Tweet of the week goes to Jack Cunningham who said, 'Could you make a video that answers
EVERY QUESTION-' in all caps--'you have in the intro? Would be interesting.' It would
be interesting and it would also be like a seven hour video that would effectively shut
down my channel because then I would have answered all of the questions.
This week of Stuff Mom Never Told You I kicked things off on Monday with 'How to Finish What
You Start' that will hopefully help everybody who has asked me for tips on beating procrastination.
On Wednesday I tackled a question from one of you lovely Ask Cristen viewers about why
girls wear earrings and it's super fascinating so watch it if you haven't watched it. Finally
and most controversially on Friday I made a response video to something called the hot-crazy
matrix which I don't even have words. Well I had words and I made it into a video. I
have a feeling that the number one criticism to the video I make is going to be 'oh but
it's just a joke, you can't take a joke!' You know what I'm tired of? People using 'uh
but it's just a joke' as an excuse for poor behavior or just bad, bigoted comedy. But
now onto Ask Cristen. Thanks to everybody who watched a commented on last week's Ask
Cristen video 'Why do girls have neater handwriting?' There was so much left-handed prided being
rocked in the comments. Alright south-paws unite. Yes this is our symbol and we are proud.
Thanks to all of the Norwegian viewers who I didn't even know there were so many of you
watching who gave me a translation for 'I don't know' which apparently is jeg vet icke.
Am I say thing anywhere close to correctly? I also really enjoyed how many guys in the
comments raised their hands and said, 'Hey I'm a dude and I have super neat handwriting'
and how many ladies raised their hands and said 'Oh hey I have super sloppy handwriting'.
Rock on with your non-gender normative penmanship. Nuria Gamarra says, 'I teach English in Korea
to different ages and levels and while I have noticed that some girls have developed beautiful
handwriting in English the boys are not far behind. For the younger kids just learning
how to write in English, I try my best to not have any gender bias and encourage boys
and girls to make their letters as neatly as possible.' And it seems like that non-gender
bias shows on the page. So well done Nuria. Brittany Howard also observed, 'I remember
cliques of girls in second or third grade consciously trying to mimic each other's handwriting.
One girl had really round bubbly letters. And I guess one of her friend's thought that
was pretty, and next thing you know, there were six girls in the class with nearly identical
penmanship. So there was some peer pressure at work (at least in our class).' Ooh peer
pressure and penmanship. Now onto this week's Ask Cristen question which was by far the
most upvoted question in the comments so remember that folks if you want me answer a question,
upvote it. I'll also possibly say your user name in a funny voice. Kaleena Horning. 'Why
do we choose to sit in the same seat everyday in class when there is no assigned seating?'
What you're referring to is something called situational territoriality which is kind of
a fancy way of talking about our territorial behaviors that we tend to exhibit more often
in public spaces. This is something you see happen a lot in classrooms and also in conference
rooms. Yet another example of how high school never ends. There was a study conducted on
this at the University of Bologna in Italy which found that yes indeed university students
are very attached to their unassigned seating. They found that the reason we beeline for
the same seat is so that we don't have to renegotiate our territory thus avoiding conflict
and anxiety. Consider how discombobulating it can be to walk into a classroom and see
that someone has taken your seat. You then have to look around, pause, figure where you're
going to sit and figure out who you're sitting around, maybe ask if it's okay if you take
that seat. Just to reclaim new territory. Now the followup question would then be does
it matter where you sit? Organization psychologists would probably suggest that in the classroom,
yes, there tends to be a correlation between kids who sit closer to teachers and better
grades but it's unclear whether that is simply a correlation i.e. students who are more engaged
and want to do better will sit closer or if it's more of a causational thing that being
closer to a teacher fosters more engagement and more eye contact and communication between
students and teachers which will thus influence how well you perform. While sitting in the
back of the classroom might be totally fine while you're in school, don't sit in the equivalent
of the back of the classroom when you are in the professional world. Studies have found
that employees and particularly female employees who are closer to the boss sitting at the
table during meetings tend to be perceived as being more highly engaged, active, having
better ideas, being more innovative, ectera, so it really does pay off to look good in
the boardroom. But now I want to know from you, where is your preferred seat in the classroom,
do you like to get up close and personal in the front row or maybe hang back a bit? When
I was in school, it really depended on the teacher. The more the teacher liked me, the
closer that I sat to the front. Or the poorer that I did in the class. I hate to admit this
but it also had to do with the placement of boys I had crushes on. Be sure to ask me your
questions so I can give you some answers. Regardless of where you're sitting.