Sitting in my women studies class, an odd tranquility filled the room. [Awkward opening sentence. Makes it sounds as though a tranquillity was sitting in the room. Rewrite along these lines maybe: “An odd tranquillity filled my women’s studies classroom.”] Although the day’s topic revolved around sex-change surgeries, there were no obscene noises made by keyboards, no glare from a computer screen logged on to Twitter, and I was not subjected to watching a random YouTube video playing on a screen in front of me. Perfect tranquility for those of us who were trying to learn.
From day one, our professor was very adamant about her non-computer policy — simply, no computers allowed. “The following activities disrupt an educational environment and will not be tolerated: talking, texting, phone calling, giggling, playing Texas HoldEm or other games, im-ing, emailing and surfing (on the web). Should you engage in any of these, you will be asked to leave,” states the class’ syllabus. [Giggling?]
The student paints a scenario:
“I’m only going to take notes,” you might be telling yourself, but let’s paint a scenario. You’re in your chemistry class and your professor is rambling on about something you learned two quarters ago. You are, at the moment, taking notes on your laptop. What to do? Option A: Google something random. Option B: continue to take notes, despite the fact [that] you are falling asleep. Most if not all would choose option A. Although I myself take pride in my note taking abilities, I have been known to wander the path of YouTube occasionally during class. It seems as though human nature takes part in this attempted compensation for boredom. Even with insane multi-tasking abilities, students will more than likely miss a vital part of lecture and end up suffering come grade time.
May 1st, 2010 at 11:34AM
People like to giggle at sensitive topics in women’s studies.
It might be embarrassment, but usually it’ just basic immaturity.
And it’s almost always disruptive and inconsiderate.
May 1st, 2010 at 12:54PM
Cassandra: I thought about that after I posted. You’re right.
May 1st, 2010 at 12:59PM
Can someone define for me “women’s studies”? 🙂 (Yeah, I read Gross and Levitt, but it is not so obvious for academics working outside the US to understand what exactly is meant under that title.)