Cultural Norms

If you really observe your world around you, you will pick up certain cultural norms. Unwritten rules, if you will. In fact, cultural norms are happening every day. For example, there are specific cultural norms that everybody seems to follow in a classroom, such as always sitting while the professor is speaking, not talking on your phone, taking notes and paying attention, and not causing a scene during classtime. One big cultural norm that occurs here on Manhattanville Campus is the tray in the cafeteria. Nobody uses it, yet it is so practical. Ideally, you could get everything you wanted in one sitting instead of getting up 3 or 4 times just to get another dish. Apparently, using the tray is not cool, though. I was even told on my first day of orientation to not use the tray because then I wouldn’t be cool. Even though I pick up on this cultural norm, I do not think that I will ever violate it.
One of my favorite examples of a cultural norm occurs in any local Target or CVS. There never seems to be anybody browsing the condom isle. It’s like you just go in, take which ones you think you want, and leave. The catch is that you always buy normal things to go along with it, such as shampoo, maybe some paper towels or a toothbrush also. You can’t just buy condoms.
Although I want to stand up to some of these cultural norms, I do not. Sometimes I think if whether I am following the crowd, or if it’s not such a big deal. I mean, they are kind of like unwritten rules to our society. Either way, most of them do not seem to be affecting anybody in a harmless way, so why not stick to what I’m comfortable with? Maybe one day I’ll break out of my box and use a tray at
Manhattanville College.