Three rows ahead of me sits a young woman. The seat to her right is occupied by an oversized backpack while the seat to her left is taken up by a purse and other personal belongings. Her shoes are removed and her bare feet are propped up on the seat in front of her.
I am treated to this image three times a week in my human physiology lecture.
The young woman is restless in her seat, shifting every 15 seconds and putting her hair up and then letting it down.
Oh wait, maybe it looked better up again. There you go.
She sends an astonishing number of text messages while I'm trying to concentrate on absorption in the small intestine.
What pains me is that these lectures are digitally recorded, so if she really wanted to kick back and get a science lesson in her pajamas, she could do so in the comfort of her own home.
And more importantly, without rubbing her sock sweat into half the seats of Diefendorf 147.
Does she do this in every class, or is she just testing the waters? Where did she get the idea that it is all right to be so impolite to those surrounding her?
This illustration, as well as countless other displays of disrespect, has pervaded every lecture hall on campus.
My freshman year, I took a cell biology course in Knox 20, one of the biggest lecture halls at UB. Despite the fact that hundreds of people would pack into the room several times a week to learn about cellular function, my focus would always shift to a couple sitting two rows in front of me popping each others' pimples.
Let me repeat that.
Two young lovers attempted to eradicate one another's facial acne while hundreds of students sat around them and tried to focus on mitochondrial membranes.
I almost had to leave the room from the nausea that swept over me, but disbelief inhibited my ability to move.
On more than one occasion I have seen students picking their noses and/or ears, carefully inspecting the results, and then ... well, I'm sure you get the idea.
Large lectures often give students a feeling that because they aren't in a small interactive setting, they don't have to pay attention. They feel as though their actions are invisible because of the magnitude of the crowd they're sitting in.
The view from the front of the classroom often enables the instructor to see what each and every person in the room is doing. So if you're busy digging for gold, the professor can see it. And the next time you have to ask him for help, he might not be overly friendly if he knows you never paid attention in the first place.
Every day, I see students that are busy text messaging, listening to headphones, playing solitaire on laptops, or chatting while sitting in class. This type of behavior is inexcusably distracting to students who are trying to concentrate.
I pay good money for tuition, just like everyone else, so when I go to class I know I'm there to learn. If I go to a lecture, it's a waste of time and money to not pay attention, and if I distract others, I'm diminishing the value of their time as well.
With the surge of technology in the classroom, stay home and listen to the digitally recorded lectures if you run the risk of distracting others. You can pause the recording if you get a sudden urge to talk loudly on a cell phone, rewind if you were too busy scratching your bum the first time, or stop completely if you start snoring.
When did it become socially acceptable to remove shoes during a college-level class? Or practice personal grooming habits in public?
I am fed up with classmates being rude and have nothing but contempt for inappropriate displays of disrespect for fellow students. The next time you'd rather groom yourself than pay attention, do it behind closed doors.
