{"id":1552,"date":"2026-08-03T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/?p=1552"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:57:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T16:57:26","slug":"signs-of-the-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/signs-of-the-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs of the Times"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For months I\u2019ve been distracted, entertained, and puzzled by the signs that I see posted in public. And because I\u2019ve talked about some of the odd signs that I\u2019ve seen, friends have also sent me pictures of even more odd signs. I have too many pictures to post here, but below is a very small sampling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The category of signs that I\u2019ve seen the most is those in public restrooms, reminding people to flush the toilet.\u00a0What is that about? I know that our society has become much more tolerant of crude language, discourteous behavior, and name-calling in public, but do we really need to be reminded to flush the toilet?\u00a0Or is it because we\u2019re used to automatic toilets, so we forget the old-fashioned kind that require our assistance?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we really need to be told not to throw rocks in a public space?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do we really need to be told that drinking water isn\u2019t for rinsing our hands at an outdoor restaurant?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I asked some friends to help me think about what these signs might tell us or signify. A friend suggested that weird restroom signs can teach us an important lesson about supporting students.\u00a0And here\u2019s her contribution to my collection of weird restroom signs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Public<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I think she\u2019s on to something.\u00a0Do we too often assume too much about what our students know?\u00a0We serve many first generation students, and many students for whom English isn\u2019t their first language. We serve many students who have imposter syndrome and look for reasons to confirm that they\u2019re not \u201ccollege material\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should not assume that students understand what a professor\u2019s office hours are for, or that students are comfortable asking questions in class (or during office hours).\u00a0We should not assume that students know the power of tutoring, or that they know what a blue book is, or that they\u2019ve learned how to take notes or do old-fashioned research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our job is to be alert to who our students are, and to be intentional in how we support them. Our job is to offer help, encouragement, explanations, and clarity. While it seems obvious to me that we shouldn\u2019t throw rocks in public (!), and that we should\u00a0 rinse our hands in the restroom rather than\u00a0 with drinking water, perhaps I should not assume too much.\u00a0In the world today, perhaps I might need to think differently about why signs are there. And with our students, I expect that we all need to be more alert to how we might help and not assume that everyone brings the same knowledge to the learning enterprise. Let\u2019s be signs that point the way to support, resources, learning labs, or office hours. Let\u2019s be signs of affirmation and compassion and understanding. Our students will benefit, and Central Texas will be the better for it.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For months I\u2019ve been distracted, entertained, and puzzled by the signs that I see posted in public. And because I\u2019ve talked about some of the odd signs that I\u2019ve seen, friends have also sent me pictures of even more odd signs. I have too many pictures to post here, but below is a very small […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-updates"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1552"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1558,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1552\/revisions\/1558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/avpacad\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}