As students, we enter classrooms hoping to get something good out of the professors’ lectures. You would think that you can just sit, listen and take notes and that would be it. But there are a few minor things that do not belong in the classroom: pagers, mobile phones, food and drinks.
A pager is an excellent tool to carry. Most of us carry pagers so that our friends, families and colleagues can keep in touch. The same goes for mobile phones. The thing that bothers me, and maybe some of you share my opinion, is when a pager goes off. We hear it. I do not understand why students forget that pagers have two settings: audio and vibrate.
If you are going to bring a pager into the classroom, at least have the consideration to put it on vibrate. It does not take the will of God to switch settings. To bring a pager that is on audio into the classroom is inconsiderate to the students and especially to the professors. It derails a professor’s train of thought.
We can see the reaction on a professor’s face as he or she is lecturing, but professors don’t reprimand the certain individual. Maybe the professor is tolerant or does not want to humiliate the individual.
As if to make things worse, many students put their pagers in their bags and not on their pockets where they can quickly put an end to the disruption. We drop our pens and pencils, and suddenly everybody’s heads turn directly at the person whose pager has gone off. As everybody is observing, the individual is rushing through his or her bag as if he or she were trying to disarm an explosive. While the student is searching through the bag, the noise just keeps going and going.
Mobile phones do not belong in the classroom, but for some reason students bring them anyway. Unlike pagers, an individual is required to speak on mobile phones, and you know you should not be speaking while the professor is giving a lecture.
Food and drinks do not belong in a classroom either. A classroom is a place for learning and not a place to dine. Students should be bringing their books and not a full-course meal. The campus offers many places where one can dine. Let’s keep our classrooms nice and neat. We should not be bothered by a person who has not realized that eating with his or her mouth open is, not only impolite, but also downright inconsiderate to the class. These students have the tendency not to clean the gooey stuff off the desks left by the food or drinks, leaving other students in the next class to deal with the mess.
One incident happened to me in my second year of college. This man had brought his morning cup of coffee to class and sat beside me. Now, I can understand students need their hot cup-of-joe to give themselves that kick-start they need in the morning. Unfortunately for me, I was a victim of coffee-spillage. He had accidentally swiped his coffee onto me. Like most people, he kept his coffee on the desk rather than on the floor, where it belongs. I recommend that students finish their food and drinks before entering the classroom.
In large classes, people should not place their personal belongings on empty chairs and desks. Students pay a large amount of money to sit on those chairs and desks, and not for backpacks and jackets. Just finding a seat is difficult.
A classroom should be a place for learning and not a place to keep in touch with friends or dine. Let us act like adults and guarantee that we get the most we can from a classroom without the beeping, lip smacking, and the slime and grime.
Omar Ocampo is a journalism junior.
