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10/9/06
The Great Cell Phone Massacre of 2006
10/9/06
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Monday, October 9, 2006
4:37:00 PM EDT
Hearing High -- The Cure
For last week's Weekend Assignment, I posted a video of a college professor smashing one of his student's cell phone when the phone went off during a lecture and the the student started talking on it. I asked whether people thought the professor was right to do it, and if people have lost all sense of courtesy when answering cell phones. Some of the responses:
"The demonstrative professor in question may have stated in person or in writing that 'no cell phones/pagers/cameras, etc. would be tolerated' in his lectures. If he did that, while his reaction was more than a little extreme from my point of view, he was nevertheless justified in the action he took. Regardless, the sad thing is that the onus is on the professor or the institution to regulate the behavior in the classroom. Neither common courtesy nor common sense prevail in our institutions of higher education these days, if they ever did."
"It was totally against what EDUCATION is all about! He should be disciplined in my opinion! There was no reason to do this. He has no idea if this is someone calling about a family member ill or a child kidnapped ETC! I'd be suing if I was the student. Seriously! That professor should also apologize to all the students. The professor certainly has an anger management problem."
"I would say that the professor or the school (because they hired the guy) owe the student a new cell phone. On the other hand, it was rude of the student not to either shut off his phone, or put it on the 'vibrate only' setting."
"Frankly, I thought the professor handled it better than I could have. Let's just think 'Body Cavity Extraction'."
"I would not have grabbed the phone but I would have looked at the person if they did not answer it and I would have requested that they turn it off."
"I think this video was a set-up. If someone were really taping a lecture, they would've stayed on the professor instead of zooming in on the back of the head of Mr. Chatty Pants."
"I am tired of this debate. It is old. In my opinion, the cell phone is not the most evil invention of the 20th century. It is a form of communication. I don't understand folks who have never owned a cell phone, yet complain so much about their use."
"I think the time is coming when ALL phones will be portable and we will carry them with us. The 'home' phone will disappear. A new set of manners will appear, and phone calls will not take precedence over face to face conversations."
"It doesn't bother me at all to see someone talking on the phone in a grocery store or on the street, or even at work; but talking during a class, a movie, a concert, church, etc. is not acceptable. On the other hand, I pretty much never hear someone talking on the phone in a movie theater, concert, class, or mass. Most people just don't do that."
"If this video is not staged, and if the professor had previously warned his students about the cell phone, his reaction may be not entirely appropriate, but perhaps understandable. I think taking the phone away was enough, but throwing it on the floor with such a display of anger was a bit over the top. The man had lost it. I understand his anger, but not his response. "
"The prof was out of line in reacting to the student. He could kindly asked the student to hang up. But the student was wrong to answer and to talk on the cell while in class."
"I'm still in shock! That professorhas to control his anger. He deals with alot of students every day and has to be a mentor. The professor is just that, a professor. Not a drill seargant! He could have dismissed the student or diciplined in a different manner. Not destroy the students property."
You can read some more commentary on the event and on cell phone couresy in the comment thread here.
My thoughts on it: Like some other folks, I'm not entirely convinced this is a real video. However, if it is, as much as it amused me to watch the professor smash the phone into the floor, and as much as some part of me cheered, it was, in fact, an entirely ridiculous response, and likely an illegal one at that (destruction of property, anyone?).
If I were the professor, I would have simply let everyone in the class know to turn off their cell phones, and that they would get one time in which they were allowed to forget that rule. After that, their final grade gets docked half a grade for each time they forgot. I think that would give them sufficient incentive to remember.
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4:37:00 PM EDT
Hearing High -- The Cure
The Great Cell Phone Massacre of 2006
For last week's Weekend Assignment, I posted a video of a college professor smashing one of his student's cell phone when the phone went off during a lecture and the the student started talking on it. I asked whether people thought the professor was right to do it, and if people have lost all sense of courtesy when answering cell phones. Some of the responses:
"The demonstrative professor in question may have stated in person or in writing that 'no cell phones/pagers/cameras, etc. would be tolerated' in his lectures. If he did that, while his reaction was more than a little extreme from my point of view, he was nevertheless justified in the action he took. Regardless, the sad thing is that the onus is on the professor or the institution to regulate the behavior in the classroom. Neither common courtesy nor common sense prevail in our institutions of higher education these days, if they ever did."
"It was totally against what EDUCATION is all about! He should be disciplined in my opinion! There was no reason to do this. He has no idea if this is someone calling about a family member ill or a child kidnapped ETC! I'd be suing if I was the student. Seriously! That professor should also apologize to all the students. The professor certainly has an anger management problem."
"I would say that the professor or the school (because they hired the guy) owe the student a new cell phone. On the other hand, it was rude of the student not to either shut off his phone, or put it on the 'vibrate only' setting."
"Frankly, I thought the professor handled it better than I could have. Let's just think 'Body Cavity Extraction'."
"I would not have grabbed the phone but I would have looked at the person if they did not answer it and I would have requested that they turn it off."
"I think this video was a set-up. If someone were really taping a lecture, they would've stayed on the professor instead of zooming in on the back of the head of Mr. Chatty Pants."
"I am tired of this debate. It is old. In my opinion, the cell phone is not the most evil invention of the 20th century. It is a form of communication. I don't understand folks who have never owned a cell phone, yet complain so much about their use."
"I think the time is coming when ALL phones will be portable and we will carry them with us. The 'home' phone will disappear. A new set of manners will appear, and phone calls will not take precedence over face to face conversations."
"It doesn't bother me at all to see someone talking on the phone in a grocery store or on the street, or even at work; but talking during a class, a movie, a concert, church, etc. is not acceptable. On the other hand, I pretty much never hear someone talking on the phone in a movie theater, concert, class, or mass. Most people just don't do that."
"If this video is not staged, and if the professor had previously warned his students about the cell phone, his reaction may be not entirely appropriate, but perhaps understandable. I think taking the phone away was enough, but throwing it on the floor with such a display of anger was a bit over the top. The man had lost it. I understand his anger, but not his response. "
"The prof was out of line in reacting to the student. He could kindly asked the student to hang up. But the student was wrong to answer and to talk on the cell while in class."
"I'm still in shock! That professorhas to control his anger. He deals with alot of students every day and has to be a mentor. The professor is just that, a professor. Not a drill seargant! He could have dismissed the student or diciplined in a different manner. Not destroy the students property."
You can read some more commentary on the event and on cell phone couresy in the comment thread here.
My thoughts on it: Like some other folks, I'm not entirely convinced this is a real video. However, if it is, as much as it amused me to watch the professor smash the phone into the floor, and as much as some part of me cheered, it was, in fact, an entirely ridiculous response, and likely an illegal one at that (destruction of property, anyone?).
If I were the professor, I would have simply let everyone in the class know to turn off their cell phones, and that they would get one time in which they were allowed to forget that rule. After that, their final grade gets docked half a grade for each time they forgot. I think that would give them sufficient incentive to remember.
Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry |
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This entry has 3 comments: (Add your own)
-
Most profs these days have punishments in the syllabus listing the punishments for your phone going off in class. My favorite so far? from my stats prof "the owner of any phone that rings during my class time will be immediately invited to stand in front of the class and give us all a 2 minute lesson on cell phone etiquette". It only had to happen once to make everybody remember to turn their phones off in the hallway!
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Hear, hear! THat sounds fair enough (docking the grade). Bea
10/10/06 1:19 AM
~Raven
http://journals.aol.com/rebuk