Students need a class in consideration

Deep in concentration, I listened intently to every word the instructor was saying. After all, I had paid a lot of money and gave up a good job to come back to school and was excited about what I was learning.

Suddenly, my concentration was cracked as the whole class turned to look at a woman whose cell phone was playing an insipid tune from inside her backpack. She struggled to get at the obnoxious device as the instructor stopped what he was doing to allow her time to shut it off.

Cell phones and pagers have become a pervasive marker of rude behavior in the classrooms and lecture halls across this campus. But no one can make a valid argument for a cell phone or pager ringing inside a classroom. These ridiculous devices all have shut-off switches. When someone enters a classroom with their cell phone or pager set to ring, they are being inconsiderate of others.

John Caldwell
How I see it

I once had a professor who adamantly stated on the first day of class that he would ask any person whose cell phone or pager rang to leave and not return. Though extreme, this policy considered the other students; many of who did not want to be disturbed by annoying interference.

We are all close together and have all paid money to sit in these classrooms, so we need to be considerate of each other. For me, it is no different than a baby crying in a movie theater.

I am sure that many of the same people whose cell phones are ringing in classrooms would be quick to complain if a mother sat with her screaming infant at a show they paid money to see.

The daily rudeness I experience on campus is not limited to cell phones in classrooms. Every time I walk up the stairs on the east end of the Liberal Arts 1 building, someone coming down nearly crashes into me as they walk on the left while rounding a blind corner. They do not even begin to consider that someone could be coming up the stairs and that people naturally walk to the right. This happens on walkways and staircases all over campus.

I think the university needs to add a new course to the class schedule, one that teaches people the importance of being considerate of others. Being considerate is an important skill out there in the world and is clearly an area in which many students could use some improvement.

John Caldwell is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.