Abstract
Thousands of times during any school day at any university students walk into a classroom, armed with a computer, a cell phone, an iPod, a vision of what they might do for the rest of their life, how this or that class relates to that vision, and a set of expectations from the person standing in front of the room. Faculty speak with passion about what they expect from students: the ability to construct a sentence; a concept of arithmetic that allows the application of basic mathematical laws and algebraic relationships; an ability to think clearly about an idea or concept and analyze it from a personal perspective; a sense of energy about what is going on in the classroom; their attention for fifty minutes uninterrupted by Lady Gaga; a tweet from Sarah Palin; an email to the President; or any other diversion that takes attention away from what the person in front has to say. Of course, the great faculty can beat Lady Gaga all day long. They actually have something to say.