Cell phones in schools?
I just saw a story on our local news about how some school districts are allowing students to carry cell phones for safety reasons. The phones may not be used on school property or on the school bus. What's your opinion?
I personally think that if the students follow the above rules (which they wouldn't), then that would be okay. No matter what, I see the following problems arising:[list=1][*]It's a security issue for students. The phone could be stolen or damaged while on school property, and that's no good for student or Mom and Dad (who are probably the ones footing the bill).[*]It's a security issue for faculty, staff, and emergency personnel. If something were to happen at the school, every student would be calling 9-1-1 and/or their parents because the student doesn't have all the information needed to make a proper assessment of the situation. This could cause major problems for school and emergency officials.[*]The phones can/do disrupt the learning environment. Every time the phone rings during class (which they already do and still would), everything comes to a halt and concentrating kids get distracted.[/list=1]
I personally think that if the students follow the above rules (which they wouldn't), then that would be okay. No matter what, I see the following problems arising:[list=1][*]It's a security issue for students. The phone could be stolen or damaged while on school property, and that's no good for student or Mom and Dad (who are probably the ones footing the bill).[*]It's a security issue for faculty, staff, and emergency personnel. If something were to happen at the school, every student would be calling 9-1-1 and/or their parents because the student doesn't have all the information needed to make a proper assessment of the situation. This could cause major problems for school and emergency officials.[*]The phones can/do disrupt the learning environment. Every time the phone rings during class (which they already do and still would), everything comes to a halt and concentrating kids get distracted.[/list=1]
Comments
of course that isn't really enforced, the real rule is that if they are not seen or heard they are fine...in study hall or boring parts of a class you will see girls with both hands inside their purse while peering inside...very hard to tell what they are doing
so it really don't matter, the few times people's cellphones do go off, its not that big of a distraction and if the teacher hears they just ask the person to turn it off...no big deal
that said, i do not own a cell phone for feel that its stupid and not really necessary. almost all of my friends do and its kind annoying, there are those who are constantly pulling them out to play with, then there are those who always buy the latest and greatest cellphone for god knows what reason...not one of my friends but somone i know actually just got one with a camera in it...why i don't know but i guess to each their own
...i got a strange satisfaction when he was trying to show it off and kept saying 'its too dark in here' and having to move to a room with more light
So much so, that they have been banned in many highschools, colleges & universities during examination classes.
Originally posted by bauman
I've always heard that the reason they aren't allowed is to prevent drug dealing, but that was a quite few years ago, when the only HS students that had cell phones really were drug dealers.
The same thing applied to pagers several years ago. Remember when only drug dealers and corporate businessmen had pagers? Heck, I even remember an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel Air where Will got a pager and everybody started thinking he was a drug dealer.
Ahhh, the memories. 8)
Originally posted by Anders
Ah pagers. What an absurd thing. Still had those when I worked at the mobile company
I wonder if that will ever be said of computers ? Or at least, computers as we know them ...
Originally posted by EmAn
In my school cell phones are supposed to be off in class, but most people keep them on vibrate. Sometimes a phone will ring, but usually the teachers don't do anything about it.
yeah this is how it is at my school too...i dont think cell phones are used widespread as cheating devices
...i really don't think most people are that smart
its too easy with TI 8x/9x's
i've used my digital camera before often....mostly to copy papers though, take a pic and look at the the answers in study hall
However, I'm not a luddite, and I think prohibiting kids to tote around phones would be a distinctly luddite thing to do. It's normal to expect them to turn off the things during classes, but if they do that, what then could be the problem? What could be against them having a phone?