1 How Do Students Behave?

When her mother accused her of being trouble maker, no one of the people in the next door was surprised because she was the real trouble maker not only at home but also in the whole neighborhood. Yet, every one was surprised while her teachers were calling her the proper etiquette girl. It was hard to understand nine-year-old Laras variable behavior. How could she become the neighborhood trouble maker at the same time she was the most behaved student? How could she break her neighbors windows and steal her grandmother purse, but be the quietest and the friendliest one? Only a few people would understand Laras changeable behavior: anthropologists, who study the behavior of particular groups of people to outline the ways in which they react to their surroundings. Lara was not an exception amongst her classmates. There were students whose behaviors were also strange. Some of them had acted exactly as same as Lara. Others had acted completely opposite; their behavior might reflect their backgrounds. Eventually, someone may encounter many stories that are as same as Lara and her classmates story. If we apply an anthropological study to the students behaviors in the Kurdistans universities, we will find that students behaviors differ from a university to another depends on some factors that influence students life. Some students behave politely and care about the knowledge. Some are punctual and polite but unmotivated to be learned. Others are skeptical and stubborn. These varieties among groups of students are because of the students financial states s, universities policies that enroll them, and their background. The statistics, examples, and evidences that I demonstrated to support my project about students behaviors base on surveys, interviews, observations, and contacts with both faculties and students. I did surveys through direct contact with AUI-S students and teachers and indirect contact with students and faculties from other universities in Kurdistan region by asking these kids of questions: What do you think about students behaviors? How they act, politely, or impolitely? Why? Are they eager to learn, or do they care about learning? Why? Do their backgrounds, financial states, and universities police influence on their behaviors? I interviewed students who behave unique or different than their flews in AUI-S. I called, e-mailed, chatted with student and faculties from other universities. Observations base on what I

2 have been experienced for three semesters as a student at AUI-S. All these factors aided me to conclude my project with my appreciation to those students and faculties who were so helpful. Going back to my observations and interviews that I have made, I found that only about 10 percent of students was punctually attending the classes prepared. Mr. A, who is an Academic Preparation Program teacher at AUI-S, and did not want his name to be recognized because of the academic honesty , said that only seven of his students of total 50 have not got absent warning. While interviewing those seven students who skipped no class, I found that all of them are those students who got either sponsorship or financial aids, which to student with low financial states. That means their financial states are playing a great role impacting on their behavior. Thus, if those students who are sponsored failed, their families could not pay their full tuitions. Hence, they intend to study hard and behave appropriately in order not to lose their opportunity of studying. When I came to interview those students who failed even though some of them are sponsored by the government whether they will leave the school or pay for the next semester, they said that they will pay and they are not worried about money even if the government does not sponsor them. For example, Maad, who was APP student in level four, said that he failed because his absences and not submitting assignment, but he was not worried about leaving university because he knew that his father would take care of that. While looking for broader interviews, I found that the same story is true in other universities in Kurdistan. According to assistance of Dehuks president, whom I called him, the best ten students in terms of grades in Dehuk University came from the poorest families for last three years. These interviews and realizations conclude that a student behavior can be closely related to his/her familys financial states. I used interviews and observations to investigate students behaviors within universities, the results of this investigation indicate that there is a kind of students who behave very unique. On the one hand, this kind of students is too polite, and respectful. They can be found sitting in the back of the class politely, in one of the librarys corner listening to a quiet music, or gently standing in the smoking area inhaling a smoke. On the other hand, this kind of students does complain about homework and assignments they have been given. They come up with unpersuasive excuses for not submitting the

3 assignments on time, or they sit in the back of the class without being participated. When I asked them about their unique behavior, most of them said that their universities do not care that mush about students who are motivated. A huge number of these students can be found in municipal universities, Dehuk, Saladin, and Suli universities. Yet, this story is not entirely true among AUI-S students. Consequently, I identified that the underlying cause for a student who is unmotivated and not eager to learning is the universitys system itself. In some private universities such as AUI-S or UK, there are ways that these universities use to encourage their students to be motivated. As an illustration, in these universities motivation and participation in classes help students to gain some grades and credits. Therefore, students try to do their best in classes to get a credit. Equally, the evaluation system that has been used at AUI-S in which students are evaluated for their weaknesses and strengths in classroom by instructors, which is a policy that few universities have to encourage their students to be motivated (Ahmad and Khalaf). While yet, in other universities, Dehuk University for example, participation may mean annoying. Indeed, students will probably get full credit if they participate or they do not. They lack of policies such as evaluation system to asses a students performance. In sum, then, the universitys policy can change a student from being lazy to a diligent example. There is another group of students whose behaviors are odd. They are neither punctual student nor are they keen on learning. This group encompasses of those students who rarely attend to class prepared or on the time. Even if they attended the classes, teachers and other students would be very thankful if they did not because of their matchless behaviors. This kind of students can be found in every place in the university, in library chatting on face book or talking on phone, in deans office, in teachers offices, or in cafeteria smoking. They rarely do their homework; usually trying to copy from others. I realized that from my interviews there is a relationship between the background of these students that they come from and there attitudes. Some of those students are forced by their families to be in the university they do not want to be in. There are some students who come from broad to study in AUI-S; they really do not care about anything and I asked them Why? They said that they are not supposed to be here. Ali, for example, was studying at American University in Beirut and has not wanted to be in Iraq, but his

4 father wanted him to be here. As result of his uninterested of being here, he got absent warning and failed in his level. Mohamed, who comes from Sweden to study at AUI-S University because his family is here, has the same story. He does not care about the assignments, being tardy, or success. Likewise, according to Rosalind Warfield, APP director at AUI-S University, students behaviors do have bond with their background. Miss. Rosalind added that the students from the villages are more serious about studying comparing to the students from cities. She said, for example, the absent rate has risen amongst students from cities, whereas it is too low amongst students from the city. Thus, students who come from different background vary in their behaviors in dealing with their studying.