You mean you expect us to pay attention?

A recent post by the wonderful Little Professor on student behavior during lectures got me thinking. One of the first things I noticed when I began teaching is how much one can see from the front of the room. I can recall sitting in my undergraduate courses thinking of myself as largely invisible. This is, of course, a ridiculous notion -- when I teach I can see every student very clearly. I can see them sleeping, daydreaming, scribbling, checking their cell phone, talking to their neighbor. Is it too much to ask students to pay attention for an hour? I know these behaviors don't bother some professors. I once served as a TA for course on contemporary feminist fiction. I really liked the professor, so I attended all the lectures. Sitting amongst the 60 or so undergraduates, I would hear them make comments, some related to the lecture, some not. These I found were less distracting than the young woman who would read the paper every class. Granted, it was a 9:00 am class, but I wondered why she even bothered coming to class. Perhaps foolishly I said something to her after one class to the effect of, "anything good in today's paper?" -- this query was not received well, as you might imagine. What surprised me was the reaction of the professor, who said that this student's lack of focus in class didn't bother her because she was one of "her" students and a very bright girl. I took this to mean that the student didn't need to participate in class, didn't need to listen to the lecture. Aside from the fact that such behavior is disrespectful and counterproductive (can you imagine employees in a business meeting reading their paper or checking their email while the CEO speaks?), it suggests that the student cares little for the (very expensive) education he or she pursues.

I don't wish to knock this professor -- I think she was resigned to this aspect of student behavior and perhaps was trying to save me some aggravation by pointing out something that her experience has shown. But to my mind if we allow our students to take such a casual attitude towards the classroom then we diminish the value of our time, our expertise, and of our entire profession.

For my own part, I've been know to wake slumbering students with a strategically timed drop of a book.