UTAH TECH UNIVERSITY'S STUDENT NEWS SOURCE | March 28, 2024

Pet peeves distract students, faculty in classrooms

Share This:

Clicking Pens. Whispering. Revealing the messy details of a divorce.

These are just a few things driving Dixie State College students crazy in class.

The most common pet peeve on campus is the one student in class who feels he or she has to tell others about his or her personal life.

Kelsie Watters, a junior communication major from Santa Clara, said: “Students, keep it on a need–to-know basis. TMI.”

She said there is one student who seems to have no filter when it comes to sharing private parts of his life.

“I know about his dysfunctional children, his failed marriage, and his medical problems,” Watters said.

She is not the only one who feels this way.

Calee Drew, a junior English major from Las Vegas, said: “It’s freakin’ ridiculous. They take up the whole class time, and we don’t learn anything.”

While students have addressed this as a problem in the classroom, some professors don’t see it as a concern.

Jordon Sharp, director of student involvement and leadership, said: “Those students don’t bother me. I feel like I can maintain them.”

Other pet peeves among students include classmates playing loud music, walking in late and smacking their gum.

“I hate it when people pop their gum in class, especially when I am taking a test,” said Madison Hauver, a freshman business major from Overton, Nev.

Students are not the only ones who have pet peeves in the classroom. Professors spend their days teaching hundreds of students all semester.

“My biggest pet peeve is the cellphone, not only in the classroom but all the time,” Sharp said. “It’s an epidemic.”

Each year, the student government and advisers go to lunch and get to know each other, but Sharp said this year most of the students were distracted by their cellphones, and it seemed like they didn’t care.

He also gets annoyed when students talk to their neighbors while he’s lecturing, yet he understands the temptation to talk.

“I am in a class full of communication majors,” Sharp said. “Talking is going to happen.”

The occasional chatter is OK, but the ongoing conversations that happen can be a distraction to students and professors.

Next time you’re in class, try to restrain from telling your classmates about personal details, and keep cellphones in your pockets. You never know if it could be someone’s pet peeve.

Written for Dixie Sun News by Julia Bell