Some professors threaten to confiscate students' cell phones if they go off during class. Laurence Thomas has his own approach to classroom distractions. If the philosopher at Syracuse University catches a student sending text messages or reading a newspaper in class, he'll end the class on the spot and walk out. It doesn't matter if there is but one texter in a large lecture of hundreds of students. If you text, he will leave.

W.W.S.D.? (What would Socrates do?)

I find myself sometimes treating a class as though it were a single agent, an individual learner who is ether getting it or not, engaged or not, attentive or not. Of course, what I'm doing is informally sampling the class. "The class" is doing well if enough are doing well, attending, learning. It's a nice heuristic, allowing me to move forward or attend to a problem as my informal measure dictates. It means, however, that I sometimes ignore individual achievement and particular problems. I need to use the heuristic carefully. I try to balance its use with specific attention to individuals who are especially quiet or who are not doing well. I try to call on individuals by name or look into the eyes of students who aren't active discussants.

Rarely have I punished a class on the basis of a single student's behavior. When a student was disruptive, I've occasionally ended class early. First, it's is sometimes impossible to make progress; second, the attention placed on the disruptive students can be a form of punishment; and third, the class can sometimes punish better than I can. On one occasion I made a few copies of a paper available for all to read (taking turns over a few weeks). When all of the copies failed to be returned (affecting members of the class who couldn't read the article in time for class), I punished the entire class. I didn't know who the culprit was, but the individuals did eventually return the paper.

Punishing the group for the behavior of individuals sometimes works to control behavior, but we're forced to violate our sense of fairness in the process. Larry Thomas values respect (for himself at least) over fairness in this incident. Indeed, he has very specific demands on how one shows respect--don't text while I'm talking. (He probably has other expectations, but they aren't revealed in this story.) I'd be curious to learn more of his pedagogical style. Does he make each person in a class of 400 feel like an individual learner? An autonomous agent who is both expected to deliver respect as well as receive respect from others. What does he do to show respect to each of these students as individuals in a classroom? And might they all walk out if he fails to show proper respect to even one of them?

Respect is a two-way street. I'd like to know more about how Larry handles that.

If You Text in Class, This Prof Will Leave :: Inside Higher Ed

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