# Professors/Teachers, why no gum chewing in class? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 22, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975 "2010-02-22T16:03:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![enomaj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@enomaj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enomaj)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/1 "2010-02-22T16:03:53Z")
Any other rules that your students rail against? I once had a prof. who said that if you needed to go to the bathroom during an exam, you flunked that exam. IIRC the first time he mentioned this was at the start of an exam. It seemed kind of extreme to prevent possible cheating. I don’t think I’ve ever had to go to the bathroom during an exam. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/2 "2010-02-22T16:09:40Z")
Gum chewing has historically been prohibited because the gum chewers don’t always dispose of it properly. This is both more work for the custodial staff (scraping it off floors and the undersides of desks) and a health hazard (gum is thoroughly impregnated with saliva). ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/3 "2010-02-22T17:07:09Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Gum chewing has historically been prohibited because the gum chewers don’t always dispose of it properly. This is both more work for the custodial staff (scraping it off floors and the undersides of desks) and a health hazard (gum is thoroughly impregnated with saliva). And because some people chew loudly and the smack smack smack of their loud-ass lips is annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/4 "2010-02-22T17:07:47Z")
Not to mention some people (_raises hand_) do not like hearing “chew chew chew munch POP chew mnch mnch mnch chew munch POP” while trying to take notes. Makes us a bit murderous, [it does](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoCZEmfnE-M). PS: anybody who needs to click on the link to know where it goes to, shame on you! PPS: **Hello** to you too! ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/5 "2010-02-22T17:15:55Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > PS: anybody who needs to click on the link to know where it goes to, shame on you! I thought it was going to be [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV2G8B1e6A4&feature=PlayList&p=7A851F67748D8506&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=48) (about a minute in). ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/6 "2010-02-22T17:45:15Z")
Man…when I was a prof I had few rules. Well, one mainly…don’t be disruptive. Hell, I even allowed softdrinks in the classroom. Didn’t see a reason not to. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/7 "2010-02-22T17:49:47Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Any other rules that your students rail against? > > I once had a prof. who said that if you needed to go to the bathroom during an exam, you flunked that exam. IIRC the first time he mentioned this was at the start of an exam. It seemed kind of extreme to prevent possible cheating. I don’t think I’ve ever had to go to the bathroom during an exam. Could you bring a bucket with you? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/8 "2010-02-22T19:12:57Z")
No eating and drinking is also related to messes: a student spilling a 44 oz Big Gulp all over themselves and their immediate surroundings is a serious disruption no matter how much of an accident it was or how apologetic they are. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/9 "2010-02-22T19:39:11Z")
I am a professor, and I don’t disallow gum chewing. I’m not your mom and I don’t want to have to bother with such minutiae. However, if a student chews gum while he or she is public speaking/doing a presentation, I will take points off. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/10 "2010-02-22T19:40:56Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > Any other rules that your students rail against? > > I once had a prof. who said that if you needed to go to the bathroom during an exam, you flunked that exam. IIRC the first time he mentioned this was at the start of an exam. It seemed kind of extreme to prevent possible cheating. I don’t think I’ve ever had to go to the bathroom during an exam. When I was in college this was the general rule–if you left the classroom during a test for any reason, you flunked the test. That was the rule everywhere. Now that I’m a teacher, I will let students leave during a test if they really appear to be suffering, but they have to leave the test and their phone with me. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/11 "2010-02-22T19:41:17Z")
I don’t care if students eat, drink, or chew gum in class. I do care, however, if they make a big frigging production over it (or over anything, really). Eat a bagel and drink coffee for “breakfast” in my 10 a.m. class? Not a problem. Walk in late with a huge crinkly bag that you make a ton of noise opening and then slurp down coffee? STFU. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/12 "2010-02-22T20:30:33Z")
Wow, are there really college-level professors that make such mundane rules as no gum chewing? If a prof ever told me to get rid of my gum (and it wasn’t during a presentation where it’s obviously an issue), I’d politely tell him/her to buzz off. I’m a paying, adult customer in college, and they’re clearly on a power trip. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/13 "2010-02-22T20:33:08Z")
> [@enomaj](#): > > I once had a prof. who said that if you needed to go to the bathroom during an exam, you flunked that exam. IIRC the first time he mentioned this was at the start of an exam. It seemed kind of extreme to prevent possible cheating. I don’t think I’ve ever had to go to the bathroom during an exam. A teacher once had the no-bathroom rule in my high school, except it was basically for every class (read, Bathroom Nazi). One female student decided to rebel against said rule and brought a change of clothes with her one day, for what I’m sure you can guess the rebellion consisted of. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/14 "2010-02-22T20:52:33Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > Wow, are there really college-level professors that make such mundane rules as no gum chewing? If a prof ever told me to get rid of my gum (and it wasn’t during a presentation where it’s obviously an issue), I’d politely tell him/her to buzz off. I’m a paying, adult customer in college, and they’re clearly on a power trip. My department had rules prohibiting food, drinks and gum in the computer and media labs. The computers had a lot of very expensive software so they were not easy or cheap to replace, and the media labs had tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment. (IIRC, the two labs cost around 100K to equip and set up.) As the graduate assistant in charge of the labs, it was my job to make sure that you had nothing in your mouth or on the table that could fuck up a $2000 computer or a $7500 audio mixer. Believe me, it’s no power trip, but if you told me politely or not to buzz off, you’d find yourself losing your lab privileges very quickly. And, yes, I could make that happen. ---
**Author:** ![GilaB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@GilaB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GilaB)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/15 "2010-02-22T21:26:40Z")
My tenth grade English teacher claimed that it made us all look like cows, and she didn’t want to watch us chewing our cud. She also held odd ideas about what gum-chewing did to your digestive system, and advised us not to do it in general for health reasons. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/16 "2010-02-22T21:30:22Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > Wow, are there really college-level professors that make such mundane rules as no gum chewing? If a prof ever told me to get rid of my gum (and it wasn’t during a presentation where it’s obviously an issue), I’d politely tell him/her to buzz off. I’m a paying, adult customer in college, and they’re clearly on a power trip. Grrr, this “customer” attitude really bugs me. I–but–ugh, don’t get me started. Your money gets you the **privilege** of sitting in my class and the **opportunity** to learn. Education is not a sales transaction. Grrr.:mad: ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/17 "2010-02-22T21:36:59Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > My department had rules prohibiting food, drinks and gum in the computer and media labs. The computers had a lot of very expensive software so they were not easy or cheap to replace, and the media labs had tens of thousands of dollars’ worth of equipment. (IIRC, the two labs cost around 100K to equip and set up.) As the graduate assistant in charge of the labs, it was my job to make sure that you had nothing in your mouth or on the table that could fuck up a $2000 computer or a $7500 audio mixer. Believe me, it’s no power trip, but if you told me politely or not to buzz off, you’d find yourself losing your lab privileges very quickly. And, yes, I could make that happen. Yes that’s different though. For a computer lab it’s pretty obvious why there are no food/drink policies (still a bit strange about the gum since it seems like most college students would be capable of using garbage cans by that point). But in a regular lecture room/hall, prohibiting gum is dumb. Even attempts to prohibit food/drink in lecture halls, at least on my campus, is 100% noneffective. It’s almost like they think college students have the time/willpower to sit and eat a meal before dragging themselves to class. 🙂 > [@kapri](#): > > Grrr, this is what I hate about teaching in a college nowadays–that “customer” attitude. I–but–ugh, don’t get me started. > > Grrr.:mad: Hmm? College students _are_ paying customers. The least you can do is treat them with the same respect you expect and not tell them to spit out their gum like they’re still in grade school. I’m not saying you don’t hold any power or control over the class, but on pointless mundane issues like gum chewing, get over it. ---
**Author:** ![BrandonR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@BrandonR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandonR)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/18 "2010-02-22T21:40:10Z")
> [@kapri](#): > > Your money gets you the **privilege** of sitting in my class and the **opportunity** to learn. Education is not a sales transaction. My, it certainly _does_ sound like it’d be a pleasure to be but a student in your class and have the utter privilege of hearing words pour out your mouth with such humbleness. And uhh, education most certainly is a sales transaction. I have the massive tuition bills to prove it. Sure, education is meant to gain upon one’s knowledge, but sometimes it just boils down to me taking a class that is required (but I’m not interested in) so yes, I am indeed trading money for class credits. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/19 "2010-02-22T21:52:00Z")
> [@BrandonR](#): > > My, it certainly _does_ sound like it’d be a pleasure to be but a student in your class and have the utter privilege of hearing words pour out your mouth with such humbleness. And uhh, education most certainly is a sales transaction. I have the massive tuition bills to prove it. Sure, education is meant to gain upon one’s knowledge, but sometimes it just boils down to me taking a class that is required (but I’m not interested in) so yes, I am indeed trading money for class credits. My feelings about this are shared by all–and I mean **all** –of my colleagues. No, education is not a sales transaction, my friend, and it saddens me that you think that way. ---
**Author:** ![kapri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4491bb/32.png) [@kapri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kapri)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2010, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975/20 "2010-02-22T21:54:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Hmm? College students _are_ paying customers. The least you can do is treat them with the same respect you expect and not tell them to spit out their gum like they’re still in grade school. I’m not saying you don’t hold any power or control over the class, but on pointless mundane issues like gum chewing, get over it. ?? I have never told a student to spit out his or her gum–if you reread my post, you will see that I said that I don’t want to have to deal with such minutiae. And I definitely treat my students with respect. I also have enormous respect for education and it really bothers me to see it reduced, as I said before, to a sales transaction. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/professors-teachers-why-no-gum-chewing-in-class/529975.md?page=2)