Don’t you just hate annoying professors? You know, the ones that actually think it’s imperative you pay attention and learn something in the class that your parents paid for, or the ones who get angry when you pull your phone out to check your ex’s status or insist you close your laptop when all you are trying to do is make sure you weren’t tagged in any unflattering photos from that wild kegger last weekend?
Now, granted, these types are usually old, senile farts, but you would still expect them to realize the fact that if I, or any of my connected brethren, am deprived of my birth right to social networking for more than 50 minutes, horrendous consequences could ensue.
Think about this: let’s say one of your good friends posts a funny video on his or her wall, but he or she does so while you are in class. If you weren’t allowed to constantly monitor your newsfeed, you might miss the opportunity to be the first to post a witty comment about it.
You would be forced to comment under the seven other people who already used the best material from the video for their humorous statements. This would result in less “likes” for your comment and possibly even label you a bandwagon commenter.
Now do you see the severity?
This is the situation students across the country are met with nearly every day due to the rules enforced at universities regarding social media use in the classroom.
Finally, though, young online socialites have been given an outline to follow in order to deal with these nosey, unapologetic educators.
A young woman at Valdosta State University in Georgia said an assistant professor in her mass media class closed her laptop on her pinky finger after he saw she was using “non-class related websites” during his lecture. The student then argued with the professor, claiming she was, in fact, not surfing these said websites.
The argument was enough for the professor to release class early; he was seemingly distraught by the event.
The female student then went to the VSU police department and reported an assault by a faculty member.
The professor, Frank J. Rybicki, was promptly arrested and charged with battery.
I feel I must mention, though I see it as irrelevant, that Rybicki is said to have told the 22-year-old student throughout the semester that non-class related websites were off limits during his lecture and, apparently, the student repeatedly ignored his warnings.
The professor, who is now out on bail, has since been suspended and the possibility he will ever teach again, according to the campus newspaper, is very slim.
Here is what Josias Valdez, a student of Rybicki’s, had to say about the situation: “The school should stand behind [Dr. Rybicki]. It’s a disgrace that we’ll lose a great teacher that I don’t think we should lose.”
Nerd alert! Maybe Rybicki should have realized students have priorities and at the top of that list is being socially connected — not learning about mass media.
So there you go.
Thanks to some hurt pride and a closed laptop, this young lady has single handedly destroyed the career of one of the many professors who seems to miss the importance of being connected every second.
Rybicki obviously deserved this fate, right? I mean of all people, you would assume a mass media professor would get it.
This should be a warning to overly zealous teachers everywhere. Be weary: to stand between a student and his or her social media is nothing less than suicide.
So do your job and stay at the front of the class and lecture. It doesn’t matter if you are being ignored. They will listen to you, eventually. It will just be after they change their profile pictures, update their Twitter accounts and Facebook stalk the guy in front of them.
I know you may want to get to know your students in the classroom, professors, but you will get that opportunity at the end of the semester when they come to you, baffled by their low grades. Be patient.
Micah Green is a junior majoring in communication. He can be contacted at [email protected].