Cell phones and school don’t mix well.
There aren’t many teachers out there who will allow students to use or even have their phones in class. Even college professors don’t want to be interrupted by calls and texts during class.
Still, many students just can’t put their phones down and they are willing to get in trouble and even struggle with classwork if it means they can communicate with the outside world. Some teachers are able to catch students in the act. Others are able to sneak around and use their phones without being caught.
Most teachers have rules about cell phone usage and consequences for breaking those rules.
A professor at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, thought he had figured out how to keep his students from using their phones in his class. His rule was simple. If a student answered a cell phone in class, they had to put the call on speaker, so everyone could hear it.
Most people aren’t willing to let an entire group of classmates and their teacher hear their conversations. It would make sense to just wait to take the call after class. When you are a college student, sometimes your social life seems more important than your education, so not everyone was happy about this rule.
One day, a student received a phone call that just couldn’t be ignored.
The professor hears her phone ringing and tells her to answer and put it on speaker. She does as he requests, and the person on the other line begins to talk.
He says:
“Hi, this is Kevin from the Pregnancy Resource Center. Per your request, I’m calling to inform you that the test results have come back positive. Congratulations.”
The student acts embarrassed and the professor is immediately sorry that he asked her to answer and put it on speaker. But the phone call isn’t over. The man goes on to reveal more private information about the student, saying:
“There is no need to worry. I know you told us that the father is no longer in the picture, but we will be in contact with you throughout this whole process. So, don’t worry about anything. We provide counseling and maternity services at no extra charge.”
The professor can’t believe what he is hearing.
He tells the student that she may be better off taking the call later. He apologizes for making her take such an important call in front of the class. She hangs up the phone and takes a second to explain herself.
She says that she has already accepted her pregnancy and even has a name for the baby. She explains:
“Her first name is April and her middle name is Fools.”
It takes a second for this to sink in, but once the professor realizes what she has said, he starts to laugh. Then, the entire class erupts in laughter, as well. It appears that the phone call wasn’t real at all. It was just a fun way for the students to show their professor that his cell phone policy wasn’t as great as he thought it was.
Hopefully, he comes up with a new policy.
It’s only a matter of time before something like this happens and it isn’t a joke. Surely, someone in class will get a serious call one day that they don’t want to share with the class.
Maybe he will think twice before he has a student answer the phone in class again. It’s probably better to just collect phones before class starts and pass them back out after it’s over. Nobody likes to have their class interrupted by a phone call, but nobody wants to be embarrassed in class, either.
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