Year 12 teacher on a mission to bring back etiquette
A YEAR 12 teacher is on a mission to teach boys and girls old-school charm and etiquette, believing young people growing up in the digital age lack the confidence to interact socially.
NSW
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HIGH schoolteacher Michaela Launerts realised her students needed old-fashioned skills as she saw social media taking over from social graces.
“I couldn’t get over the confidence they have online, where they will post selfies, but they are not able to eat a sandwich in public because of fear of being judged,” the etiquette expert said.
The year 12 English teacher is on a mission to reinvent etiquette for 2018 — and has released guidelines to restore some old-school charm to the digital age.
Ms Launerts’ book #GuyCode teaches boys and young men the dos and don’ts of being a gentleman.
The advice covers a broad spectrum, from the right way to shake hands (“firm, even smooth, brief”) to toilet etiquette (“never take any reading material into the bathroom with you, ever”). There’s sartorial advice (“always wear knee-length dress socks with a suit, a flash of bare, hairy man-ankle … will ruin any attempt you have made to look dapper”) and dating etiquette (“Taking care of the bill comes down to whether or not you see the girl as future girlfriend material”).
Ms Launerts, 36, said too many young people lack the confidence to interact in a social setting, let alone a workplace or job interview.
“When you are behind a screen for your adolescence, you are losing critical interpersonal skills,” she said.
“I’m not anti-technology and I’m not bashing the Millennials. It’s about giving them the confidence to be themselves.”
Ms Launerts said parents in modern families were often too time poor to teach good manners.
Sydney northern beaches student Ben Hancock, 14, had two definitions of good manners: “Showing respect to others around you and thinking about what they are going to see of you,” he said. “And put the seat down on the toilet.” #GuyCode comes after Ms Launerts’ first book, #GirlCode.
Read the editorial here.