This is a professor of the really old school. Try and
visualize this old boy's reaction to a rude student. You
may remember that in the 1800's teachers often used
a cane or a paddle to help get lessons across to students.

Most college students are polite and respectful, but every instructor on this campus (or any other) has seen examples of classroom rudeness that reach the level of self-destructive behavior. Such academic impoliteness is pretty easy to spot. Coming to class late, leaving class early and sleeping in class all show a lack of respect for the teacher, the other students and the overall purpose of the class. Failure to come to class at all on test days is just as rude as standing up a date on her birthday because most college instructors have spent as much time preparing to give a test as that poor girl has spent getting ready for her special evening out. And, of course, every instructor is familiar with the student who misses a class and then shows up at the next class asking "Did I miss anything last class?" (That strikes most instructors as being the same thing as saying "Most of what you do in class is really not that important, but maybe you threw out a rare pearl of wisdom while I was doing something really a lot more important than your class.") Many other examples student rudeness could be cited here, but the important thing to note is that such behavior is really self-destructive. Imagine the dangerous emotional state of a wife or girl friend if her man regularly shows up late for dates or dinner, if he often ends a date or an evening early, if he falls asleep while she is talking or if he fails to show up at all for an occasion such as a birthday or anniversary. Imagine what could happen to the man who suggests to his lady fair that what she is saying is really not very important. Treating some women that way shows that the man has a "death wish" and that he had better be careful if sees his beloved coming towards him waving a cast iron skillet like a club. If a student treats his instructor as carelessly as the man just mentioned, isn't the student asking for trouble? Nowadays, of course, most college professors are far too civilized to retaliate with physical violence against rude students, but the student who frequently chooses to act in such impolite ways has no one to blame but himself when the F's start rolling in.

Like all the examples of Stage Two one-paragraph essays included in Practical Writer and on this website, the opening topic sentence and the final reworded topic sentence are printed in blue. Sub-topic sentence #1 and sub-topic sentence #2 are printed in red.

Please note that if you were to add a third sub-topic sentence (in this case, for example, something like "The worst example I know of such a rude student is Miss Thing Jones") and follow that sub-topic sentence with some developing sentences, then you would have essentially the basics of a five-paragraph essay:

1. The main topic sentence at the beginning of the one-paragraph essay becomes the thesis sentence of the introductory paragraph of the five-paragraph essay.

2. The first sub-topic sentence becomes the topic sentence of the first paragraph of the body section of the five-paragraph essay.

3. The second sub-topic sentence becomes the topic sentence of the second paragraph of the body section of the five-paragraph essay.

4. The third sub-topic sentence would become the topic sentence of the third paragraph of the body section of the five-paragraph essay.

5. The re-worded topic sentence at the end of the paragraph becomes the re-worded thesis sentence that begins the conclusion paragraph of a well-made five-paragraph essay.