The adults out there: Have you gone back to school to take a class in the recent past? Talk about changes! In the old days, if you squirmed even a little bit in your seat, the teacher would stop the class, single you out, and ask, “Do you have something to share with the class??”
Or worse, being sent to the chalkboard like I had to, and writing a hundred times, “I will not squirm in my seat while Mrs. Spector is speaking.”
Happened to me twice. You’d have thought I learned my lesson the first time after my hand spazzed out and curled up into a lobster claw from all that scribbling. Then, as additional punishment, to write it twenty more times because of illegible handwriting. A twofer for Spector.
I’d like to see Spector deal with the students of today, such as the ones I was surrounded by when I went to a local college for some continuing education classes. Coffee consumption, cell phones clicking, iPads clacking…Spector would’ve needed twenty chalkboards to punish the offenders. That is, if she didn’t blow a gasket and need to be carried out on a stretcher from the stress of all the students’ squirming.
I can relate to Spector now in a way I never thought possible. Indeed, it is distracting when others aren’t paying attention to what’s being taught. Instead, they’re either consumed by caffeine, or concentrating on how many friends they’ve garnered on Facebook, and/or stressing over why those 5000 friends haven’t responded to the 55th photo posted in the past week.
Or, typing away on the iPad, answering emails, and forwarding invites to Friday night’s comrades for the latest online war game party.
Do I sound old and out of touch? Hopefully not too much. Even though I can cut Spector some slack at this point in time, I’m a bit envious I didn’t have these distractions as a kid during the more boring classes I had to squirm through.
While we were a bit immature in our ways and means, we had to come up with clever ways to distract one another. Or better yet, to crack up a fellow student and have the giggler sent to the chalkboard to write a hundred times, “I will not laugh in Mrs. Spector’s class.” That usually wiped the smile off the offender’s face in a flash.
But no laughs in the classes of today. Instead, everyone is so absorbed in their devices and drinks of choice, that there are no personalities in the classrooms…other than the teacher or professor who is basically the only one speaking.
Funny, but I never thought I’d side with the teachers. I guess that’s what happens when you…ahem…“mature.”