In the age of social media, remote learning and work, and increasingly living online, it can never hurt to get a refresher on how best to interact with people in the physical world.
That’s why the Fleming College Student Administrative Council (SAC) in Peterborough has launched an educational series all about manners. Accessible through SAC’s social media platforms including TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook, Manners with Muhammad is a series of videos educating on social etiquette in various public settings around campus.
“College is a big networking place and, with social development, this series on manners is going to build those relationships a lot easier,” says Jacques Graveline, SAC’s board chair. “If you’re an extrovert versus and introvert, you have to be able to connect somehow and manners are a good way to do that.”
In his role, Graveline represents the voice of the students at Fleming College and listens to suggestions and feedback directly. The non-profit corporation serves to meet the social and political needs of students by enhancing experiences through activities, events, and services.
“Part of our four pillars (of support and services) is social development,” says Graveline. “We’re always trying to build social cohesion and bring people together.”
To meet those goals, SAC has long since used their social media platforms as a means to educate the student body by creating and sharing videos on various topics of relevance. Recent topics, which are often suggested by students themselves, have included winter car safety and how to prepare meals to fight rising living costs.
“Bringing people together and creating that social network, a lot of the time, is not always easy for people,” says Graveline. “We found all these different ways to make it as easy as possible (for students) transitioning here.”
VIDEO: Episode 1 of Manners with Muhammad – Bus manners
The titular star Manners with Muhammad is Muhammad Shaikh, a hospitality student and a “Face of Fleming” — one of many Fleming College students who have been nominated by their peers for contributing to the college’s successes.
As a regular volunteer for the “Street Team” at SAC — a collective of students who help promote events, volunteer at events, and assist SAC in delivering its services and programming — Shaikh has become well-known in the Fleming community, making him a great host to share tips for practising etiquette everywhere from on the bus to in the pub.
The first episode of Manners with Muhammad was inspired by conversations around how transit systems often vary from place to place, and oftentimes students who are not from Peterborough may have never ridden a bus before or are unaccustomed to the expected etiquette.
“There are a lot of first-time riders,” says Graveline, who, having grown up in a walkable town, knows firsthand how disorienting it can be to ride a bus for the first time. “It doesn’t matter where you’re from — when you’re a first-time rider, there’s so many things to get to know.”
With successive episodes expanding into conversations about behaviour in other public spaces, SAC communications and marketing coordinator Avery Morton adds that the videos include information that go even beyond manners to things that might seem like “common sense to us, but it’s not really common sense.”
Such conversations include things that can vary by culture, like the option to tip in a pub and which side of the stairs to walk on.
“It’s little things across different countries,” she says. “We drive on the right side, while others drive on the left. When walking past people, some people might think to walk on the left side, but in Canada, we would walk past someone on the right side. So little things like that we just like to add into our videos.”
VIDEO: Episode 3 of Manners with Muhammad – Pub manners
But, as Graveline notes, the series is not meant to cater to one demographic of students, but rather are useful to anyone and everyone who may scroll past them.
“There’s a stigma that comes from these things, where people like to look at it as if it’s just for international students,” he says. “But this is something that’s for all students. Everybody’s learning.”
In the coming weeks, SAC will be looking for student suggestions for the next videos and segments in the series, with classroom manners coming up as the next topic, largely focused on where to be mindful of volume.
Even beyond Manners with Muhammad, SAC is brainstorming ideas for future educational videos and series topics, with plans to next focus on water safety as the ice melt and students are looking ahead to summer.
“We’re always thinking of topics,” says Morton. “There’s so much to learn.”
Follow Fleming College SAC on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest in the Manners with Muhammad series.
