Cell phone rules a burden
By Caitlin Waters
On February 20, 2013
Leaving high school and entering college is a huge milestone. It comes with its fair
share of freedom and independence, in school, living situations, social situations,
and more.
Rules that were present in high school classrooms especially are different from
classroom norms in college. One main controversial rule is the one involving
students' cell phone use in class.
In high school, cell phones are not to be taken out at all. Being on them in class, let
alone even viewable on your desk, could result in reprimand. In college, though,
those rules should not be the same.
Graduating high school marks a major landmark in a person's life, and they're
usually considered close to an adult now. Getting in trouble or called out for having
your cell phone out in class in college is not only a waste of time but a major
disruption.
The cell phone rule in a class that I was in a few semesters ago was the most
ridiculous one I've seen. On the first day of class while going over the syllabus, the
professor discussed in utmost detail and with a very stern tone that if a student
were on his or her phone in class she would take the phone.
Not only did she claim she would take the phone for the remainder of the class
period but that she would keep it until the next time the class met. So if you got your
phone taken away on Tuesday, she would keep the students phone until the next
class on Thursday.
After getting my phone taken away in her class, at the end of the class I asked for my
phone back and she gave it back to me saying usually she would have kept it but she
would let it slide this time. How can a professor hold on to something that isn't hers?
I understand that a student being on their phone in class is disrespectful to the
teacher, but the teacher is the one being paid to be there, while the student is paying
to be there. The only person's time that the student is wasting while being on their
phone in class is their own.
A professor taking the time to scold a student for being on their phone in class
takes more time and effort rather than just ignoring the said act. The teacher taking
the time to call out the student for being on their phone and put it away serves no
purpose and becomes a distraction to the rest of the class.
If a student is really becoming annoying to the professor while being on their phone
during lecture, after class is when the professor should pull the student aside and
say if they're going to be on their phone the class, don't bother coming. The student
will make the right choice.
Threatening to take a student's phone away will not only make the professor the
butt of jokes when the students tell their friends of this ludicrous rule, but the
professors will also not be taken seriously and no student will willingly hand over
their phone for a couple days to their teacher.
Caitlin Waters can be reached by email at waters1.record@live.com.
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