Texting in Class = The New Doodling

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Texting in class has surpassed doodling, daydreaming, napping and note-passing. I guess this isn’t so surprising, it’s the same old problem, just a different medium. Anyone else have that professor that would say funny stuff like “Laugh all you want, you’re the one paying to fail this class” when he’d catch you not paying attention?

It's no surprise that high school and college students are obsessive texters. What alarms Wilkes psychology professors Deborah Tindell and Robert Bohlander is how rampant the practice has become during class: Their recent study shows that texting at the school has surpassed doodling, daydreaming and note-passing to become the top classroom distraction.
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The public school here has rules against it.
If you're caught during class, a parent has to pick the phone up after hours.

Caught 3 times? get it back at the end of the year. It puts pressure on the parents to watch what their crotchfruit is doing.

After seeing some of the accidents around here caused by texting, I think it should just be banned, or better yet, if the phone is moving, it just wouldn't work.
 
there has been alot of blogging aka status updating on facebook and other sites like likealittle during class from ppl with smartphones or on their laptops with wifi and such
 
At BMCC in Pendleton, Oregon, they make sure you are paying attention, and make the whole class aware if you're not!

I think I would care as a teacher. You're there to teach kids and adults what is required. If they fail, it is their fault, but you are enabling them to fail, mmkay (Dr. Phil). If I were a teacher, my goal would be to make sure everyone passed the class. I'd stay after hours if needed to help a student understand the material, etc.. That's what teachers are paid to do.
 
invisbob said:
The public school here has rules against it.
If you're caught during class, a parent has to pick the phone up after hours.

Caught 3 times? get it back at the end of the year. It puts pressure on the parents to watch what their crotchfruit is doing.

After seeing some of the accidents around here caused by texting, I think it should just be banned, or better yet, if the phone is moving, it just wouldn't work.
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Oh.... my.... god... I have never heard that word, EVER.

Genius!
 
Ur_Mom said:
At BMCC in Pendleton, Oregon, they make sure you are paying attention, and make the whole class aware if you're not!

I think I would care as a teacher. You're there to teach kids and adults what is required. If they fail, it is their fault, but you are enabling them to fail, mmkay (Dr. Phil). If I were a teacher, my goal would be to make sure everyone passed the class. I'd stay after hours if needed to help a student understand the material, etc.. That's what teachers are paid to do.
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College profs at many universities don't care if they get a lot of people failing. But in high school on down it reflects badly on teachers when too many fail. Failing kids will make excuses along the lines of, "The teacher doesn't teach, I didn't learn anything at all" all the while the kid is too busy texting in class.

The sad thing is that dedication, a pure benevolent heart to teach, and an ability to help kids understand subject matter is not enough to be a good teacher. A teacher also has to be on top of all the fooling around that goes on in class. That's a necessary skill in and of itself.
 
What about the people that bring in their laptops and surf facebook and play bejewled the whole time. Im sure they are paying a lot of attention. I can text without really looking at my phone and it's over and done with and back to taking notes.
 
inb4 "if teachers could be more creative/captivating students wouldn't text" comments.
 
I am likely going into teaching and when I hit the classroom I am making my students turn off and then put their phones in a box to be returned at the end of class.

I will gladly end class 5 minutes sooner if I have to, so hey can sort it out.

college though, screw teaching in high school.
 
stealthy123 said:
I am likely going into teaching and when I hit the classroom I am making my students turn off and then put their phones in a box to be returned at the end of class.

I will gladly end class 5 minutes sooner if I have to, so hey can sort it out.

college though, screw teaching in high school.
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That would last until one phone goes missing - and then you open your ass up for law suits. People that text in class are idiots (let them prove their idiocy IRL, IMO) but I would sue the pants off you and your family if one of my expensive phones went missing due to "class policy," especially If I was forced to abide by a rule that's wholly inapplicable to me (As I stated, my phone is off).

Just abide by a simple rule: If your phone makes noise in class, you're out.
 
if i were a high school teacher i would put a cell signal jammer in my desk. illegal...probably. problem solved?...definitely.
 
cbags101 said:
if i were a high school teacher i would put a cell signal jammer in my desk. illegal...probably. problem solved?...definitely.
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works great untill a student decides to head into the classroom and start going Columbine everywhere, and nobody can get a word out to the authorities
 
As a high school teacher, I can say that I hate cell phones. To be blunt, teenagers do not NEED cell phones. They are a distraction and I am constantly battling students to stop using them. It wouldn't be so bad but parents rarely back me up and take them away from their children.
 
Draax said:
teenagers do not NEED cell phones.
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Boo Hoo. Neither do many adults. Most adults/teenagers don't NEED a lot of things.

It's their prerogative whether they want to learn or not. I would have been B.O.N.E.D in high school without a cellphone. They are impossibly handy tools when you were working, and needed to co-ordinate rides home with two working parents, often employing the help of friends and such. And texting all day never stopped me from doing well in classes either.

Texting IN class is absolutely rude, but banning cellphones is a silly answer to this issue. Today's children aren't taught MANNERS, this teaching should start at home. Banning cellphones is like banning cars because they might cause a fatality, rather than teaching our future members to be better drivers.
 
Easy solution that I used when I subbed for a physics class a few years ago, if I see a cell phone it goes up on the chalk board rail with your name above it, you get it back at the end of the class, fail 3 times and you get sent to the principals office for being a disturbance.
 
stealthy123 said:
I am likely going into teaching and when I hit the classroom I am making my students turn off and then put their phones in a box to be returned at the end of class.

I will gladly end class 5 minutes sooner if I have to, so hey can sort it out.

college though, screw teaching in high school.
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If you teach in high school you'll be able to get away with that, but in college as soon as the first person puts that up on ratemyprofessors.com you're done. Nobody is going to take your class, you'll get bad reviews, and you won't get tenure.

Personally if you said that I would laugh in your face, turn around, and walk out of the class. There are too many course options to deal with power tripping teachers that think they are more important than they actually are.
 
Draax said:
As a high school teacher, I can say that I hate cell phones. To be blunt, teenagers do not NEED cell phones. They are a distraction and I am constantly battling students to stop using them. It wouldn't be so bad but parents rarely back me up and take them away from their children.
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You don't NEED clothes either.
 
invisbob said:
After seeing some of the accidents around here caused by texting, I think it should just be banned, or better yet, if the phone is moving, it just wouldn't work.
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Yeah, I constantly see accidents in the hallways at work because people are walking while using phones! We have several deaths a month!

Damn text walkers.
 
High school kids is a different issue. College kids texting in class - okay sure if it's just once in a while but have fun paying $60+/hour (which is about what my UC cost IIRC) for lectures that you're not paying attention to. Why the f*** should the lecturer care, so as long as they're not disruptive. (again, it's different in HS)
 
invisbob said:
The public school here has rules against it.
If you're caught during class, a parent has to pick the phone up after hours.

Caught 3 times? get it back at the end of the year. It puts pressure on the parents to watch what their crotchfruit is doing.

After seeing some of the accidents around here caused by texting, I think it should just be banned, or better yet, if the phone is moving, it just wouldn't work.
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Right, parents are going to let the school keep the expensive present they just gave their kid.

HAHAHA!
 
In highschool it's a different matter, but in College unless I'm being a distraction I don't think the professor has any right to tell me to put my phone away. I'm paying for my education out of pocket so if I want to not pay attention to the instructor for a few minutes it's my own business.
 
I remember in high school when a cellphone had made a noise and no one would confess who's it was so the principle was called in and collected about 20 cell phones from everyone and also wasted an entire day of class....

in college classes about 50% of the students are on laptops and another percentage are texting on a cellphone
 
Oldie said:
In highschool it's a different matter, but in College unless I'm being a distraction I don't think the professor has any right to tell me to put my phone away. I'm paying for my education out of pocket so if I want to not pay attention to the instructor for a few minutes it's my own business.
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Right, because you're fiddling with an electronic device doesn't distract the other students or the Professor who is lecturing to the whole class (not just you).

Anytime anyone busts out a cell phone and starts texting in a class, it is distracting to someone (even if you don't think it is). The student can not be the judge of what is and what is not distracting to the Professor or the other classmates.

Besides, how difficult is it to go 1-3 hours without pulling out your cellphone? It seems like it's a sympton of a much larger problem if that is too difficult.
 
If I was a teacher (highschool or college), I'd get a cell phone jammer too. It just solves the problem so efficiently.
 
Oldie said:
In highschool it's a different matter, but in College unless I'm being a distraction I don't think the professor has any right to tell me to put my phone away. I'm paying for my education out of pocket so if I want to not pay attention to the instructor for a few minutes it's my own business.
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Dreaz said:
Right, because you're fiddling with an electronic device doesn't distract the other students or the Professor who is lecturing to the whole class (not just you).

Anytime anyone busts out a cell phone and starts texting in a class, it is distracting to someone (even if you don't think it is). The student can not be the judge of what is and what is not distracting to the Professor or the other classmates.

Besides, how difficult is it to go 1-3 hours without pulling out your cellphone? It seems like it's a sympton of a much larger problem if that is too difficult.
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Correct. Too many students never seem to learn that in college you have exactly the 'rights' that you are given. Colleges are not a court of law. They can and do make their own rules regarding student behavior.

I once had a class where the professor had given numerous warnings to the entire class about cell phones going off in class. At the midterm a student's phone went off and he was warned. 10 minutes later it went off again. The prof told the student he had two choices, either he gave the prof his phone or he failed the class. The kid gave him his phone and the prof stomped it to smithereens. He then gave the rest of the class an extra ten minutes to make up for the distraction.
 
Magnus said:
Correct. Too many students never seem to learn that in college you have exactly the 'rights' that you are given. Colleges are not a court of law. They can and do make their own rules regarding student behavior.

I once had a class where the professor had given numerous warnings to the entire class about cell phones going off in class. At the midterm a student's phone went off and he was warned. 10 minutes later it went off again. The prof told the student he had two choices, either he gave the prof his phone or he failed the class. The kid gave him his phone and the prof stomped it to smithereens. He then gave the rest of the class an extra ten minutes to make up for the distraction.
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LOL no. I'd press charges against the professor, and I'd win. I wouldn't settle either.
 
Dreaz said:
Right, because you're fiddling with an electronic device doesn't distract the other students or the Professor who is lecturing to the whole class (not just you).

Anytime anyone busts out a cell phone and starts texting in a class, it is distracting to someone (even if you don't think it is). The student can not be the judge of what is and what is not distracting to the Professor or the other classmates.

Besides, how difficult is it to go 1-3 hours without pulling out your cellphone? It seems like it's a sympton of a much larger problem if that is too difficult.
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Must be nice to have no other commitments in life but school. I can't see how texting would be more distracting than taking notes with a laptop...obviously if someone is spending 30 minutes texting it's one thing, but answering a few 30 second questions isn't a big deal.
 
computerpro3 said:
There's nothing petty or annoying about it. The professor destroyed a $600 device. I'd have him prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
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Meh, if you were letting your phone go off several times during a lecture, I would have smashed your phone before the professor had a chance.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Meh, if you were letting your phone go off several times during a lecture, I would have smashed your phone before the professor had a chance.
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And I would have had you arrested for assault, plus sued you in small claims court for the phone.

The kid is a douche for not silencing his phone. No doubt about it. But there's never an excuse to physically harm another person or property over something so trivial.
 
Here's the main problem - mandatory attendance. If my professors would just allow me to not come (only show up to ace the tests), then I would have NO PROBLEM with rules such as "no laptops, phones, etc."

The problem arises when I am FORCED to go and then they try to impose those rules. I'm sorry, if you're forcing me to come to class, I'll do whatever I damn well please during it. The professors don't pay for my "education." I do - and if I deem their class a waste of time, it's my prerogative to browse the internet and use class time productively instead.
 
computerpro3 said:
And I would have had you arrested for assault, plus sued you in small claims court for the phone.

The kid is a douche for not silencing his phone. No doubt about it. But there's never an excuse to physically harm another person or property over something so trivial.
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Good for you. Got to stand up for your right to be a toolshed and hide behind Johnny Law when shit comes back to you.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Good for you. Got to stand up for your right to be a toolshed and hide behind Johnny Law when shit comes back to you.
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It's not hiding behind the law. If you were working in an office and your boss caught you texting and grabbed your phone and smashed it into pieces, would you assume that was alright? Asking a student to leave a class is one thing, but destruction of property is another.

Exercising your right to legal recourse is not hiding.
 
LeninGHOLA said:
Good for you. Got to stand up for your right to be a toolshed and hide behind Johnny Law when shit comes back to you.
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I'd much prefer to simply beat your ass myself. But I find that people like you, who worship at the feet of out modern compulsory education system, tend to be the first ones to sue as soon as they are so much as "offended." So I figure I'd rather strike first, legally speaking.
 
Oldie said:
It's not hiding behind the law. If you were working in an office and your boss caught you texting and grabbed your phone and smashed it into pieces, would you assume that was alright? Asking a student to leave a class is one thing, but destruction of property is another.

Exercising your right to legal recourse is not hiding.
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I was referring to the post about a kid whos phone went off several time during a lecture. People with no respect should be treated with none.

As for the boss scenario, if my company had a no texting policy - I got caught texting on shift - and my boss smashed my phone? I would just ask him to buy me another one, I would not flat out call the cops on him right there unless I felt threatened.

Police and judges have better things to do than worry about your phone. Settle things like a man.
 
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