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Welcome to Civility 101
townhall.com ^ | 1-5-2004 | Mike S. Adams

Posted on 01/05/2004 10:14:06 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed

Welcome back! I hope you had a good Christmas break (or Kwanzaa break, or whatever you celebrate). Mine was great but now it’s time to get back to work as we kick off a new semester. Those of you who have had my classes before need to pay close attention to this memo because I am changing some of my class policies this semester. Specifically, I am changing the way that I deal with those who interrupt class by either walking in late or by allowing their cell phones to ring during a lecture.

At the end of last semester, I decided that something had to be done about this diminishing level of respect shown by students towards their professors and their fellow classmates. This decision came shortly after I sat in on another professor’s class. While I was listening to a 75-minute lecture, the students interrupted the professor at least 58 times before I lost count.

First, a student came in class three minutes late. Then another student came in 15 minutes late. Then another student came in 25 minutes late. Then the first cell phone went off. Then the second cell phone went off. The other 53 interruptions were variations of “what was that again?” and “could you repeat that?” A raised hand accompanied none of these 53 interruptions from daydreaming students. They just shouted at the professor to get his attention. And they didn’t seem to care whether he was in the middle of a sentence. Interestingly, most of these students were in their third year of college.

I haven’t ever had a major problem with the hand raising issue. I just don’t answer students’ questions if they don’t raise their hand. But the cell phone and tardiness problems have exploded over the last five years or so. Most of my liberal colleagues have just allowed these problems to get worse. No matter how bad it gets, these PhDs just can’t seem to find a solution. Actually, that isn’t fair. They could find a solution if they wanted to, but they just don’t like imposing their own truths upon their students, who may live according to a different set of truths. And, of course, being disrupted by late students with cell phones gives them something to whine about during department meetings.

As most of you know, I take a different approach to these problems. First, I shut the door at the beginning of each class period. Then, if a student walks in late, he (it usually is a male, no offense to tardy feminists) gets three points deducted from his final average. If his cell-phone rings (no offense to co-dependent feminists), I deduct three points from his final average per ring. And if she (sorry guys, it is usually a female) actually answers the call, she fails the course. And, last semester, I actually started deducting points from the students’ average if they (regarding gender, this is a closer call-no pun intended) are merely in possession of a cell phone. But, unfortunately, last semester, four different students let their cell phones (which were hidden in their pockets) go off in class. All four were one-ringers. I also had one student in each class who decided to repeatedly come to class late.

In light of the on-going problems with tardiness and cell phones, I am going to modify my class policies this semester. I am not going to follow the advice of my anti-war colleagues who think that we need to talk to tardy cell phone people in order to find out why they hate us. Instead, I am going to let them do most of the talking. The specifics of my new policy follow:

If your cell phone goes off in class, or if you are late to class, you must write a 2500-word paper (minimum) entitled “The Death of Civility at the Postmodern University.” In this paper, you will be asked to write about the decline of civility in our public universities in recent decades. Please note that if you are late more than once, or if your cell phone goes off on more than one occasion, your paper must be a minimum of 5000 words. If you have three separate transgressions, you automatically fail the course. Finally, the paper must be of “A” quality in order for you to stay in the course. You will receive no other credit for completing this project, except, of course, for its positive impact upon your character.

Since you have probably never written on this subject, and since the paper is fairly long, I have listed a couple of suggestions to help you get started and to help you fulfill the minimum word requirement. These suggestions are not exhaustive, nor are they mandated, but I think they will be helpful.

Suggestion #1. Interview a person who was alive during World War II. Ask them the following questions:

1. How often did students walk into class late when you were in school? 2. How many of your failures in school were the result of a lack of “nurturing” by your teachers? 3. Did your teachers spend a lot of time boosting your self-esteem and soothing your inner child, even when you failed to adhere to the rules of the classroom? 4. Did any of your teachers ever suggest that punctuality was an antiquated Western notion with racist, sexist, and classist overtones? 5. Did students ever get up and leave in the middle of a lecture if they had to go to the bathroom, without asking the permission of the teacher? 6. Did students ever take long potty breaks in the middle of exams, without asking the permission of the teacher? 7. Did students ever get up and leave class just because they were bored? 8. Did you ever appeal a test score in front of the entire class or help other students do the same? If so, did you predicate your complaint with “hey Dr. Ummm,” or “dude, you ripped me off.” 9. Did you ever interrupt a professor to ask whether what he was saying was “important” or whether you “had to know it for the next test?” 10. Did people actually manage to finish school without having a cell phone with them at all times?

Suggestion #2. Interview an employee at the Office of Campus Diversity or any professor currently teaching in the social sciences or humanities. Ask them the following questions:

1. Is it possible that the diversity movement, with its emphasis on moral relativism, causes students to dismiss the rules a professor establishes with regard to appropriate class conduct? 2. If it is good to refrain from judging other people, doesn’t that mean that we should stop expelling people for plagiarism? 3. Isn’t the statement “ it is good to refrain from judging other people” itself judgmental? 4. Is it possible that liberal professors who teach that people are not responsible for their own behavior unwittingly encourage their students to engage in anti-social behavior such as compulsive tardiness? 5. Is cheating wrong just because a professor says it is wrong? 6. If a student claims that cheating is acceptable in his/her culture, is he/she exempt from punishment for cheating? 7. Can a student be given credit for an answer that the professor deems to be wrong, just because the student “feels” it is right? 8. What if everyone decided to come to class late every day? 9. If tardiness becomes even more prevalent than it is today, can we just write “whenever, man” under the designation for class meeting time in the course-scheduling catalogue? 10. When professors come to class late, does that in any way encourage their students to do the same thing? Does that undermine the professor’s moral authority?

In closing, let me say that I hope you don’t put yourself in the position of having to write a civility paper this semester. If you do, I would advise you to follow the first suggestion and interview a person who was alive during World War II. I don’t mean to stereotype, but these people tend to be very helpful and patient.

Unfortunately, you may find the second suggestion to be less fruitful. University professors and administrators tend to be less patient and less accessible. After all, they’re usually busy constructing a Utopian society. They seldom have time to talk about civility.

Mike S. Adams (adams_mike@hotmail.com) is an associate professor at UNC-Wilmington. While he was jogging in 1998 he was nearly killed by a 90-pound woman who ran a stop sign in her 6000-pound SUV. She was talking on her cell phone and appeared to be running late. Dr. Adams still has nightmares about that woman.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Political Humor/Cartoons; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: academia; mikesadams
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1 posted on 01/05/2004 10:14:06 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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To: Beelzebubba
read later
2 posted on 01/05/2004 10:23:52 AM PST by LiteKeeper
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To: All
Rank Location Receipts Donors/Avg Freepers/Avg Monthlies
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Thanks for donating to Free Republic!

Move your locale up the leaderboard!

3 posted on 01/05/2004 10:24:44 AM PST by Support Free Republic (I'd rather be sleeping. Let's get this over with so I can go back to sleep!)
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To: Beelzebubba
First, a student came in class three minutes late.

It was incredibly rude for the student to have come in class, late or not.

4 posted on 01/05/2004 10:33:26 AM PST by Agnes Heep
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To: Beelzebubba
Back in the long-ago years, I had a couple of professors who would lock the doors and if you weren't there on the dot, you would not be admitted for any reason.
5 posted on 01/05/2004 10:36:32 AM PST by OpusatFR (Al Dean and Howard Gore, se)
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To: Beelzebubba
This guy is so on target.
6 posted on 01/05/2004 10:38:02 AM PST by King Black Robe (With freedom of religion and speech now abridged, it is time to go after the press.)
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To: Beelzebubba
I was late, a couple times, last semester, because once I had finished my half-hour commute from work to school, the lazy on campus students had taken all the spots assigned to commuter students and I had to park in the boondocks.

There's occasionally an excuse for a late student. Not often. "I forgot to get up" isn't an excuse, nor is "Coach kept me late". "My muffler fell off", or, "I had to take the kid to the doctor"... maybe.

College enviroment has changed. I know several mothers who are attending school part time in order to get a good job, who carry cell phones in case their kid has an emergency. Most people are too rude, and it's wrong, but a blanket condemnation is not the right answer.
7 posted on 01/05/2004 10:41:31 AM PST by JenB (Looking for a few good minions)
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To: Beelzebubba
When it comes to students talking in the back of the room, there is nothing to compare with fellow students telling them to shut up. Some students are working hard just to be there.
8 posted on 01/05/2004 10:45:26 AM PST by RightWhale (Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
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To: Beelzebubba
I'm back in school after many, many years (more years than I want to admit to). What goes on at my community college is unbelievable. Many of the students show up when and if they feel like it. Not only do their cell phones ring, they proceed to carry on long winded conversations and act insulted if the instructor calls them on it. They bring complete meals to class. Sorry, I don't feel like smelling your Taco Bell chimichangas and burritos while I listen to a lecture. Some of them have brought their noisy children, then are angered when asked to remove them from the classroom. A few were incensed to find that the "6 unexcused absences and you're dropped" policy (which I think is very generous)was enforced, and appealed it with success only to continue with their personal policy of attending when they feel like it. In my core courses four of these students failed and are appealing because "they did the best they could". I will be angry if they are passed because it diminishes the hard work of those of us who took this seriously. The instructors are intimidated, sometimes with good reason.
9 posted on 01/05/2004 10:48:46 AM PST by McLynnan
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To: JenB
College enviroment has changed. I know several mothers who are attending school part time in order to get a good job, who carry cell phones in case their kid has an emergency.


Vibrate mode? Text messaging?
10 posted on 01/05/2004 10:49:42 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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To: Beelzebubba
I love it. I forwarded it to all of the faculty members in my department.

I tried locking the door at the beginning of class. It didn't work. They pounded on the door.

Now, I give a two question quiz at the beginning of every class. Question 1: What is your name? Question 2 is usually something like: What was the topic of your reading assignment for today? Students get one minute to finish the quiz and pass it in. Students who show up late don't even know there was a quiz until I post the grades online and they have a zero.

Cell phones are never a problem. I just stop class and stare at the person ringing. They are always embarrassed and it seldom happens more than once a semester.

The bathroom breaks during a test are more troublesome. How do you tell someone who probably has diarrhea that they can't go to the toilet? I write tests that don't lend themselves to quick glances at a textbook. I always tell students to go to the bathroom and ask them to get as much Kleenex as they are going to need for the entire test before I had it out.

My students show up for accounting tests without pencils or calculators. I have a little cash box and I sell new pencils for a dime before every test. I make a buck or two each year. It's amazing how many students will show up without a pencil or a dime. Out of 86 students who took my final this fall, 12 showed up without a pencil.
11 posted on 01/05/2004 10:50:20 AM PST by Poser
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To: Beelzebubba

Civility? F**k that!

12 posted on 01/05/2004 10:52:11 AM PST by Petronski (I'm not always cranky.)
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To: McLynnan
it diminishes the hard work of those of us who took this seriously.

Don't feel that way. The prof knows who is for real, and fellow students who care also know. The rest of them are background noise, something our modern society is cursed with. All the way from the radio from the nearby (or not so nearby) car at the stoplight to people talking to themselves at the supermarket, it is something we have to learn to ignore. Serious students recognize each other if they look for each other. Look around. You'll recognize each other.

13 posted on 01/05/2004 10:56:23 AM PST by RightWhale (Repeal the Law of the Excluded Middle)
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To: Beelzebubba
Well, Mr. "I deduct points if they even own a cell phone" wouldn't go for that, now would he?

But I'd say most of them probably do use vibrate mode. I leave my phone in the car. I don't like people being able to get me anyway.
14 posted on 01/05/2004 11:02:22 AM PST by JenB (Looking for a few good minions)
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To: RightWhale
Thanks. We recognize each other, but I still think it cheapens our efforts when what we work hard for is given away for free to others. There's a whole subculture out there living off Pell grants as an alternative or addition to welfare. They are in school because they can make money being students.
15 posted on 01/05/2004 11:03:04 AM PST by McLynnan
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To: JenB
Most people are too rude, and it's wrong, but a blanket condemnation is not the right answer.

I don't know... I think a blanket condemnation of the lack of civility and common courtesy is exactly what is needed. That is not to say there won't be exceptions, but you discuss contingencies for those with the professor beforehand. If you're a working mother (or single father), you let the professor know that there may be times when emergencies arise with your children and you just can't make it, or may be late. You then try to establish a method of contacting the professor before class when and if those situations arise. During class, you set your phone on vibrate or mute so the ring doesn't disturb others, and do not take the call in class. If you see it is your child, you raise your hand, explain the situation to the professor, and ask for permission to leave the room to take the call.

Those situations are not the norm, however. All too often it's the unimportant call which interrupts the class. I happen to be an instructor who works for a company which markets wireless phone service. We are quite serious about cell phone etiquette. Phones are allowed in my classes, as they are part of the business, but they are on mute, and calls are taken in the hall. If a call is answered in the room, or more than a certain percentage of the class is missed due to phone conversations, being late, etc., the student is not passed and is required to take the course again, at full tuition. Since that comes out of the manager's budget, those phone habits are broken rather quickly. Now if we could just reach the rest of the world... :-)

I don't have any sympathy for your parking issue, though. Yes, the people parking in the wrong spots are rude, but you have to factor that in to your drive time. It's perfectly acceptable to plan to have to walk from the "wrong" parking spots, only to find that you get the "correct" spot and arrive a few minutes early. It isn't acceptable to not plan for that possibility and therefore be a few minutes late. If it's a 30 minute commute and you leave home 31 minutes before you need to be there, you're the responsible party. But then, I'm kind of peevish about those sorts of things. :-)

The only problem I see with this approach is that is usually relies on shame to produce the intended result, and since nothing is morally "wrong" any more, shame is nowhere to be found. Perhaps it can be brought back with civility?

Carry on, Professor, and more power to you!

16 posted on 01/05/2004 11:03:23 AM PST by Jokelahoma (Animal testing is a bad idea. They get all nervous and give wrong answers.)
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To: Beelzebubba
If your cell phone goes off in class, or if you are late to class, you must write a 2500-word paper (minimum) entitled “The Death of Civility at the Postmodern University.” In this paper, you will be asked to write about the decline of civility in our public universities in recent decades. Please note that if you are late more than once, or if your cell phone goes off on more than one occasion, your paper must be a minimum of 5000 words. If you have three separate transgressions, you automatically fail the course.

I like this teacher :)

17 posted on 01/05/2004 11:05:39 AM PST by Centurion2000 (Resolve to perform what you must; perform without fail that what you resolve.)
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To: Beelzebubba
Thanks for posting BTTT.
18 posted on 01/05/2004 11:06:56 AM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: King Black Robe
And if she (sorry guys, it is usually a female) actually answers the call, she fails the course.

Dead On!

19 posted on 01/05/2004 11:06:59 AM PST by OXENinFLA
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To: Jokelahoma
I don't have any sympathy for your parking issue, though. Yes, the people parking in the wrong spots are rude, but you have to factor that in to your drive time. It's perfectly acceptable to plan to have to walk from the "wrong" parking spots, only to find that you get the "correct" spot and arrive a few minutes early. It isn't acceptable to not plan for that possibility and therefore be a few minutes late. If it's a 30 minute commute and you leave home 31 minutes before you need to be there, you're the responsible party. But then, I'm kind of peevish about those sorts of things. :-)

Your response would be valid, if not for two things: my school schedules all the classes I need in the middle of the day. I have to leave work to go, and then come back and work. I then make the time up in the evenings. The extra ten minutes doesn't seem like much on one end, but when it's 9 pm and I have an essay to write for the next day, I want to get home.

I have literally spent thirty minutes circling the parking lot looking for a space because there is literally nowhere to park. It's a very small school, the commuter lot holds maybe 300 cars. And when commuters are not allowed to park anywhere except the commuter lot, that's frustrating... my problem is that I always leave work ten minutes before I really think I have to, because I don't like being late. But I spend twice that trying to park. They sell us parking tags at $30 a year, the least they could do is make sure we can park!

20 posted on 01/05/2004 11:08:22 AM PST by JenB (Looking for a few good minions)
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