Underoos??
And I’m on the side of saying it’s rude to knit, eat, sew, or do things that have nothing to do with the class. Both to the prof, other students, and yourself - pay attention! I see that sometimes you have to eat, but hell no you shouldn’t be planning on eating every single day in class. There’s a time and place for things.
And before everyone jumps on me, yup, I have been a student and had a full-time job. Haven’t most of us?
I teach Computer Science classes at a small private university, but I also taught French classes at a large public university for ten years.
Eating was not allowed in my classes when I was teaching French–even in the evening classes. You can’t participate in the class when your mouth is full of food. Surreptitious sips of soda were okay, as long as the can was more or less out of sight. Gum was absolutely not acceptable, considering I expected students to talk during class, sometimes on the spur of the moment. I made all of these rules clear in my syllabus, so those who bothered to attend class the first day/night were informed early enough that they could change sections if it bothered them.
Eating is not allowed in my classes now that I teach computer science classes. This is actually a school policy that applies to all classes–no eating or drinking in carpeted areas of the building (and only the cafeteria isn’t carpeted). However, I enforce it pretty strictly in my classes. No one wants to use a keyboard that is covered with someone else’s potato chip grease, and soda can completely waste a keyboard, if not the computer itself. It really irks students when I tell them they have to throw out their coffee or soda, or be counted absent for the day, but the rule is the rule. If the student chooses to register for four or five straight hours of class with no lunch break, that is their choice, but I don’t have to “accommodate” the choice, either. We do give evening students a 25-minute dinner break, during which time they can go to the cafeteria and eat.
In addition, I was brought up with (and still believe in) the rule that you should not eat in front of other people unless you are in a situation where eating is expected. That’s what the cafeteria is for. Classrooms are not, and were never meant to be, dining rooms.
When I was teaching, I found students sometimes got distracted by their dinners. Whether you’re picking the onions off your cheeseburger or trying to tear open a catsup packet, your attention is divided and your education will suffer. I found that students who were busy eating their dinners in class asked me to repeat myself much more often than those who were paying full attention.
Having said that, the school police was no eating in the classrooms however I never enforced it I taught an evening class (6:30-10:30) and I knew it was a major effort for many of the students to get from their full time jobs to the school by 6:30pm. Growling stomachs might be just as disruptive to the learning environment as crinkling potato chip bags.
Heh. There were no school police. There was a school policy.
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Your right we’re entitled. My classes in college cost $50.00 a session. Your just lucky we arn’t asking the professors to teach nude and serve cocktails during the breaks. Unlike previous generations, we pretty much have to go to college if we want to rise above Burger King. And unlike previous generations, we spend more money that the average American sees in a year to do it. And if you don’t think school is a commercial venture…well, think again. My school required full tuition to be paid to get credit for year-long independent study “courses” abroad (with none of the legwork done by the school.) We’re trading money for degrees. We ought to at least be able to drink a bloody soda if we want to.
I only had a couple teacher forbid eating in the classroom- most of them were in classrooms with special equipment. We all respected that. In most classes, nobody would think twice about eating from a bag of chips or sipping a soda. In classes where we watched movies (I was a film major) and in long classes at mealtimes, most of the student bought a burrito or something during the break to eat during class. Elaborate meals or really smelly food (like popcorn or Chinese food) were rare and frowned upon.
In high school, about 50% of my teachers allowed eating in the classroom.
Let me just say that my program makes my schedule this way. These two classes are back to back on Thursday night, and that’s how it is. I did not choose to have my classes at this time.
For those claiming it’s “distracting”, what the hell do you do when you’re at work, surrounded by people going about their business, making noise (including eating at their desks)?
Learn to deal with it.
I’ll answer these. I graduated from the same school astro did, UMCP '94. I don’t remember any rule saying we couldn’t eat in class, but I certainly never saw anyone do it and I would have thought it was pretty rude if I had.
I worked while in school. I was a full-time student and took both day and evening classes. I certainly had plenty of days that were packed with breaks few and far between (and very short). I took advantage of an ingenious invention called the granola bar and ate the thing while walking (or driving). If I was still hungry when I got home at night, I ate something then.
If I had had a professor who used my classroom time that I was paying for to munch on a cheeseburger, I would have been severly pissed at his lack of respect for my education.
I wouldn’t eat in any of my classes so far. However, I do think that students should be allowed to have water bottles.
Because you’re not paying attention. Knitting in class is even worse than eating, because there’s no physical reason why you’d have to knit. So it’s like you’re basically saying “This class is so beneath me, I can knit while I’m in it! Look at me and my awesome hobby.” It’s way worse than eating, really.
I still don’t know why people can’t bring in liquid dinners. There are soups you can suck through a straw; why not have one of those? (I was never in a class that prohibited drinks, and I don’t find them disrespectful. Most of my professors had a cup of coffee up at their podium.)
I’ve seen people eat in class before, but it was limited to candy/granola bars and drinks (coffee, soda, water, whatever). I’ve never seen/been in a situation where the eating/drinking was disruptive enough to bother the other students or evoke a response from the professor. Even candy bars were rare.
I’ve been on pretty tight schedules - one semester I had classes from 10:30 to 5:00 (Mon and Wed) with no free time in-between, other than a few 10 or 15 minute breaks. Then I had tutoring at 6:00 in a neighborhood almost an hour away from school. I still never ate in class. I’d munch on multiple snacks in-between classes instead. I tried not to eat in class if at all possible - it just felt weird to me.
Having said that, I never felt bothered by other people eating in class, as long as it wasn’t noisy or smelly. (Someone else mentioned this as well, but I was more annoyed by the sound of people taking notes on their laptops.)
Wow. Some people are grouchy.
Basicly at my college eating was fine, unless the prof stated otherwise. You’d see bagels and chips and Starbucks cups, but I’ve never seen a full on fast food meal. Eating those takes concentration, time, and space. Then again I went to one of those fancy-pants 4-year private universities. Didn’t know that hard work and caring, sacrificing parents made me “entitled.”
There are signs in most rooms and lecture theatres forbidden food and drink being brought in, so no, we aren’t allowed to. But then, I am in Australia, it’s obviously different here.
My uni has no policy on food in class, and some profs really don’t care. But few people eat, and those who do stick to bagels, muffins, granola bars, that sort of thing. Most of us do bring drinks to class, though.
That said, there are things I find worse distractions that eating. People typing on laptops, text-messaging their friends in other classes, playing with other gadgets, knitting – all of these are worse distractions than eating. If you’re so desperate to have something to do with your hands while you’re in class, doodle in your notebook or something. But don’t subject other people to your compulsions.
Robin
It’s all part of the new “student as customer” attitude at universities. Student satisfaction is considered important. More students wil complain if they can’t eat than will complain if their neighbor eats, so: cheeseburgers and fries in the classroom.
I’ve had students answer cell phone calls in class, then leave the classroom to continue the conversation.
Mine went off in class yesterday. Usually, I keep it on “vibrate”, but I forgot to do so yesterday. I checked the caller ID, saw who it was, and sent the call to voice mail. To answer it was unnecessary and rude; I knew what the caller wanted and didn’t need to deal with it just then.
Robin
Judging by this thread, apparently some college students and professors are very distractable. On the flip side, I’m not sure why the students who are okay with eating are even trying to justify it - that seems totally futile.
I don’t know anyone who failed a class because they ate during it - so I don’t get the “stop eating and pay attention” thing. I don’t know anyone who went to class with a four-course spread. Maybe some didn’t pay attention, but we’re talking about people bringing a sandwich or a bag of chips. You can do that and take notes without a problem. You can also fail to pay attention without food. The things are not especially related.
In most of the college courses I remember, the professors were okay with eating. I even had a few high school teachers who allowed eating. They understood that some of us spoiled, entitled brats were giving up our lunch periods to take another class, and responded with accomodation instead of contempt. Granted that high school isn’t college, but I never encountered anyone who thought this even approached a big deal on either level. I also don’t understand the disdain here, especially for people who are making the effort to work and continue their educations.
The disdain is for people being inconsiderate to others. Munching chips in your neighbors ear is rude. The fact that you’re in a class doesn’t make it polite.
Beyond the garbage and spill potential, another factor is how long you spend at it. Most people can decimate a sandwich or burger in six to eight bites; it’s over almost before anyone notices. But there were two times I wanted to strangle a fellow student for eating in class. One was eating pork rinds, the other was eating fries. Pork rinds are probably the crunchiest snack food on earth, so enough said. And the fry guy…! They were in a paper bag, and every sixty seconds or so, he would probe with his fingers into the bag, crackle crackle crackle, slowly snake out a fry or two, then nibble it daintily, then reach into the bag again, scrape the fry against the bag as he withdrew it…If you’re gonna eat, EAT and get it over with.
(And no, I wasn’t jonesing for his fries. A, I’d already eaten, and B, the fries from that particular establishment were horrible. Perhaps that’s why he wasn’t eating them with great relish.)