62% of students surveyed agree they should be allowed to text in class
Sending and receiving text messages while in class is rampant, according to a recent paper by researchers from Wilkes University. Of the 269 Wilkes students who participated in the study, nine out of 10 admitted to sending or receiving a text while in class, while 10 per cent admitted to texting during exams and three per cent said they had used their phones to cheat. In total 62 per cent said that they should be permitted to text in class.
One of the researchers, psychology professor Deborah Tindell, has put a no-cell phone policy in place as a result of her findings. Students who violate the policy during a test will receive a grade of zero.
Another professor, Laurence Thomas, who teaches philosophy at Syracuse University made headlines after he “walked out on his class of nearly 400 students last week when he caught a couple of students fiddling with their phones instead of paying attention to him,” the Canadian Press reported.
Similarly, two Ryerson University professors raised a few eyebrows after campus paper, the Eyeopener, publicized their threat to walk out on their unruly first-year students.