The Sin Of Sloth, By Thomas H. Benton

In this selection, Thomas H. Benton compares students’ behaviors to the seven deadly sins and painfully exaggerates his argument. Agreeing with Benton can cause some negative reactions due to the fact that he seems persistent on being pessimistic throughout the whole essay about student’s actions dealing with the sins.

Starting with the sin of Sloth, Benton writes that students under this category are those who; Postpone required readings, arrive late with lack of shame, regard themselves with full potential and will do their assignments later. What the author writes is true, but there is a possible chance that he doesn’t know what is happening with their schedules. There are some students that postpone their assignments due to having other

assignments or out of school duties to attend to that leaves little time for some assignments. While agreeing that some students are disrespectful when entering their classrooms late, others have little sleep which affects not only their ability to learn, but can also hinder their actions. The best way to fix this would be to use its counterpart, Diligence, which means that the student would be practicing time management and a better work ethic that could manage their schedule in a way that seems more flexible and less stressful in the future. Since this is a virtue many students do not inculcate, the best way to handle this is to take it slowly and step by step rather than forcing themselves to do anything diligently in the beginning.

For the sin of Greed, Benton is able to make to reader assume that students only pursue the career choice by means of money. There are students who want to become higher in job rankings, but do not care about what it truly means to be part of that career and that they are willing to cheat or plagiarize for the grades they do not earn. Yes, this generation of students and the ones to come are becoming greedier and finding apathetic ways of making money, but while there are those who classify with Greed, there are those who are associating with Liberality. As its opposite, Liberality means in this article that there are students who want to become what they are just because they want to help those. Some want to be doctors for money, but others want to just because they want to save loved ones, some become lawyers and have no actual interest besides the money, but others want to help the innocent prove that they are or just cause they love to debate and believe that being a lawyer will assist them in looking for sterling arguments.

The ones that fall under the category of Wrath are portrayed as students who lash out to professors because they feel like they are “out to get them” or feel as though they are being discriminated and unfair. Everyone has a limit, especially the professors, they in colleges have many students and have student assistances because not one person can handle a large amount at once. They don’t have time to memorize students by face and name so students shouldn’t complain about them being unfair or anything of the sort. They should practice patience, since this virtue is something that all students need to help them through their college years because not everything is meant to be easy and sometimes they just need to be able to control their temper and understand the perspective of someone else.

Benton states that students who fall under the category of Lust come to class dressed inappropriately hoping to gain attention of someone and as well as making lewd remarks about their professors. This like the others is not on everybody’s mind because some students are trying their best to succeed and do not want those thoughts invading their minds. The solution for this sin is Chastity. Not all students are like this, some have their religion that makes them dress fully. While religion and Chastity is a way to solve this, it is nearly impossible to for students not to have lewd remarks about their professors or other students. It is what you consider an unconscious norm, so really there is no true way of fixing this.

Benton believes that those who fall under Gluttony is the one which not only ingest large amounts of alcohol which leads them to having embarrassing problems when drunk, but which also arrives to class with large amounts of odorous foods and consume them within the class period because the students say they don’t have time after class.

Benton gives the reader what seems to be an exaggerated example of this sin saying, “I once saw a student eat an entire rotisserie chicken, a tub of mash potatoes with gravy, several biscuits, and enormous soft drink during the first 10 minutes of a lecture. I felt like a jester in the court of Henry VIII.” Its counterpart, Abstinence, is a solution to overcome this situation. Sometimes students in school over tasks themselves seeing that they didn’t practice Diligence, but it is not complicated to schedule a modest snack break in between their classes. Within the ten minute period, a student can consume a fruit, granola bar or something nutritious that can satisfy them through a class period, so they can ease their Gluttony

urges..

The Envious students that Benton mentions feel as though the education system is what he calls “a rigged game” and students aim their envious voices at others succession. Benton has based success and failure on political and personal presences, and also mentions that those who have more money and ridicule those with less commit this sin. This sin is one of the hardest habits to release on account of everyone feels like they are less than others and want to be more, but by its virtue, Kindness, this sin can be tamed. Those with money can help those with less and in lieu of hectoring them, they can show some compassion or try to be their friends. Ask for help from those who know the subject so they also can improve their grades and lessen their envious tendencies.

Pride are those who believe they are superior than others and at one point, Benton asked a group of twenty students if they believed that they were better than their parents which he received a unanimous raise of hands.

Believing they will be better than the previous generation: Liberality, unearned self-esteemed, self-resentment, and lowered classes. Humility is something everyone needs, not just the students in college. Elders and parents went through their own hardships to attain where they are, and considering that they didn’t have the tech that this generation have, they faced harder challenges than what this current generation’s faced. While this aeon has a reason to take pride in themselves by all the changes, they should show some Humility for their past generations for giving them the chance to be where they’re

at.

The seven deadly sins are a part of everyone, no-one is truly “free” from these and by balancing them out with their correspondences, the seven contrary virtues, the students will be able to ease out their college schedules and prepare themselves better than they are. Benton states only the negative side with the sins, but only mentions the virtues briefly, if he wanted to talk about the sins, then he needed to add their opposite to even out his argument. One way to practice this would be to talk to a counselor or someone who has more control over these sins then the current student. There are actual programs that can help with some of these issues, consider anger management or if more religious, talk to a priest of the church who could also help, possibly go into a time-management program. These solutions are not truly exceptional ways to help with the sins, but they can help minimize these urges rather than leading themselves deeper into the sin.