Professors should not be able to limit technology use in classes

At the beginning of the semester, professors go over their syllabus guidelines about technology usage during class, and they specifically make a point to mention phones. However, they rarely interrupt lectures to scold someone. In the majority of my classes, students actually put their phones down and pay attention to the professors and course material.

However, there is always that one extremely boring class that you are only taking to fill a requirement. This is the case with one of my courses; students end up bored, zoned out or distracted with their phones.

While this is not beneficial to their education, it is the students’ right to be on their phones during class. We are all adults paying for these classes one way or another, so we should be able to decide if we participate and actively pay attention or not.

Professors should not comment on phone usage during class. Although it’s rare, I have experienced a professor interrupting class to tell a student to stay off his phone. This specific time, the student was just taking pictures of the slides for notes.

This same professor has threatened to dock our attendance grades for being on our phones during his lectures. But the professor needs to make the class more entertaining and beneficial to pay attention to the material. If everything about the class is boring, and they do not seem to be mildly interested in their own material, professors should simply be grateful that students attend the lectures to begin with.

The majority of student success relies on teachers making the material interesting. While I do find this specific course material interesting, I still zone out in this class because of the professor. He doesn't even seem like he wants to be there in the first place. How can professors expect us to pay attention and participate in class when they do not want to be there for their paid job?

I understand it can be considered disrespectful towards the professor for being on our phones during class. However, we should not be expected to respect someone who does not respect us as adults. The professors who interrupt classes to call out students are treating us like we are still in high school. Professors should treat us like the adults we are and respect our decisions if we choose to check our phones during class. Professors should treat their students with the same respect that they expect from us.

Yes, professors deserve basic respect just as the students do. But professors should not comment on how we spend our time in the classes that we are spending our savings on, or even going into debt for, to attend.

gowansj@miamioh.edu

Jamie Gowans is a first-year student in the Farmer School of Business. She is a marketing major with a history minor. She is a first-year writer for The Miami Student.