because we all know what assuming does….
Many unfair judgments are made on campus. Whether you’re a Greek, a minority, whether you dress a certain way, play a particular sport, or your hair color. People can be judged by any means. Stereotypes, biases cultural differences, societal views, and preconceived notions assist in the act of judgment.
As a student passing through Mott often I have heard some very outrageous things in the halls over the last two weeks. I heard a teacher talking to a member of a fraternity say “now I don’t want a copy from the archives”, passing the judgment that because he is from a fraternity he must be the type of student who participates in academic dishonesty. I heard one student tell another student, “You’re on the softball team, you will for sure be at least bisexual by the end of the year” fulfilling the stereotype of athletic women being attracted to other women. I overheard one male student to another ask, “How’s football” and then to find out the student did not even play a sport. Stereotypes are on campus, people stereotype every day.
Where’s the ethics behind the judgments we are making? No one fits a cookie cutter description, people are different. Passing unfair judgment isn’t very ethical. No one wants to be judged as we try to defend our own identities. I am a sorority girl, and I do my homework and get good marks in my courses, I do my homework, I am not the presumed blonde bimbo sorority girl stereotype. Judgment isn’t fair, there is reasoning, and compassion, and purpose behind human beings and should everyone have to feel vulnerable to harsh trait judgments?
Students at Olivet College are surrounded by diversity, allowing for a lot of judgment. The truth is that everyone is capable of judgment. I am capable of making judgments; my classes are full of nerds, jocks, and Greeks. But upon closer examination the people in my class just aren’t that simple. You can’t categorize someone fairly.
One student I interviewed, we will call him Tom, can be described as a “pretty big guy, broad shoulders, kind of mean”, over six two, is almost always told he’s a jock because of his size and bad test grades, isn’t a jock at all, he’s on the bowling team. The student said, “People always think I’m on the football team, I’m not, I think It’s funny that people think that because they don’t know anything about me.
Why do students pass judgment like this? Are you an ethical person if you pass judgment? A random survey revealed people pass judgment because: “people are afraid of differences, it’s easy to do, it’s not judgment, just stereotyping, and people just fall into certain groups better than others.”
It isn’t just Olivet, most colleges and universities address the problem. An article from the Dartmouth student newspaper says that judgment is a, “natural social defense mechanism.” Dartmouth claims, “Students regularly get stereotyped by their major, what sport they play, what year they are, where they live, where they study, where they eat, and how and where they exercise.”
We choose to judge, we don’t judge our close friends who ready Nickolas Sparks books in all their spare time and call them nerds. We don’t pass judgment on our friend who is “the really annoying girl”. When you know someone you look past the traits most people are judged on. Before judging someone you need to know the facts, then judgment is not facts it’s the truth. To be less judgmental you have to work past the media and cultural influences and preconceived notions. Not all athletes are jocks, sorority girls aren’t dumb and blonde, and fraternity boys aren’t wasted in class (smelling what you think Animal House would).
You have to look past the surface, look deeper, know the details, you have to hear people out, and take chances once in awhile. Don’t be afraid to really know someone; that is when you can be free of judgment. Work past societies false perceptions. Our values and morals are shaped by society and our surroundings so it is up to us as individuals to work past stereotypes and biases. The task of judgment is too easy to do. Presenting a great example of being ethical when it comes to passing judgment is a sign outside of the Academic Deans office that read, “‘If you judge people you have not time to love them’ Mother Theresa.”