A student trembles in front of the class while giving a presentation. He notices the professor writing comments about the presentation and sees the students staring. Suddenly, a cell phone rings, with students shuffling in their pockets, purses and backpacks. But the student present realizes that it is his phone ringing and rushes to his belongings. The professor takes off points because the cell phone distracts the students and the class.
Cell phones and tardiness are two of the several common distractions in classrooms at Cal State Long Beach. But some professors and students have their own ways of dealing with them.
Brett Chastain, a senior communications student, agreed to share his opinion classroom interruptions. But before he had the chance to speak, his phone rang and he said, “Hold on. It is my friend. I have to take this.”
After taking his phone call, he said one type of classroom interruption is caused by “cell phones, obviously.”
Amy Talbott, a junior fashion merchandizing student, also named cell phones first on her list of classroom interruptions.
Students can deal with classroom interruptions by “ignoring them if they can,” she said, “but when cell phones keep ringing it can get really annoying. Students should turn their cell phones off when they get to school, not right before class.”
Then her cell phone rang. Fortunately for her, she was sitting outside of the Nugget waiting for her ride and not inside a classroom during a lesson.
Vahe Kludjian, a part-time lecturer for the civil engineering and construction department, said even though he does not allow cell phone conversations in his laboratories, “students continue to send and receive text messages. Text messaging creates a new language while it destroys standard American English.”
Constant tardiness is another way the classroom is interrupted, Kludjian said. “Students are not supposed to be late,” Kludjian said. “Students that arrive late have to announce it to me and the class. They also have to announce it if they leave early.”
Gary Robbins, a journalism professor and science editor of the Orange County Register, made his tardy journalism students apologize to the class before they were able to take their seat last fall. Robbins went as far as notifying the father of a student who was constantly tardy.
But Chastain said that tardy students don’t bother him as much because everybody has a reason.
“It’s normal,” Chastain said. “I can get over it but I don’t know how everyone else feels about it.” He suggested “tighter policies” as a solution to excess tardiness.
Talbott had the same argument, explaining student tardiness but finishing with limitations.
“Getting to class late, it happens,” Talbott said. “I have been late before.” But the problem becomes massive “when students arrive an hour late to an hour and 15-minute classes.”
“Are you kidding me?” Talbott said.
Chastain said he has “never been punished” for being late. His reason: “Hey, it’s college.”
“Distractions can affect an entire learning environment but students can also choose to ignore them,” Talbott said. “The more it happens, the less people realize it is happening.
