Back To School Without Rodney

I loved Rodney Dangerfield in  "Back to School." Mixing generations has always provided some funny things. I tell every student that I teach or tutor that he or she should always sit next to the oldest person in the room that is not the teacher. "Returning" students actually care about learning something and have probably worked hard to earn the money they've paid in tuition. Still, younger students tend to shy away.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to sit in a college class and take notes for some of my students who were on a road trip, and I must say, I resembled the older student to which I just referred: I sat in the front row and took copious notes; I laughed at all the appropriate places and even some that were a bit sketchy; I asked and answered questions, and, in general, tried to learn something.
Not so the student next to me who, despite also sitting in the front row, continued to text throughout the lecture, never once doing anything more than taking notes here and there. Granted, in a class of 200, the teacher probably looks over the first few rows to address the middle of the room, but still...
With 10 minutes remaining, the student next to me began grabbing, then filling her backpack just to make sure she was ready to sprint out the door at the earliest possible moment. I have to admit that, as a teacher, I absolutely hate it when students shut down before class is over and simply prepare to leave. They resemble factory workers who sit in the break room for 10 minutes waiting to punch out. Maybe the mind set is the same.
All I know is that it irritated me to see someone in the front row by choice act as if the class was an inconvenience to her more important life.
kids.