A PSA Regarding In-Class Activities

Greetings to the UA family once again. 

Look, I need to address something that has become quite a concern to me over the last few weeks of the semester and that is our in-class conduct. This is important because our faculty and staff work very hard to ensure that we have the best education of the finest quality; and make no mistake, UA has some of the finest teachers around, and as a result, many of the graduates from this university are some of the finest and brightest individuals around. I’m proud of that.

Now, ever seen the AT&T commercial where a guy and a girl are out at dinner or something, and they’re having this intimate conversation and all of a sudden out comes this phone? And the girl says, “Did you just check the game on your phone?”, and the guy tries to hide the fact that he’s doing it and just can’t. And he’s doing it because he just can’t help it. 

Well, as funny as that is on a TV commercial, in the real world, it’s not funny; in fact it’s kind of rude. Most importantly, it’s rude in class, especially if you sit right up front of the teacher. I’ve seen two instances within the past 3 weeks or so, where I’m sitting there paying attention and really just starting to understand what the teacher is saying, when suddenly he looks over in a certain direction and inserts into the lecture, “Now unless you’re texting someone who’s texting you about the subject matter, I’d put that away.” It’s embarrassing to be called out in front of everybody like that, isn’t it? Plus when you do that, it’s not conducive to your performing well in the class because you’re obviously not paying attention. 

Folks, let’s try not to text in class, please. If it’s an absolute emergency, then my advice is to take it outside if at all possible. Let’s show our teachers our appreciation by being respectful towards them and not texting, e-mailing or doing other things in class. And try to pay attention as best you can for obvious reasons. As a student, especially one whose mother taught at UA, I know that the people who perform most poorly on tests and quizzes are the people that don’t pay attention and come to class unprepared. I want everybody to do well in their courses, and that’s why I wanted to bring this to everyone’s attention. 

-David Rissling