College students are habituated to a classroom norm sociologists call civil attention: creating the appearance of paying attention (sitting still, looking awake, scribbling or typing) while ...

Reading feels like studying. You sit there, eyes moving across the page, maybe even nodding along. It feels calm. Responsible. Like you’re doing the right thing.But here’s the uncomfortable truth.

My course evaluations are in. They are mostly encouraging — except for the ones that say I should lecture more. “Lessen the amount of reading per week and just lecture more,” reads one comment.