Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less. However, they won't ever stop you from leaving or make a big deal about students leaving the class room. My professors and teachers don't care because we're paying for the class. If we're not willing to learn, it's our problem, not there's. That's why they don't care about students leaving classes or not coming back from brakes.

In undergrad, I can't remember a single cell phone going off. Most of my classes, however, were held in cavernous stone buildings--so maybe cell service wasn't that great. I didn't have one at that point.

In grad, most of our classes were in basement-level auditoriums. Again--no reception. There was no reception in our studios, either.

At both schools, there really wasn't the problem of people leaving and not coming back.

Whats worse is that the girls in my class will come into class early the next session & ask to borrow your notes. There is nothing that I hate more than someone who doesn't pay attention in class or leaves early/comes late & then wants to borrow my notes.

Maybe she is the short, fat, woman? ;)

When I was at IU the second time around it seemed like everyone on campus had a cell phone. In my astronomy class (a large lecture) it was fairly common to see people answering their cell phones when they rang and having conversations, calling others, etc. I thought that was extremely rude! I generally turned my cell phone off during class time, although I forgot to do it one time and of course my then-boyfriend called. I just turned the phone off but it was really embarrassing.

When I was at IU the first time around (early-mid 90s), it was extremely rare to see people with a cell phone.

Maybe I'm what she fears most...a voluptuous and luscious beauty with high self-esteem. I know little insecure girls don't understand people like me so they try us CONSTANTLY. Just don't catch me on a bad day...:cool:

On the cell phone thing, well, once I thought I had my cell turned off. Turns out, it wasn't :p Here I am in a class of about 30-40 w/my phone ringing and me like, "Mine's off, don't look at me" Yep, looked in my bad and it was ringing like crazy.:o Thankfully my prof laughed his butt off :p

On classroom behavior, people here on average come and go as the please. But, with some prof's you can't even think about it *nods* Since the school is small the prof's know who you are and most of your schedule so it's just better off doing what they tell you :)

I think a lot of college students subscribe to the "The prof works for me, since I'm paying to be here, and I can do as I please." school of thought. This is not a new phoenomenon, since I can recall things like this going on when I was in college; at least in the lower level courses.

Contrary to my undeserved reputation as a sorority party puppet, I was serious about college and felt fortunate to be there so my behavior in class was probably more high school-like than college-like.

As for cell phones....not an issue since they, um, weren't invented yet http://www.handykult.de/plaudersmili...sad/ponder.gif

Being an Art major, its really different. In studio classes, we play music, we talk, we can take breaks whenever we want, we can drink (eating only during the 10 min break we get (hey, it's a 4 hr class!). I've left class to answer my phone a couple times, but mainly because I was expecting a call from a) my endocrinologist or b) my dog's veterinarian. Sorry, my puppy is more important than your lecture :-p. But it was always on vibrate, and I just excused myself and came back.

The food thing...I make a point to tell my professors at the beginning of the quarter that I'm diabetic, and occasionally I may have to leave class to get medicine or to eat something. I generally try to keep this at a minimum, but if I have a choice between a hypoglycemic coma and being rude in class...then I'll take being rude.

Like I said before, this isn't just a student mindset. Many professors also feel the same way.

I went to a really huge school, so my smallest class had 40-50 students, and the largest one was probably 250-300 students. It was a normal occurence to see people come in later, leave early, go to the bathroom, etc. Cell phones would ring almost daily. I had a FORTRAN prof who would answer her phone and hold conversations while she was lecturing! :mad:

Overall, it never bothered me though. Generally my profs only were distracted by the people in the front, or if people had to walk past them to leave early.

The cell phone ringing has to be the most annoying thing in a class. I always make sure mine is on vibrate.

My friends and I have been guilty of texting each other during boring classes. How else are we supposed to stay awake?

I think it all comes down to attitude really...

If a student's phone rings (or vibrates loud enough) and they either excuse themselves or are apologetic - hey no problem we all make mistakes or have emergencies. If the student filpantly uses the phone and disrupts the class - then they are gone with me... simple as that - they may be paying for the class, but so are all the other students that are being disturbed.

As for leaving classes early - that I see all the time, and as long as it's not the front row or so I don't mind (heck I do it every now and then too). On a large campus you may have to leave early in order to make it to your next class - sure the school gives you 10 minutes, but it rarely enough to make it across campus, particularly in winter... other reasons for leaving at the break is usually work or another class - I've seen students having two classes at the same time, and attending half of one class and half of the other.

As for talking - if I can hear it when given a lecture or tutorial then I'll stop and ask what's so important - I find shame and/or peer pressure can work wonders.

Of course this is all dependant on the size of the class - with most of mine falling in the 20-24 person range; you just know each other's habits... and besides at the more specialized or selective courses you pretty much want to be there already and are attentive. I larger classes I can see some drift or distraction as normal... the worst of course being the big three here at UofT (1st year Poli Sci, Psych, or Sociology) in Convocation Hall - with around 600-1000 students in the class something is always going on (though I gotta give props to the crew that managed to film a short porn during class in an upper balcony).