Is This the New Cellphone Norm?

NO this is not the norm.
That is called "unprofessional" and lazy.
Not to mention, rude.

Why don't you complain about it to the Admin?
You can do it anonymously.

NO -I would be angry and complain to the department chair. You've paid money for that class time and there is NO reason unless some family emergency is going on for the professor for he/she to be texting and taking calls that interrupt class! It's not okay, and it's extremely unprofessional!

Many, many feel the need to be plugged in at all times. But the prof? Ridiculous. That needs to be brought to SOMEONE's attention. You're paying for the prof's time.

How rude that the professor takes phone calls during a lecture. Personally, I would complain to the administration. You are paying for an education, not to sit and listen to some jerk professor talk on his cell phone.

As for the students, I think it's disruptive to the entire class to have people coming and going all the time.

I would definitely mention to the administration because if I were in that class and someone were to ask me how my experience at that school was, that would be the first thing that popped into my head. Not a good recommendation if you ask me. So the administration might be interested to know.

Wow, I work at a university in CA and I can tell you that this would never fly here! Unbelievable -- and rude and distracting! I'd complain to the chair or dean of the department or school immediately. Ridiculous.

Heck no! Our daughter is a Senior in College and absolutely no cell phones.. She even told us, some of the professors have even asked that they take notes by hand and not of their laptops..

Where the heck do you go to college. I just graduated two years ago and never saw cell phone use in the classroom. My daughter graduates in two months, same thing, no cell phones.

I would think it is just your school because I think my professors would fire themselves if they did something that unprofessional!

Nope, not the norm. I graduated in 2010 (M.A). I've had professors shut their phone off if they got a call, but never answer, never text. Students, on the other hand, do sometimes text, but they were mostly discreet about it. If anyone's phone actually rang (not on vibrate), some dirty looks would definitely be flying around.

I did have a 4th grade teacher that would eat a honey bun in front of class during lessons, then teach with her chewing mouth full. It was awful! A lot of people complained, and she was eventually reprimanded. Maybe you should go to the admin?

No, not the norm, some people are just rude :(
Since you say this is your 4th professor doing this I would complain to the administration or head of the department, there's clearly a lack of quality among the faculty. I mean, you are paying for an education and taking calls during a lecture is incredibly unprofessional!
I hope you aren't at San Jose State? That's my husband's alma mater (sp?)

I would be furious. You pay good money for the profs time and attention. On the other hand, most profs in big schools dont even show up to class, they send a T.A.! That's another annoyance.
Hell NO! It's not normal. It's unaccetpable.

My children are both in college and all of their professors require that cell phones be put away and shut off. No calls, no texts, rules apply for both students and professors. You are not old fashioned!

I teach college, and this is not the norm (at least where I work) Most professors have policies that students have to turn off their phones. The ONLY exception is if there is a family member hospitalized or something of that nature, and in those cases, the professor should tell the students at the beginning of class that they might have to take an emergency phone call (or a student could do the same if they need to leave their phone on).

Honestly, if I were you I would complain (perhaps anonymously?) directly to the professor, if that doesn't work, let the administration know. You are paying for that time...you should not have to listen to their personal business.

This is NOT the norm! I just finished graduate school and oooooooh, if your cell phone went off, be prepared for public humiliation! Most of my professors announced at the beginning of class that "it is now time to turn your cell phones off".

I agree with the posts that say complain about it. You are paying serious money for this class and you have a right to a professor who actually teaching!

No. You are not old fashioned already. Let us know what you decide to do!

you should make an anonymous complaint higher up the food chain. those classes are expensive, u deserve his full attention.

NO you are not old fashioned.

UGH.

wth is wrong with these people.

is this a prof that takes attendance and gives people a hard time if they miss a class? because YOU are PAYING for that class. it's not mandatory that you go to it. there is no truant officer for college classes. that used to always bug me. and then to hear stuff like this...i would talk to his boss. whoever that is. you are paying for a service. you're getting crappy service.

That is not ok! I have a rule that cell phones are not to be visible during class, which includes mine. I can't have a rule for the students that I don't follow myself. On the rare occasion that one goes off, I just stop talking until the student turns if off. Most of the time I only have to do this once, no one wants the teacher staring at them while their phone plays Beyonce. I would include this unprofessional behavior when you fill out the course evaluations at the end of the semester, that is not normal and I'm sure her superiors would be interested to know about it.

I can not believe this is considered acceptable. I have been out of the "professional" working environment for a while now, but a personal call should be taken in a more personal setting.

I would be ticked. If the prof is working, the prof is working. Put the phone down. It's really rude, both for the student and the prof.If the prof takes calls during your time, that's taking from the time YOU PAY FOR. I'd report it even if it means you can no longer "step out" and take a call.

Just the other week someone did not turn off their very loud phone in church. Let it ring about 5 times before presumably voice mail kicked in. I was floored.

I don't care if I'm the last one standing on the "norm". It's rude and people shouldn't do it. Not the doctor in the exam room (our office requests that the patient or parent of the patient stay off the phone so they can understand the diagnosis), or the professor in class. I think the students should turn it off and not even step out. When I took some extra classes for work, I put my phone on vibrate only because I had a kid home with a sitter. But it was on vibrate and anybody who mattered knew I was in class.

My SS will "discreetly" text under the table at dinner. IT IS NOT DISCREET! Even if it's not in front of your face, it's still noticeable.

No way is this okay! I am in college and every professor I've had does not allow cell phone usage during class. Some classes allow cell phones to stay on vibrate during class but only for emergency purposes. Like someone else said some of the professors have banned laptops because people used it to access Facebook and the like instead of using it to take notes (really sucks for the rest of us who used laptops to actually take notes). I did have one professor last year that got a text during class and he left the room to answer it- but it was a family emeregency he had to respond to- and he left the room to take care of it.
If I were you I'd talk to the department heads or the administration. You are not paying a lot of money and time to watch someone chat/ text on their phone.

I think it depends on where you are attending.

No for the professor...but when I went we were all professionals and many of us would receive calls and leave the room to take them. (phones were allowed if on vibrate). But as for answering in the room no way.

Nope, in my classes, we are not allowed to use our phone. It has to be on silent. There is no way, unless there is a med emergency that the teacher should take calls.

As rude as it is to you and to me, I think this is the new normal. And I hate it! I took my baby to a well child doctor's appointment and the ped took a call while examining my child. He said "it was the hospital," but from the way he was talking, I could clearly tell it was not! It also seems to be the new normal for people to text, answer calls, play games on their phones while engaging conversation with others. Just today, I was talking to my mother who is visiting from out of town when my house phone rang. I told her I didn't want to answer it because I wanted to continue talking to her. It went to the answering machine, no big deal. Well, the person turned out to be my uncle (my mother's brother) and he in turn called my mother's cell phone. What did she do? She took the call and handed the phone to me because he wanted to talk to me when I JUST TOLD HER I DIDN'T WANT TO TALK TO ANYONE. My sister plays some word game on her cell phone when she is in my house talking to me in person. It's rude and annoying and I don't understand why folks don't speak up about this more so that more people know it's rude. So, no, you are not old fashioned. If it were me, I'd complain to the administration at the school.

Added: And yeah, I hate call waiting too. I never ever use it even though I have it on my phones. I hate, and I mean hate it when someone who does have call waiting interrupts me mid-sentence to "take this call." RUDE. I would never do that, not ever.

Both of my kids are in college and this is NOT the norm. I get fussed at if I call during their class time. Their phones are required to be off or on vibrate.

Bottomline is you are not paying him to talk on the phone. You are paying him to teach. I would complain to the Dept. Head or someone in the administration. College is too expensive for this nonsense!!!

If you are old fashioned, so am I. Especially in this day of voice mail, I just don't get it. It is not only rude but seems a waste of time and poor time management to let calls dictate how you spend your time. Then you risk forgetting what you're doing and have to use time to get back on track with the task you were on prior to picking up the phone.

I am NEVER a slave to the phone in that I will not answer it if I'm talking to someone else in person or on the phone. This includes call waiting, I let it go to voicemail unless it's the school because they call if your child is sick and needs picking up, but that is VERY rare. IF I'm expecting a call that I can't miss and someone calls or comes over, I let them know I might need to get a call if it's that specific person/business/Doctor. Again, rare, probably happened 2-3 times that I can remember.

My conservative habits may have been ingrained in me at a very young age. We lived in a very small town, outside of the town actually and had a "party" line. Not like the ones today ;-). It means 2-3 houses share the same phone line. My Mom NEVER talked on the phone. Plus it was expensive then. Times have changed and I may be old fashioned but as I said, I don't even see a practical reason.

ugh! how distracting! i would never answer a call in the middle of class!. i think its rude. if its an emergency then its different

Not the norm up here.

Wow.

I will say it has been four years since I was in graduate school, and nearly seven years since I finished my undergrad, so I guess the times move fast. While I was never at risk for being kicked out of class if my cell rang (most of my professors understood that accidents happen, as long as you turned it off right away), I never saw a professor even check their phone during class. Yikes.

Report him. It's one thing if YOU leave the room since you are paying, but another if HE's talking, unless there is a family emergency or something like that.

Well, considering when I was in college cell phones were "car phones" and weighed about as much as a phone book... Now, when I was in grad school (much more recently), students did take their phone calls outside sometimes, but I think I maybe saw a prof do it once? And if I recall correctly, he may have told us at the beginning of class that he was expecting an urgent call. I am wondering how old your professors are?!!

Yikes. I've heard of it but never experienced it myself (at UCSD, SJSU or UCSC). I hope your prof isn't my cousin because I know she does that. What college are you at? Not the norm and should never be.

I would report him. You are paying him for that time and he is not respecting you or the rest of the class and more important not doing what he is paid to do. I had a professor actually take out finger nail clippers and trim her nails while lecturing (very gross), but she still did her job.

There will always be exceptions to this (e.g His wife is about to have a baby or he is a defense attorney).

I can somewhat understand the temptation to look at a text, but to actually take a phone call is not appropriate.