I just read an article in Newsweek about professors demanding "kill switches" in their classrooms to cut the WiFi that students surf on all class long, and it ended with a teacher opposing the argument saying if students don't pay attention its because you're boring.
Its just the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
(Maybe not ever, but defiantly today)
Students will alway zone out. Its inevitable. Not all students, but I promise that in every class there is at least one. I don't care how interesting you are, professor, but I am going to get a little sick of you after ten hours of lecture a week for a whole quarter.
Control the WiFi, go ahead. Then watch the newspapers and Sudokus and cell phones come out. The problem is not with the availability of distractions, its with the students! I think our generation is whiny. Yes, I have boring professors. Who doesn't? I think class is stupid and "doesn't matter in real life" just as much as you do, but I pay at least a little attention because its my job. Students (and now universities) are just making excuses as to why we can't buckle down for 2 hours and listen, when the real reason is we are just lazy. Its hard work to take notes for so long and to listen. There are days when I just can't concentrate, and I read or doodle for most of class, but I know thats my fault.
I feel like this is slowly becoming a common theme in everything, America. Blame something else, anything else, for your shortcomings.
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