Spring Break
Cellular consideration
Issue date: 8/27/08 Section: Opinion
We all know that scenario.
You're sitting in class listening intently to the invigorating lecture the professor is giving about fungus in Antarctica when it happens.
Someone's cell phone rings.
Everyone tenses up and heads pop up like prairie dogs looking for the source, all while bracing for whatever the professor's reaction will be.
And it never can be a nice ring tone like "Jingle Bells" or "Greensleeves" - it always has to be something like Flo Rida's "Low" interrupting the lecture in its obnoxious glory. The culprit has to dig to the bottom of his/her bag/purse to turn it off, which by that time has stopped ringing, leaving all for naught.
Then just when you think it's safe and the person has turned the phone off, it rings again, leaving you dumbfounded as to how the person didn't turn it off the first time.
It's a classroom, not a bar. Let's put it on vibrate.
That being said, students need to have a way to be contacted in case of an emergency. This is a direct result of the shooting scare that happened last semester, in which an anonymous note saying there was going to be a shooting on campus was found in a Campus Manor mailbox.
Many students couldn't be reached due to their phones being off or on silent mode.
Since cell phones have become a medium of mass communication (do you know anyone without a cell phone?), the controversy over whether or not they should be allowed in a school setting has become less of an issue. Even professors have had their phones go off in class. The issue now revolves around correct and responsible use of cell phones in class.
It's always annoying to see those people who hold their cell phones under their desks as if they think people and the professor can't see it. Your professors went to college, a majority (71 percent) of them hold doctorates; they're going to put two and two together when they see a student look at his or her lap every 30 seconds.
The etiquette of cell phone usage in the classroom is still fuzzy and grey, but for now keep Flo Rida on vibrate and avoid text messaging until you get out of class.
You're sitting in class listening intently to the invigorating lecture the professor is giving about fungus in Antarctica when it happens.
Someone's cell phone rings.
Everyone tenses up and heads pop up like prairie dogs looking for the source, all while bracing for whatever the professor's reaction will be.
And it never can be a nice ring tone like "Jingle Bells" or "Greensleeves" - it always has to be something like Flo Rida's "Low" interrupting the lecture in its obnoxious glory. The culprit has to dig to the bottom of his/her bag/purse to turn it off, which by that time has stopped ringing, leaving all for naught.
Then just when you think it's safe and the person has turned the phone off, it rings again, leaving you dumbfounded as to how the person didn't turn it off the first time.
It's a classroom, not a bar. Let's put it on vibrate.
That being said, students need to have a way to be contacted in case of an emergency. This is a direct result of the shooting scare that happened last semester, in which an anonymous note saying there was going to be a shooting on campus was found in a Campus Manor mailbox.
Many students couldn't be reached due to their phones being off or on silent mode.
Since cell phones have become a medium of mass communication (do you know anyone without a cell phone?), the controversy over whether or not they should be allowed in a school setting has become less of an issue. Even professors have had their phones go off in class. The issue now revolves around correct and responsible use of cell phones in class.
It's always annoying to see those people who hold their cell phones under their desks as if they think people and the professor can't see it. Your professors went to college, a majority (71 percent) of them hold doctorates; they're going to put two and two together when they see a student look at his or her lap every 30 seconds.
The etiquette of cell phone usage in the classroom is still fuzzy and grey, but for now keep Flo Rida on vibrate and avoid text messaging until you get out of class.
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