High School Teacher Shares the Strange Ways Her Gen Z Students Show Respect

There has been a lot of talk about Gen Z, aka those born between 1997 and 2012. Why is that? Well, that's because they are the future. They grew up and are still growing up in a wildly different time than most existing generations.

While older generations may still be warming up to the idea of social media, Gen Z doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to posting their entire lives online. They use technology to their advantage and seem to be into introducing new words to the vernacular like rizz.

Not surprisingly, they act and behave differently in the workplace, at school, and just in general. While some may claim that Gen Z is disrespectful, one high school teacher took to TikTok to discuss how her Gen Z students actually show respect in the strangest ways.

High school teacher Miss White (@misswhitebio) took to TikTok to share some observations first-hand that she has made about Gen Z etiquette.

She kicks off her list claiming that if she's trying to show her students a photo either on the computer or on a phone, they look away as she pulls it up.

"I had to show a kid an example photo today and as soon as my finger started hovering over that app, he took five full steps backward," Miss White says.

Moving on to her second observation about Gen Z etiquette, Miss White claims that her students always ask permission before behaving badly.

“Now this does not mean they’re not going to do the bad behavior. But they will just give you a warning that it’s happening," she explains.

Miss White gives examples of things her students have said to her from “Hey, Miss White can I cuss real quick?" to "Hey, Miss White can I be mad disrespectful to you right now?”

Of course, she'll tell them no but there's no telling if they'll listen. "Half the time they’ll take that permission and run with it and half the time they go anyway. But they will ask first. I think it’s just a warning," she says.

I mean a warning is better than nothing, right?

And the third Gen Z observation she notes is actually pretty cool. Miss White explains that her students are always open to sharing their snacks with others.

She explains that if a student took out a snack when she was in school, the teacher would usually ask the student, "Do you have enough to share with the whole class?”

The answer would usually be no and then the student would be forced to put their snack away. However, Gen Z comes prepared and doesn't mind sharing their treats with the class. "I don’t think in the past three years I’ve seen a kid open up a snack bag and not give it to like the five kids sitting around them," she says. "They really just said, 'Bet. I will have enough to share.'"

So, do you agree with Gen Z's etiquette? As Miss White writes in her caption: "Some may think they're rude, I think they just have a different way of showing respect."