Doesn't anyone raise their hand anymore?

[HeartsOpenWide]

I got a pet peeves. NOBODY raises their hand in college! I raise my hand while the teacher is answering questions and people just continue to blurt them out....I sit in the front so it is not like they can not see me, but people just blurt out questions as soon as the teacher answers the previous one, before the teacher can even tell me to "Go ahead" because he See's my hand is raised. It like this in all my classes. It really bugged me last semester in Anatomy, but people in my history class do it too. They interrupt and blurt out so much that the teacher can not even get to my raised hand and says that we have to move on. I end up having to stay after class so I can get my questions answered. UGH!:angryfire Does this happen to any one else? And if you do this...shut up, be polite and raise your hand!:trout:

[Beary-nice]

Agree with many others that hand-raising is passe. Some of the professors that I have had specifically say if they want you to raise your hand and I even had one that said "When I am talking, you will not." "When someone else is asking a question, you are not." Most generally, my experience is that it is a free for all...speak up or get left behind. :smiley_ab

[hangnon]

I agree. Speak up! We are adults. As long as you are polite and don't interrupt your instructor or another student mid-sentence I don't see a problem with it.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

The root of the problem is the instructor, not the students. The instructors are the ones who have the authority to control what goes on in the class. The blame really needs to go to them. If the instructor doesn't have the guts to enforce or lay down rules of etiquette for the class then, as you've seen, you're stuck.

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

I only had one instructor in college that asked us to please raise our hands when we wanted to say something. This was in a very large class (150-ish students) in an auditorium, and she wanted to make sure everyone was heard.

But yeah, for the most part, you don't raise your hand in college. Just like you don't ask to go to the bathroom either, unless you're in the middle of an exam or something like that.

It was hard for some of my classmates to deal with this freedom. Some of them didn't like just speaking up without permission. Others were the other way - they ditched class a lot or left halfway through, because they loved the simple fact that you don't need a note from your mommy if you're going to miss class.

My husband's school is a bit more strict. While he doesn't have to raise his hand when he speaks, he does have to swipe in and out of class with his ID card, and he has to email the instructor in advance if he's going to miss a class. But he takes a lot of accelerrated courses where the class itself might only be 8 Saturdays long, so even missing one day is pretty serious.

[marilynmom, LPN, NP]

Yes this is college, not high school or grade school, and I don't consider "blurting out" an answer or question to be rude in the *least* bit. I don't ask to go to the bathroom, don't ask to leave early, etc.

You need to not worry about things and just speak up and make yourself heard!

[belabelisa]

I don't think this is a new phenomenon. It probably goes back to Socrates. Somehow, I don't see Plato raising his hand before asking a question (I know... it was a much smaller class). Personally, I like it this way. People don't raise their hands to talk in business meetings for the same reason they don't raise their hands in class. We are adults and we have the right to make our voices heard without asking permission first. Our program REALLY emphasizes that nurses should have autonomy, independence, and be outspoken and assertive. If we sit in class like children listening to our professor lecture and feel like we have to ask for permission to speak, how will we interact with our employers and coworkers when we get out of school? Don't get me wrong, I am all about being respectful, but I just don't think that an adult should have to gain permission before he or she speaks.

By the way, I've even had a professor who would specifially ask students not to raise their hands. He said that we are adults and he encouraged free exchange in class.