Rude Classroom Behavior

[carnation]

One of my daughters is taking summer classes at an Atlanta college and has been astounded by how rude many of the students are. She said they take phone calls in class, chat with each other while the professor is lecturing, and frequently just walk out.

I've never encountered that in any of my classes. About all I've had to deal with has been the stupid costumes the former local groups used to make their pledges wear and I started throwing those kids out of class after the first year. (Try lecturing while girls in leprechaun outfits with deelybobbers are sitting right in front of you.)

Do many of y'all see this on a regular basis? I'm horrified. I wouldn't tolerate it for a minute and can't believe that this professor does. Coincidentally, my daughter says that the only people in class who haven't done something rude are she and the other 2 Greeks (2 Tri Delts).

[AUDeltaGam]

When I read that, I immediately thought about when I took a class a few years ago at a community college near my home and it was so different than Auburn. People would just walk out of the room to answer their phone, come in very late and leave early. I thought it was disrespectful!

[_Lisa_]

I'm taking a night summer class & what you described is normal in my class. There are a group of girls, about 4 of them, that will talk when the teacher is talking, never put their phones on silent, pick up their cell phones when they ring (and say, in a whispered tone "I'm in class, what do you need?") & leave on our breaks & never come back. I'm more frustrated than anything that the teacher never does anything about it.

[Dionysus]

People always came late and left early at my school. I thought this happened at most schools. I usually came and left on time, but I was the queen of bathroom and drinking fountain breaks. I loved the privelege of not having to ask the instructor everytime I wanted/needed to leave the room, unlike in high school.

People would eat in class too...I had everything from McDonald's to pizza to ice cream. I even had classmates who brought in chinese food and stinky fish sandwiches. It was soooo distracting.

[Taualumna]

The undergraduate kids at my community college seem to believe that school is a club. They're off for the summer now, but when they were here, the student lounge blasted dance music pretty much all day. Often, it would spill into the study areas. At the end of last semester, a friend of mine was working on an assignment in the computer lab, and a kid comes in, pops in a CD, turns up the music and starts dancing. HELLO??? Have you heard of headphones?

[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by crzychx
I'm taking a night summer class & what you described is normal in my class. There are a group of girls, about 4 of them, that will talk when the teacher is talking, never put their phones on silent, pick up their cell phones when they ring (and say, in a whispered tone "I'm in class, what do you need?") & leave on our breaks & never come back. I'm more frustrated than anything that the teacher never does anything about it.

There are two students in the statistics class I'm taking that leave on breaks and never return. I keep wondering if they think when he lets us go that class is over??

There's a guy that sits behind me that always has something very inappropriate to say and he also says out loud EVERYTIME his phone buzzes (when it's on vibrate) "Damn, who's calling now!" I'm like, playa you ain't foolin nannbody.

Then there's another girl who had quite a little comment on the first day. The professor had us all write our heights, weights and gender on the board. I thought it was highly inappropriate, but I kinda don't care myself.

So, me being a BBW (not to mention the oldest person in the class) - after we wrote our info on the board, the prof was asking what different combinations we could have. Some people said tall men, tall women or something of the sort. This girl looked DEAD at me, smiled and said "short fat women" - which is extra weird since I'm not short.

[PM_Mama00]

Originally posted by AUDeltaGam
When I read that, I immediately thought about when I took a class a few years ago at a community college near my home and it was so different than Auburn. People would just walk out of the room to answer their phone, come in very late and leave early. I thought it was disrespectful!

Hmm... in Michigan, or at least southeastern Michigan.... we call this "Welcome to college". No more asking to use the bathroom and no more bathroom passes, doing whatever we want as long as it's not disturbing class. What you have described is exactly the what happens at UMD, and I've done all of these things. Professors don't care and if they do they'll ask politely and usually people will listen.

As long as it's quiet and not disturbing, what's the big deal? We're adults now. Cept answering your phone and talking during lecture... now that is pretty disrespectful.

[lifesaver]

It was always up to the professors to set the tone for class.

Some (Especially in the smaller required classes - like Freshman comp and Discourse) were real strict, took role, and conducted it like a HS class, with the exception of not having to ask to use the bathroom.

The small classes at the upper levels in your major (For me it was usually only about 20 - 25 people per section) you knew everyone and the professors knew you so it was a mutual respect thing. You respected (and sometimes feared) them. You would never do anything that would get them upset - you wanted them to remember you in a good way at grade time. If you had a 89 average, your 'professionalism' could turn that 89 into a 90. I can remember a few of these classes I had with my best bud and also my little brother. On occasion, we'd get to laughing at something and one of us would leave to get the laughter out and not cause a disturbance.

All the rest of the required classes were usually lecture, and at my school, that meant anywhere from 250 to 600 people in your class. 99.89% of professors could have cared less. In fact, I only went to my Economics class four times; first day of class to get the syllabus and the three test dates. Got a B.

Only had one professor (a tenured one and full of himself) who threw someone out of class because the dude had his ball cap on backwards. The exchange went like this:

Professor, "You need to turn your hat around."
Student, "Why?"
Professor, "Because I said so."
Student, "Why do you care?"
Professor, "Because I have to spend an hour three times a week looking at you."
Student, "Not anymore." Where he got up and left the class for good.

I dont think ANY of us even breathed wrong for the rest of the semester in that class.

I always made sure to have my work (at that time) cell phone on silent or vibrate in my bag. Only one time was it on a tone and went off in class. I apologized profusely and made sure it never happened again. To this day my phone is never NOT on vibrate.

[Private I]

At FSU this is a common occurence. I had a prof who just transferred from Berkeley and would get so upset when students would come in late (its hard to find parking). One time, he just cancelled class when a student did it again and was livid. I think he got used to it after a while though.

A lot of students especially in big classes wait for their name to be called out in roll call, then head out. I have to say that I think the trend is opposite-I see more Greeks do this than non-Greeks.

[mmcat]

during the last three springs, i've taught a night class at the local community college. yes, many come late. but they have family and personal issues. sometimes, they brought their kids. generally though, they listened well.

[aephi alum]

Hmm. My take on it is, as long as you're not disrupting class, do what you want. We're talking about college, not high school.

Cell phones were not nearly as ubiquitous when I was in college as they are today, and I can't say I've ever been in a lecture that was disrupted by a ringing cell phone. When you went to lecture, you were simply unreachable by phone for an hour (what a concept!).

As for stepping out of lecture... if ya gotta go, ya gotta go... but if you're just "taking long breaks" during lecture, yakking on your cell, arriving late, or leaving at break time and not returning, frankly, you're only hurting yourself by missing the lecture material.

[preciousjeni]

Originally posted by lifesaver
I dont think ANY of us even breathed wrong for the rest of the semester in that class.

Maybe it was planned?

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally posted by PM_Mama00
Hmm... in Michigan, or at least southeastern Michigan.... we call this "Welcome to college". No more asking to use the bathroom and no more bathroom passes, doing whatever we want as long as it's not disturbing class. What you have described is exactly the what happens at UMD, and I've done all of these things. Professors don't care and if they do they'll ask politely and usually people will listen.

As long as it's quiet and not disturbing, what's the big deal? We're adults now. Cept answering your phone and talking during lecture... now that is pretty disrespectful.

This is how it's always been for me at school. At university and at community college. Professors and teachers will tell my classes that if you need to use the facilities, go quietly. Don't disturb the class, and disturbing the class includes asking to go to the washroom everytime. Also, most of my professors/teachers couldn't care less whether you return to class. To them, "it's our dime" and if we don't want to work, they're not going to force us. I've left classes and never returned. I will always wait for a break to do it so I won't bother the rest of my classmates, but no one cares.

Like PM_Mama00 said, talking class and talking is completely disrespectful and should not be tolerated. But I've never run into a professors whose actually complained about students leaving classes early.

[carnation]

I do believe that most professors, were they to see people leaving early as a regular thing--or in groups--would make sure that a lot of the next test was about material covered after those kids left.

Leaving to go to the bathroom is one thing--just leaving is another! One's phone ringing in class is one thing--answering and chatting is another! It's hard to believe that students would actually disrupt a class. Boy, have I been lucky.

[Lady Pi Phi]

Originally posted by lifesaver
...To this day my phone is never NOT on vibrate.

This is the only thing that bothers me. Your phone shouldn't be on. Period. Why do you need your phone on during class? Are you going to answer it? I should hope not. If you're phone's off, a caller can leave a message and you can get back to them after class.

People in my classes leave their phone on vibrate and a)you can still hear it go off and b) they will still pick up their phone to see who called and then proceed to play with the phone during class. That's just as bad as answering it.

This isn't direct solely at you, but to everyone who does it.