As a Teaching Assistant at UT Austin, I work with students who almost seem to be activated by the clock rather than the pursuit of knowledge.
This automaton-like response led me, the other day, to write something that I would love to say if it were my class and were I not just a T.A.
"This is supposed to be a school, a place of learning and enlightenment, but as you have no doubt already noticed, there are bells in this building, because this building was made in the age and spirit of factories, the bells acting as the prehistoric pterodactyl calls of management, coralling workers from station to station, herding them like cattle towards their final destination.
But you are not cattle or sheep or Pavlov's dogs. And in my class you will not be conditioned to close your notebooks and jump up at the sound of a bell. In fact, it is my hope that you will be so involved in what you are learning that you won't even hear the bell when it does ring. Because the act of learning cannot and should not be forced between artificial borders of time. The process of discovery is timeless and it is what keep our spirits forever young."