You miss my point entirely, which is
who determines whether or not the conduct matters? If I think it matters, then I have every right to form opinions based on that conduct. What you are telling me is that,
in your opinion, the conduct shouldn't matter in certain situations where I think it should. But, I ask, on what basis other than your opinion? You have offered no objective basis. As to conduct in school and attitudes of respect towards adults generally, teachers in particular, and behaving according to the norms of politeness and civility, there is a long tradition that suggests that polite, quiet and attentive behavior and a displayof respect are conducive to learning and the operation of civil society. I don't consider loud, rude and vulgar, disrespectful behavior acceptable from any group, be they black, brown, yellow or white. Within 'white' society, the middle and upper middle classes are at least as judgmental about lower class whites who display unacceptable behaviors (especially when they are 'ethnic' whites) as they are about blacks and other minorities.
Having heard my Reconstruction-era (born 1871) Southern-raised grandmother be far more condemnatory of "white trash" than of "colored people" [a term she used scrupulously because only "white trash" used the "n" word] because "colored people can't help it" and "with white trash it's their own fault", I formed a firm conviction that the only nonracist way to judge people was to apply the same standards to everyone.
I formed a firm conviction that the only nonracist way to judge people was to apply the same standards to everyone.I can agree as long as the punishments for violating those standards are equal. The point of the article is that they are sometimes not, though we have also been discussing standards and who should set them.