Welcome to Civility 101

townhall.com ^ | 1-5-2004 | Mike S. Adams

[RightWhale]

Perhaps we should feel pity for them because they will live their lives, take the gift and burn it, and never contribute something of value. But just a moment of pity and then move on because we have things to do like some gawdawful reading assignments in philosophy and triple integrals for engineering class. We might never contribute anything of value either and it won't be for lack of trying, but then again we might, so carpe diem and carpe midnight oil too.

[RightWhale]

We have private parking spaces available on an annual basis. It is actually a source of amusement to find someone trespassing in your personal parking space because you contact the parking office and they send a tow truck. It doesn't matter if the trespasser manages to escape before the two truck arrives because the fine and towing is assessed anyway. If the trespasser chooses to not pay, the univ chooses to not release grades and will also refuse to graduate. That being said, the parking situation sucks in the first place.

[keri]

ping:-)

[McLynnan]

You're right, and we will definitely contribute something of value. The spring semester starts next week. I'm in for 16 hours (what was I thinking?) I'm psyched for it, and plan to enjoy the heck out of it. You're taking engineering? I'm impressed.

[RightWhale]

You're taking engineering? I'm impressed.

Don't be. What they present in these classes is no more than an entry-level pro would be expected to know. I am taking a class in English grammar this semester. It was a surprise to find the course listed since I thought that English consisted of reading Chaucer and modern poetry and that grammer wasn't necessary or desireable anymore. Good luck in your courses and hope you find them challenging.

[alley cat]

My students show up for accounting tests without pencils or calculators

I must be lucky. My students always bring pencils for their exams. I rarely have a ringing cell phone in class and when it happens there is a comical mad scramble by the student to turn it off.

There has been an increase in students coming in late though (the class starts at 9 a.m.) It is quite annoying and I'm going to have to do something about it.

[TASMANIANRED]

The worlds worst disturbance in a classroom ( from my own perspective). In the 70's during the final in Chemistry 101, theater style seating.

The gentleman ( I use that term loosely) sitting behind me had a good awful cold and the entire time I was test taking he was sucking snot. Not blowing his nose , not sniffling but that awful sound of sucking in and swallowing.

It was very hard to concentrate both on the exam and on not hurling. I wanted to turn around and slap the living shi? out of him.

Give me a cell phone any day.

[ILBBACH]

I don't have a big cell phone problem, but the tardiness is REALLY bad.

I like the author's suggestion of having a daily quiz at the very beginning, but I don't know if that's enough to deter late arrivals.

If you figure something out, let me know.

[RightWhale]

During a test once the guy sitting in front of me began to sweat as soon as the tests were handed out. He must have lost 2 gallons of fluid during the test. He was soaked, his paper was soaked, his seat was soaked. When he began to turn blue it was even more distracting. He seemed okay when the hour was over, he even thought he did well on the test. I wonder if he survived. I wonder if the instructor would have allowed extra credit for performing CPR during the hour.

[McLynnan]

Haha! That's gross. Did you give him the evil eye? I have a cell phone with me in class since I have a teenage daughter, but it's on silent/vibrate, and she has instructions to leave a voicemail if I don't answer it.

Poser, good for you for charging for pencils. During my finals last month at least 5-6 students in each class forgot pencils, and a lot of them forgot scantrons in one course which required them. How can you forget this sort of thing when you know you're there for an exam? Wondering if I could get rich by inventing a pencil vending machine for classrooms.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

"Yes, the people parking in the wrong spots are rude, but you have to factor that in to your drive time."

Oh, how I wish that this had even been an option at my university! The parking situation was so grim that a 5 minute commute could usually be capped off by 40-60 minutes of SITTING AND WAITING in a parking lot for another student to leave campus and vacate a spot. Some days it could be a 10 minute wait, other days an hour. No rhyme or reason whatsoever, no schedule or cycle to it. It left students who worked full-time in a difficult position...either sneak out of work an hour or two early and hope for the best, or leave when your boss says you can, and accept that you'll be late to class. I know, it's the fault of the university...but then they try to cater their grad programs to working professionals who cannot deal with a 45 minute wait for a parking spot. Had I not been an undergrad there, I may have been suckered in to doing my grad work there...a 45 minute commute plus another half hour or more waiting for a spot? Not a chance!

I brought my cell phone with me to class, and kept it on vibrate. I *never* answered it in class, and found it incredibly rude that other students would have conversations during a lecture. If someone truly needed to get ahold of me, they'd text message and I'd ask the professor if I could leave. On the very rare occasion that this happened, the poor prof was usually so thrilled to have a courteous student that he didn't mind me leaving for a few minutes to return the call.

College students are incredibly rude when it comes to cell phone use, and respecting their instructors. It got worse over the 4 years I was in school...my freshman year, far fewer students had cell phones. By the time I was a senior, everyone had one and many were rude about using them in class.

[Jokelahoma]

I can empathize with the parking situation somewhat. I was a commuting student for the first year and a half when I was in college (early to mid-80s). And my commute was also about 30 minutes each way. It wasn't unusual for me to finally find a parking spot which was a good half mile or more from my classroom. I just started leaving home earlier and earlier to account for the "Great American Parking Search". Granted, I didn't work outside the campus, doing mostly on-campus work and later, graduate assistance stuff. I was a music major, which at the time basically prevented one from working, joining a fraternity, etc. what with the recital attendence requirements, practice time, and various other demands. But not working off campus did make it a little easier for me to just leave home early.

And we didn't have cell phones then, at least not as we know them today. Thank God, or I could see some of my professors doing jail time for killing students when one of those things rang and the student started yapping over the top of the lecture. Actually, that visual puts a grin on my face.

All in all, though, I stand by my point, which is that a blanket condemnation of all the rudeness, courseness and general lack of civility is fine by me. There are going to be honest, decent people caught in the finger-pointing, sure, but hey, into every tuna net a little dolphin must fall, right?

[Poser]

"Haha! That's gross. Did you give him the evil eye?"

It's a trick I learned from John Conroy, who used to sing the national anthem before our college hockey games. He didn't sing very well, but he couldn't stand the bad band recording so he offered his services. He sang it for many years.

John would step out onto the ice with a microphone and stand there quietly until every single one of the 5,000 fans shut up. Absolute silence. The pressure on anyone making noise was stunning. Then, he would sing badly, without accompaniment. After singing, he would go back to the dairy barns and listen to the game on the radio. He couldn't see well enough to watch the game in person.

That technique works almost perfectly in the classroom. The students know that I will not continue until they shut up. They also know that I will not dismiss them until I am done with the day's material.

Every three or four years, I have a student that ignores the evil stare method. For them, I use the Ron Palermo (former MLB umpire) method. I point at them with my index finger and say, "You! You are gone!" while motioning with my thumb over my shoulder. You can drop your thumb like a hammer on a gun at the same time for emphasis. I've never had to throw more than one student out of class in any given semester.

I have another good suggestion for when you see a student looking at another's test. Divide the grade by two with a brief note that says, "It took two people to take your test so I divided the grade by two." It puts a quick end to rubbernecking. Word gets around fast.

[Allan]

Why are there laws against smoking in public buildings
but no laws against the use of cell phones in public buildings?
In my opinion the penalty for first offenders should be a prison sentence of one month.

[RightWhale]

One prof did this: the first time a cell phone went off in class, she said, "we welcome and encourage use of cell phones in class. The more the better."

It was a chamber music ensemble class, so maybe she wasn't kidding. After all, we are required to perform even with distractions. What is school for if not to prepare one for the real world?

[Allan]

Cell phones are never a problem.
I just stop class and stare at the person ringing.

You must be kidding.
I have students
who when I shout at them
just go on talking
(either on the phone,
or just to their neighbour).
I have students who talk continuously
throughout the class
every class.
If I shout at them
to tell them to shut up
they just grin,
it's all a game to them.

I recently have taken to telling students to move
as they do in high school
when they repeatedly refuse to stop talking.
(Often the noise in the classroom is so great
it almost is impossible to make myself heard).
As for coming late,
students wander in and out
at various times
but most annoying
are those students
who come in
only at the end of class
to ask what the homework assignment was.

Such is the situation
in a 'major' Canadian university.

[Spiff]

Stupid professor. This is what I hate about college. Let my boss grade me on whether I come to work late, I work for him. You work for ME, Professor, if I'm paying the tuition. Just teach me the course material, grade me on the work I do and what I demonstrate that I know on the exams, and shut up about my tardiness or skipped classes or whatever. I agree, ringing cellphones are an issue and you can make classroom rules about that. Deducting grade points just for possession of a cellphone is just stupid.

[Allan]

Deducting grade points just for possession of a cellphone is just stupid.

What do you do about students who are too dumb to turn off their phones during class despite repeated warnings?

What should I do about the moron who left his phone in his briefcase
left the briefcase in a pile at the side of the room
and the phone rang repeatedly during a three hour exam?

Please stay out of my class.

[Spiff]

I'm not talking about the cellphone rules. Simply ban the from the classroom if they're a problem or remove the offending student from class that day.

Mostly, I'm talking about the rules about tardiness and missed classes. If there is nothing I want to hear from the professor on a certain day, or if I have something better to do, and I'm passing the work and the exams, the professor should leave me alone on attendance. I can look at a class schedule or syllabus and schedule my time accordingly.

It's just one of my pet peeves and annoyed me to no end when I was taking night classes after work on my own dime. If I had to work late, or I had a family committment, I could get points deducted because I missed a class or came in late or left early. Often, the professor was covering material I already knew and I didn't want to waste my time listening to it.

Cell phones may be annoying, but 3 points deduction per ring is criminal.

[JenB]

They also know that I will not dismiss them until I am done with the day's material.

I've had professors that pull that little trick. When there's ten minutes between classes and you have to get from one side of the university to the other, it's a lot of fun. And the students are blamed for being late!

It's even more fun waiting half an hour, regularly, for someone else to get out of class, like I did when my sister and I carpooled last semester... her math professor routinely kept them until 9:45 pm, when the class dismissed at 9.