In recent years, instructors across college campuses have observed a steady decline in students’ adherence to the behavioral norms that once defined the academic environment. Expectations surrounding punctuality, appropriate dress, timely submission of work, and respectful communication have eroded, replaced by a culture in which such standards are often seen as optional, negotiable, or even oppressive. This change is not a mere generational evolution. Rather, it reflects a broader mindset shift that undermines students’ development and is supported by the rot of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (DEI) ideology.
Social pressure and fear of judgment have traditionally played a formative role in helping people to adjust their behavior and internalize adult norms of conduct. Feelings of embarrassment, discomfort, or mild shame are normal emotional responses that arise when one fails to meet communal expectations or engages in undesirable behavior. These once functioned as social correctives, helping individuals align their behavior with the demands of academic and professional life. Today, many students no longer respond to these cues, nor do they perceive them as legitimate. The result is a proliferation of behaviors that would have once been discouraged through informal but effective social accountability.
Among the most prominent examples is the disregard for academic deadlines. Increasingly, students request extensions without justification or with excuses that would have previously prompted shame. The proliferation of disability and student wellness workers also supports them in these endless requests for extensions. No longer is poor time management seen as a personal failing, but rather as an outcropping of stress or a myriad of other victim-mindset-based excuses. Yes, the end of the semester is busy—that’s why you have had the full semester to work on your term paper. Leaving all your work to the last minute is a personal choice that should be punished, not rewarded with extensions.
This normalization of deadline flexibility erodes the development of discipline and time management skills, which are foundational to both academic and career success. Moreover, it fosters a sense of entitlement that clashes with the realities of most professional environments, where the consequences of failing to meet deadlines carry greater weight.
Equally concerning is the tendency for students to treat their professors as emotional confidants rather than academic mentors. While educators must be compassionate and supportive, the oversharing of personal issues, often unrelated to coursework, suggests a blurring of boundaries that compromises the professional nature of the student-teacher relationship. This informality undermines the structure and tone of academic spaces, transforming them into sites of therapeutic exchange rather than intellectual engagement. And those professors who seek to uphold professionalism and standards are often criticized as insensitive and oppressive in end-of-the-semester “evaluations”—also known as satisfaction surveys.
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A further symptom of this shift is the declining attention to personal presentation. While dress norms evolve, arriving at class in pajamas, loungewear, or overly sexual attire does not signal individuality so much as disengagement or disrespect. What students wear to class communicates the seriousness with which they take themselves and the endeavor, their readiness to participate, and their respect for the setting and the others also present. To disregard this dimension of self-presentation is to miss an essential aspect of learning how to navigate formal environments.
This connects with their general irresponsibility toward the shared classroom experience. Tardiness, inattentiveness, and frequent off-task behavior, including the use of phones, engaging in online activities, and engaging in casual conversations, have become increasingly common. Surfing the web during a meeting is not appropriate and is something that an employee should strive to avoid; however, students often engage in off-task behavior with little to no sense of shame regarding their rudeness.
Nor do they feel embarrassed about their lack of preparation for presentations or the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which makes them appear completely incompetent to everyone but themselves. A little shame felt because you don’t know what you are talking about, or that reading an AI-generated script that uses words and phrases you can’t possibly understand is a good thing.
This erosion of behavioral expectations cannot be discussed without considering the broader institutional culture, particularly the influence of DEI. In the interest of creating inclusive environments, many institutions have become wary of upholding uniform standards of behavior and academic rigor or holding students accountable for fear that they may disproportionately affect or alienate students from perceived marginalized groups.
This reluctance to enforce standards has fostered a climate in which expectations are softened or abandoned under the guise of equity. As a result, behaviors that are markers of professionalism and mutual respect are now viewed as culturally biased or elitist. Rather than being oppressive, learning to self-critique and facing judgment for failure are essential for personal growth in academic spaces and beyond. The assumption that standards themselves are exclusionary is infantilizing students rather than empowering them. Students should be supported in cultivating excellence. Failure in meeting standards should come with consequences, and students should be trained to cultivate agency and take responsibility for making changes.
Moreover, when students are encouraged to prioritize personal comfort and expression above situational appropriateness, they are ill-prepared for the norms and responsibilities they will encounter after university. The classroom should be a space where students are both supported and challenged; however, higher education should lean more toward the latter. Students should be challenged to meet the demands of a rigorous educational journey, to respect boundaries and regulate their emotions, to participate fully in all aspects of course requirements, and to grow through discomfort rather than retreat.
If higher education is to fulfill its mission, institutions must reassert the importance of rigorous standards, which include everyone by providing the opportunity for preparation in confronting and overcoming challenges. Professors must be empowered to hold students accountable without fear of retribution, and students must be helped to view expectations as tools for development, not as threats to their identity.
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“While dress norms evolve, arriving at class in pajamas, loungewear, or overly sexual attire does not signal individuality so much as disengagement or disrespect.”
What I have noticed is that the more we have become concerned about things like date rape, violence against women, and objectification of women — the less appropriate the attire of the young ladies has become. As an advisor, I’ve actually had to have the uncomfortable conversation about how it is not wise to walk across campus with a sexually suggestive word printed on your posterior — and I don’t care if it is the brand name.
It’s even worse in the dorms — the young ladies sorta wearing a towel — sort of — as the walk by and flirt with the young gentlemen. Some even go into boy’s rooms so attired…