Noah Williams

Imagine for a moment that you’ve spent at least four to six years of your life becoming an expert in something. Your skill and knowledge has afforded you a job to share your expertise with others, giving them the chance to develop deeper understanding, and grapple with academic challenges.

On top of this, you don’t get paid very well, but that’s ok; you’re a compassionate educator who doesn’t mind giving a little bit more of his or her time and effort to help your students succeed. You make lesson plans, grade papers, give feedback, meet with struggling students, and teach the same material semester after semester.

Now imagine that you’re 10 years deep in your teaching career, and you’re trying so damn hard to make APA citation exciting, and one of your front-row students is very obviously taking a nap in your class.

This is not discrete, under-the-table texting. This is a full-blown, arm-extended, duck-faced, hair-fixing Snapchat conversation with no attempt to conceal it.

You stop speaking and stare in slack-jawed disbelief. The offending Snapper frowns and shakes her head. She deletes the picture and poses again.

Does rage not consume you? Do you not fantasize about swatting the phone from your student’s hands, dashing it to bits on the floor, and then berating her until your face turns purple?

In the ever-loving name of Christ, please, stop blatantly using your phones in class. Just pretend to care about your teachers and classmates a little bit and do it under the table like a normal person. Better yet, just wait until class is over.