<p>But, younghoss, the other students are paying to be there and others being distracting wastes their time and money. I most often hear adult students complaining about distracting behavior of other students.</p>
<p>It seems to vary by professor. Personally, I’ve banned both cell phones and laptops in my class. At the outset, and in fact before class starts, in my introductory email, I explain my policy and most importantly WHY I have that policy. i then revisit this issue on the first day of class.</p>
<p>I find if I give a strong enough educational justification, they accept it. I invest a lot in my class, my students really believe me that I have their best interests at heart, and they accept my rules. </p>
<p>That doesn’t stop the occasional phone going off or me seeing someone texting, but I handle those odd situations with humor and for the most part, it works. </p>
<p>To students, if you are in a class of 70 or less, be assured the professor SEES you. They notice when you are talking, writing notes and passing them, texting under the desk, or dozing off. It’s part of our job to notice and read the audience and frankly ,students have not a CLUE how visible they are. And keep in mind, just because they don’t say something doesn’t mean it’s not impacting them.</p>
<p>It might mean that my courses were much less rigorous than my university has a reputation for, but I and to a greater extent my classmates would frequently use our laptops for non-course related purposes in lectures and I did fine this semester. In smaller classes where the instructor made a policy about cell phone/internet use I at least respected it but in my large lectures there was rampant facebooking and texting, and while I would have learned more in one of my classes if I hadn’t spent time on facebook, I still did alright and will just use this as a lesson going forward.</p>
<p>but mdmom, please don’t confuse my relating what was the general mood of the college I attended in 1978 with what I personally may feel is/isn’t a good attitude today.</p>
<p>As you can tell from my post 40, I was responding to the part of post 38 that referred to a prof locking out a tardy student.</p>
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<p>Don’t get me started on the symphony! I’ve noticed it tends to be the elderly and I tell myself that maybe they don’t even know how to turn off their phones, but my blood pressure still rises.</p>
<p>Another pet peeve? Phones going off in a support group setting, not once but twice. Turn it off after the first time!</p>
<p>Oy, I’m very crabby about this but I do have a good story. My sister’s church was searching for a new pastor and part of the process was that the potential pastors had to preach a sermon. We were sitting there listening to a candidate give a rather good sermon when his phone rang. He looked positively stunned and said, “I’ve had nightmares like this”, which got everyone laughing while he quickly turned off his phone. He got the job in the end.</p>
<p>I’m going to suffer the slings and arrows here, but: </p>
<p>1) When I teach I do keep my cell phone on. I have either one or both teenagers home alone. They would not know how to reach me otherwise, and H can be even harder to get. And yes, once S did call me in class (for something stupid, but what are ya gonna do - he forgot I was in class). </p>
<p>2) I’ve probably become jaded but I don’t really care if students text or whatever in class. If people are talking (and that would include cell phone conversations) I have my standard chat about how only one of us can talk - me or them. And if it’s them, they still have to learn the material whether I can lecture or not. That generally tames the chatter. As for texting or laptops, the students are there to learn or they are not. They are not children, and it is their choice. If they don’t wish to learn, that is their problem. If they are disturbing their neighbors, peer pressure usually seems to take care of that.</p>
<p>I do sometimes think that their parents or whoever is paying their tuition (the taxpayers?) would be very interested to know how their money is being spent.</p>
<p>What drives me crazy is being at in a darkened theater watching a movie or play and have the person in the row in front start texting. I find the light from their screen incredibly distracting. Can people seriously not live for two hours without being “in touch?”</p>
<p>Me too. And yet my youngest turned on her phone during a movie recently (carefully shielded the screen, but I certainly noticed it and we weren’t sitting next to one another) - turned out she was using an app to identify what the onscreen music was.</p>
<p>My pet peeve is when I want to discuss an academic/household/behavior/family/yada issue with D and she is texting I have to take away the phone so she can listen to me rather than to her friends who are not part of the discussion. With S I have to take away his books :)</p>
<p>Could I make a suggestion to sylvan?
Your teens don’t know how to call the school office? Slyvan could first put the school’s office # by the home phone and explain to teens it is the emergency #. If they have cell phones, they could also put it there too. Certainly the school could send someone to get sylvan in case of an emergency?
Secondly, sylvan should call home between every class and at every class break, to these 2 teens if it is necessary to be in touch that often. That way sylvan can check in as often as about every hour or hour and a half without taking attention away from students.
So to this comment- “but what are ya gonna do - he forgot I was in class” may I offer a suggestion? How about telling teen that you are going to work, and he is not to call you at work other than an emergency? You could even give him an example that you don’t call him just to chat while he’s in school.</p>
<p>I am guessing there is something particularly out of the ordinary back at the home if a teen doesn’t know how to call an emergency number, yet needs to contact a parent so often that merely having an emergency number isn’t enough. Naturally, such an extraordinary circumstance would present a whole different issue. My best wishes if this is a health issue.</p>
<p>Surely all of us here are old enough to remember not every person used to have a phone on them every minute of the day. The idea that <em>I must be able to be reached in a moments’ notice every minute of the day</em> is a relatively new way of thinking. ER doctors and maternity doctors have felt that way. but even police and firefighters have on-duty time and off-duty time.
I am quite familiar with the “peer pressure” discipline, having experienced it in the classroom and at the worlplace. My feeling though, and the feeling of some others, is that I am not in charge of the room and it is not my job to police others’ behavior. I am not likely to walk up to a stranger in class and tell him his/her phone annoys me.</p>
<p>I can understand and agree with the last sentence of post 46, though. As a taxpayer, I’d be disappointed to learn the teacher I was helping to pay was willing to take non-emergency calls during class and permitting some students to disturb others. So Sylvan, I wouldn’t shoot arrows, but I’d say that I respectfully disagree with your opinion.</p>
<p>I also put the number of our college’s security office on my children’s emergency number list for their schools. If a true emergency happens, I would rather the security officers come get me rather than getting a call out of the blue. And because I do not take my phone to class, I would find out quicker through security. With this generation of constant contact, another thing that kids do not understand is what constitutes an emergency.</p>
<p>
I respect that. I don’t agree, but I respect your position.</p>
<p>:)</p>
<p>I asked DS what his profs request:</p>
<p>He tells me that they generally don’t say anything specific but that</p>
<ol>
<li>having your phone go off during class is considered poor form</li>
<li>kids step out of room if they must use cellphone</li>
<li>he has had one instance of phone going off during a test (not him, someone else)</li>
<li>kids are considered to be responsible for their own education and other than peer pressure, there have been no consequences that he is aware of.</li>
</ol>
<p>I see that in an honors upper level math class syllabus, the prof has written</p>
<p>“Finally, please silence cell phones and refrain from text messaging or using electronic devices during class.”</p>
<p>When I was in college, I used to knit sweaters during large lecture classes, orgo and physics come to mind, as it kept me awake and listening vs falling asleep which is what I used to do otherwise (I could knit quietly without looking at my handiwork and take notes quite efficiently).</p>
<p>My professors’ policies have ranged from strict intolerance to ignoring the problem. Personally, I find them very distracting, though I will occasionally check to see what a message is, but never respond. </p>
<p>My strictest professor in this regard is one that I have worked with a lot. If he catches you texting in class, he asks you leave, and that’s it. If there is a quiz later that class, that’s your problem. As a result, nobody dared text in his class, and he’s pretty much either loved or hated. Loved by those who want to learn and be challenged, hated by those who want to skate by. </p>
<p>My favorite cell phone related story is from my first semester freshman year. I had a professor who had a no cell phone policy, and her rule was that if your cell phone rang in class, she got to answer it, bark, and hang up. Not a single cell phone went off the entire semester, except one day, hers rang. She adhered to her own policy, and barked and hung up on her husband. :)</p>