<p>Not really (to the blog). But as a "non traditional" (old) student I am quite amazed by some of the things I observe in class. There's the obvious - talking, constant texting on cell phones or surfing the web under pretext of taking notes. The downright rude - a girl sitting reading the newspaper while the prof was lecturing - not discretely but up in front of her face and turning the pages - in the 2nd row no less. And today the bizarre - a girl taking a phone call and sticking her head under the desk to have her conversation. You know, just because your head is under the table and you can't see us does not mean we can not hear you.</p>
<p>I wonder, why do the professors put up with that? I can’t imagine getting away with that when I went to school. Every now and then I’d show up a couple of minutes late…some classes I could slink into the back, others, the professor would chew me out. Talking? No way. Are they huge classes and the professors don’t see this? Or do they just ignore it?</p>
<p>swimcatsmom, I vote for the blog! And I’m sorry, I had to laugh at the picture of the girl sticking her head under the desk and thinking that made her inaudible.</p>
<p>I have actually had professors ask students to leave…normally they’re the professors who have been around a while and know that this is unacceptable. Unsurprisingly, they’re also the professors who earn the most respect from their students.</p>
<p>I vote for the blog!! Sounds like a great idea!</p>
<p>OP, there’s no doubt that disruptive classroom behavior is a significant problem at some colleges as the articles below show.
[Chief</a> Targets of Student Incivility Are Female and Young Professors - Faculty - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/article/Chief-Targets-of-Student/65396/]Chief”>http://chronicle.com/article/Chief-Targets-of-Student/65396/)
[Disruptive</a> Student Behavior (the Professor Edition) - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/disruptive-student-behavior-the-professor-edition/29972]Disruptive”>http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/disruptive-student-behavior-the-professor-edition/29972)</p>
<p>Maybe, profs should address web surfing during class the way this U Oklahoma prof did:
<a href=“Dropout - Independent, ad-free, uncensored comedy | Dropout”>Dropout - Independent, ad-free, uncensored comedy | Dropout;
<p>you just can’t believe the stories i could tell…</p>
<p>at least once a week i have to ask someone to please remove their headphones/ear buds. at least once a semester i have to ask someone to please leave the classroom and welcome them to return when they have either taken a nap and are rested, finished their email, finished their texting, or finished posting to facebook. </p>
<p>i am embarrassed to do this when their are older students in the classroom. i am sure they are mortified by their fellow students’ behavior and i only hope they respect my attempts to maintain a disciplined classroom environment.</p>
<p>i am getting waaayyyyy too old to keep doing this! the gap continues to widen between my age and what i find to be acceptable youthful behavior.</p>
<p>I am baffled as to why the professors tolerate this behavior. This is my first semester at a 4 year college after being at a CC for 2 years. The teachers at the CC would not have put up with this at all. </p>
<p>The newspaper and phone/head under the table incident was in a small class - maybe 30 ish students. He is a really nice professor - very laid back and pleasant. I was telling some friends about the newspaper incident - if I was the prof I would have told her to get out (though my preferred reaction would have involved a lighter in one hand, a fire extinguisher in the other, and an evil grin).</p>
<p>The phone incident was actually quite comical. When she first started talking everyone was looking round trying to figure out what was going on. The prof stopped talking for a few seconds to stare in amazement, then just carried on. Almost the whole class was staring and beginning to silently giggle. She was oblivious to it all, being as her head was under the table.</p>
<p>Wbow - I would much prefer the profs did say/do something. It is disruptive and distracting for other students. I don’t understand why they don’t. I have 2 female instructors who have said something. One says something but is really sweet about it, the other you could tell was getting really impatient till one day she blew up in class. </p>
<p>I am baffled.</p>
<p>here’s another tale</p>
<p>a student was popping/cracking her gum during an exam. it was really annoying and i knew it was bothering others. i discreetly asked her to please dispose of the gum. she complied. next week in lecture–back row of the auditorium–she was there again. cracking/popping so loud i couldn’t stand it.</p>
<p>i sent her an email asking her to please refrain from chewing gum in my class. she said she would.</p>
<p>next week, in lab–you guessed it. this time it wasn’t so discreet when i asked her to leave the lab and when she was finished with her gum she could return. she left. didn’t come back. i think the whole class was ready to cheer when she left!</p>
<p>i do think professors/instructors find it very difficult to ask students to leave. we do not expect this kind of behavior from young adults so we really aren’t prepared to confront them. it seems so odd to think that a big part of my job is to try to instill some discipline–that might be expected in jr high or high school–but it is not something we expect to do at the university level.</p>
<p>Well wbow, I’m glad you stand up for your right to have a civil class.</p>
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<p>My d is at a CC and I have yet to hear about this sort of bad behavior. Discouraging to think she’ll have to put up with it at a 4 year.</p>
<p>We have to teach dummies to behave!</p>
<p>I like the blog idea! My husband is a college professor and has similar stories. My son does, too. One of my favorites: A large lecture class with a number of basketball players in it apparently conflicted with practice, because they would stand up as a (very tall) group and leave early. Some professors at his school do not permit the use of laptops. If there is a TA, sometimes his/her sole function is to walk up and down the side aisle checking for people who are online, texting, etc. Sad.</p>
<p>On the other hand, in the late 1960s at my women’s college, it was an accepted practice to smoke and knit in class–often simultaneously. The sound of those metal needles could be pretty annoying.</p>
<p>I really think that what my peers find rude, younger people don’t find rude. We recently had a get together with 2 young people (under 21). My husband and my mouth dropped at the foul language (a word that would get this post deleted if I typed it) that was used a couple of times through that evening. They were polite in every other way and this language was not directed toward us, but used in front of us. I really believe that they do not know that this is just not acceptable language, especially if one wants to put their best foot foward, be polite and respectful, etc. My husband could not get over the fact that they would use this word in front of a female, especially one that is similar in age to their own mothers!</p>
<p>Can’t wait for an 18 year old to start a counter blog about their encounters with older non traditional conceited students in college. Just sayin’, be careful with how you handle your humor - you have NO idea how ferocious and capable of retribution the internet kids are. Sorry if you find this post offensive - if you do, then you are probably not ready to start this blog :)</p>
<p>Would read the blog. Go for it.</p>
<p>This is just a general college observation - why is it that my kid and his friends who went to college come back with horrendous table manners? Honestly. What goes on?</p>
<p>I remember laughing when my younger sister came home HORRIFIED that there were “these ‘old’ people at her college and they were kissing…in public…SO disgusting!!!”. I guess the generation gap goes both ways.</p>
<p>I am a community college student at my wits end.</p>
<p>My H tells a story from > 15 yrs. ago of a female engineering student (one of 5 in a class of about 20 males) who came to class in a very short skirt, sat in the front row, and wore no underwear. </p>
<p>S2 from the time he could talk had the vocabulary of a sailor (thanks to his older brother). We speak several languages in our home and are quite creative with language. We didn’t make a big deal out of it. However, when he started school, I told him very clearly that this was not acceptable language at school or at friends’ houses and that if he used it, he would be punished or not invited to come back. I told him it was his business, and I would not get involved. </p>
<p>He never had a problem with it ever. I made it his responsibility. I was amused, however, recently when we were visiting and met his girlfriend for the first time. He was not fazed by the childhood stories I told, but he commented on the fact that I had used the phrase “p***ed off.”</p>
<p>I just wonder when the kids-today-are-whiney-entitled-brats-with-no-manners shtick becomes cliche.</p>
<p>^^ Our parents said the same thing about us. Probably their parents did too.</p>