Pay phones have become obsolete on GW’s campus.
Why bother carrying the 35 cents to make a phone call when you can carry a cellular phone and ditch the change?
However, pay phones or the 35 cents needed to use them never interrupted a class.
I think it’s incredibly disruptive when cell phones ring in class, senior Tina Vetticad said. I mean, if you’re going to come to class, you probably weren’t planning on having a conversation on the phone anyway. At least turn it off.
For junior Erica Spector, turning off the phone is part of the problem. She isn’t sure how to do it.
I call it the ghetto phone because I can never get it turned off, Spector said. I’m not really sure how to work it. Occasionally, I forget to turn it off too.
Spector’s phone has rung during two of her classes. During her summer class that had only 12 students, she said she was incredibly embarrassed when the phone started to make noise. When it rang earlier this year in class, it wasn’t as bad – the phone of a boy sitting a few seats away already had gone off twice during the class.
I think the teacher just thought it was his phone again, so he didn’t say anything, Spector said.
Though the professor in Spector’s class did not remark on the disruption, other professors have confronted the problem. Senior James Connoly said a professor in one of his classes answered a student’s phone when it rang and had an entire conversation with the person who called.
During one of my classes this semester, a student’s cell phone began to ring, philosophy Professor Andrew Altman wrote in an e-mail. I looked at the student with a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding-me look and said something like `Puh-lease turn that damn thing off.’ I think he got the message. The incident has not been repeated.
Dr. John M. Hanchar, who teaches environmental geology, included a section in his syllabus that asks students to turn off cell phones. He said his approach must have worked because he has not had any cell phone interruptions this semester.
For many students, cell phones continue to ring during class, and they continue to create problems.
It interrupts the professors, and they stop talking, junior Allison Pictroski said. Then everyone else in the class starts talking and things kind of get out of control. It’s also pretty awkward.
What could be so important that you need to interrupt 30 other people and the teacher? junior Megan Williams said.
For some GW students, a cell phone is for more than gabbing with friends. Internships or jobs occasionally require students to carry a cell phone.
I’ve known students who have pretty important jobs, senior Phil Rice said. They need to remain in contact with their co-workers and bosses so their offices can run efficiently. However, I have also seen rich snotty people with cell phones, who just talk and gossip with their friends or decide who’s going to buy beer that night. It’s a way for students to call attention to themselves and convince people they are important.
Yet, while the problem irks many students and professors, little is being done to solve the problem. Some students admit they’re getting used to hearing phones ring during class.
A year ago I thought it was completely pompous, but now they’re so prevalent, said senior Karen Meshkov, who has a cell phone but turns it off when she goes to class because she does not want it to ring. They’re pretty much ubiquitous.
