The Wired Classroom

It's not as if Calculus isn't hard.....it's complex, difficult, and tough, all wrapped up in an enigma (I know, I stole the metaphor). It takes all of my focus and concentration to take notes, comprehend, and try to stay with the professor. And since this class immediately follows another class held in the far corner of the campus, I hardly have time to get from one to the other before the professor starts in. When I do arrive, the class is very full, and so my arrival just at the start means my choice of seats is whatever is left. Which is usually the seat in the back, at the door. Which is hard enough on my old eyes, as I squint in a vain effort to read the hieroglyphics written in an unintelligible scribble.

But what really makes the class hard is that the poor choice of seating means that I am generally surrounded by either the disaffected or those students who already know everything. Whatever the case, both sets apparently have to stay in constant contact with boyfriend, girlfriend, mom, dad, or whomever. Yes, dear reader, I am constantly surrounded by the "text-messagers" ..... that vile assemblage of folks that cannot not communicate while in class.

Texting only seems to be a problem in those classes where the professors either don't declare a firm no-phone policy or they are part of the subset of teachers who seem to feel that the getting of their giving is not their responsibility, but the student's.....which means that the texters are pretty much free to do their thing. Apparently the consideration of their classmates is not important. Is there a protocol? Is it appropriate to ask the 19 year old next to me to cease and desist so that I can learn?

Input appreciated.