Seven Deadly Sins

In Thomas H. Benton’s “The Seven Deadly Sins,” Benton analyzes the common, but troubling attitude and behavior of the college undergraduate students in classes and compares these seven calamitous and devastating attitudes to the concept of the Seven Deadly Sins in Christian tradition which is used to aware and educate young Christians that man has sinful nature and has been always fallen into these sins. These “Seven Deadly Sins” are: sloth, greed, anger, lust, gluttony, envy, and pride. In his essay, Benton relates these “sins” to the problematic attitudes of college students. However, Benton makes his argument based solely on the generalization, which makes the reader to have an indication of that every college students would be slothful and indolent in one’s duties and tasks, would pursue their college degree only to get higher payments, would have anger problem, would always wear “inappropriate” clothes, would always eat during one’s every single class, would envy one’s friends and classmates, and would have awful pride that doesn’t reflect the merciless realities. However, does these “Seven Deadly Sins” only applicable to college undergraduate students? How about the college associates or professors? Do they not “commit” these “sins”? To compare some of these sins between students and professors, according to Benton, college students are so slothful and lazy to do the assigned preparations and home works in time and postpone them to the last minute, which makes them feel the class more unenthusiastic and insufficient for them to attend and listen to the lectures, and makes them eventually to skip the classes; however, not only college students are “slothful”, as Benton describes, but also some college professors are also slothful, perhaps more slothful than their students. Some college professors dismiss classes and skip classes early for their private schedules and appointments, which is considered very good for slothful students; however, this attitudes of professors should also be considered problematic and considered as one of the “Seven Deadly Sins” of the college professor. Benton also had said that the students have greed in their heart that they pursue a college degree to get higher pays than to learn higher level of education. However, don’t college professors have earned their degree to get a higher payment? Not to offense any liberal arts college professors, how could a student who has studied a major in music history could get paid enough without being a college professor? There are so many job limitations to those whose major are in liberal arts major, which makes them no choice but to become teachers and professors. These are some of the “sins” that college professors also “commit”. I could have write some more about these “Seven Deadly Sins” of college professors, but since, I am an idle and indolent college student, I would go back to my bed and take a nap.