Should cellphones be allowed in schools?

Question

Canadian teachers are calling for school boards and government to crack down on students with cellphones.

Read more: http://ca.blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-NwuWaPQoeKdM_fkq7QX_VJZjjCc-?cq=1&p=318

Answer 1

No they should not.

Answer 2

1

Answer 3

They should be banned from schools because it only causes distractions to the student, peers, and teachers. Although some might claim that cellphones are for emergency use only, it is still not a logical explanation to keep the phone on during a class. If it is an emergency, ones parents should contact the school first. Also, if one has an appointment to uphold (such as a dental or doctor), then ones parents should again contact the school and schedule a release time for their child to leave school.

Cellphones should also be banned because it shows no respect for the teacher. If a teacher takes time out of their day to teach a student, the very least a student could do to show their appreciation would be to pay attention and cancel out all distraction. Cellphones cause students not to pay attention.

In relation to the previous statement, it could also be the cause of ones overall class score to be lower than it could be. Since it is often difficult to pay attention while doing something else completely unrelated (such as text messaging on the cellphone), it is difficult for the brain to absorb the information the ears are receiving.

Cellphones are convenient, but the use of it should be kept to outside of the class room where they will not distract students, distract others, and disrespect the teacher.

For the record, I'm a 10th grade student. :]

Answer 4

I dont believe that they should be completely banned but there needs to be guidelines to follow. I think the way my school has it is Perfect, Students are allowed to have there phones with them in class if they are in a purse or backpack and can only answer them if they tell the teacher before hand about an important call that may be coming example if they are leaving out of town and there parents are calling to say hurry up lets go now. otherwise not allowed to answer the phones, Students can have there phone with them in the hallways, outside the school, in the smoking area or wherever students want to go when they dont have a class. Also in my math class alot of students do not have a calculator so they use the ones on there phone, thats allowed although everynow and then teachers will go sneaking around seeing if they are actually on the calculator or texting part, most students are on the calculators.
I Think the major problem is in the cities where there are many students. I live in a town of 5000 people and I notice huge differences between city kids and small town kids.If the canadian teachers are wanting school boards to ban cell phones they should take the communites and the schools into consideration.
Its not an all out awful idea but its not 100% awesome either.

Answer 5

I think cellphones should be allowed in high schools outside of the classroom or when a lesson or assembly is being held. In fact as a student myself in numerous occasions throughout the school week I need to contact parents or work. Because there is a strict policies at my school not to use the phones i would have to use a pay phone, and so having a cell phone is a great advantage for personal use. Things brings forth another issue though, if indeed cell phones would be permitted for out of class use would this include hallways cafeteria etc. How would this be controlled? I do agree that having a cell phone ring in the middle of the class is annoying, distracting, irritable, and cheating well that happens even without a cell phone.

Cell phones have become are new way of communication.

Answer 6

2

Answer 7

I believe that cell phones should not be allowed in the classroom. We managed quite well without them. After reading a couple of other answers, I started to see a trend in the ones that want them; the main excuse I was reading was in relation to the shootings that have occurred over the years. These same people can easily call for help on their phones, they just should not be using them during class time. Simple. And, if we all recall, what inevitably happened when these shootings took place, so many people were using their phones that they bogged down the system. Now had there been an emergency situation that a person found themselves in, and lets say they were isolated from the main group, and they weren't able to get through to anybody because of the sudden onslaught of cell phone usage, that person could ultimately die. It could be that said person was not even involved with what was going on at the school at the time, just a random emergency situation somewhere else in the city. You know there are more reasons to not allow cellphone usage in the classroom then there is to allow it. I cannot even think of one good reason to allow it.

Answer 8

Students should not even be allowed to bring cell phones into schools. Schools have pay phones that can be used between classes. I never had a cell phone when I was a teen, and I never needed one. There was never anything so critical happening in my life that it would justify my taking or placing a phone call in the middle of a lecture. Anything of a critical nature is usually brought to the schools attention 1st, and then the school informs the student while maintaining confidentially and respect for the student.
This is what it is all about. RESPECT. Something that is sadly lacking in our teens. All any considerate student would have had to do is to turn the cell phone off prior to attending a class, and turn it on when leaving the class. However it seems that considerate students are the distinct minority. To most, it seems that keeping abreast of the daily gossip is more important than respecting the rights of others to teach or learn in an environment conducive to teaching or learning. No, the prevalant attitude is "to hell with others", I need to know "who just kissed who", or the latest venerial disease rumour. These types of things now outweigh the old values of respect, dignity, fairness, and consideration. Cell phones are just a tool. The real problem is not the cell phone itself, but rather that young people are not being taught how to respect others from a very young age.
I shudder to think about where the respect levels will be in another 20 years.

Answer 9

I definately think that cellphones should be banned. As a teacher I know how hard it is to be in a classroom where students are rude and interruptive. It is getting worse every year. Teachers have no authority (we can't do anything, there are no consequences) and the kids know it. They taunt you and provoke you anyway they can. The last thing the teacher needs in the classroom is another distraction, or way for the students to misbehave.

Playing games,taking pictures, texting friends,is this what they are in my classroom to do. I don't think so! School is supposed to be a place to learn, (as well as socialize, I won't deny that) but there must be a cut off. Some guidelines where socialization stops and paying attention in class begins.

What makes matters worse is that teachers have no back up from parents. Of course the kids are going to do what they want in the classroom when their parents are telling them that it's okay.
Control is no longer in the hands of the teachers. And allowing cells phones in the classroom is a step closer to disaster. I challenge anyone to go into a classroom for one day and deal with what a teacher deals with. They will be very surprised and I doubt if most people could hack it for one day let alone as a career.
If the government wants to keep teachers teaching they need to crack down, stop building super schools and cut class sizes,So that it allows for a lower student:teacher ratio. This would allow for better supervision and more time to spend with individual students on the curriculum. we need to set some boundaries and we need to step up and change some things because we are doing a disservice to teachers and especially the students by allowing this to continue. We are taking away from their education.

Answer 10

Unfortunately unlike the old days there are now people bringing weapons to school, the driving age has increase (in BC we can't fully drive until we are 17) which means more kids are walking, which is good physical exercise but also provides an opportunity for attackers/kidnappers etc. Cell phones give children a freedom that was taken away from them. My parents had very little after school rules..."be home before the street lights go on" and their parents didn't worry about where they were for those hours. Now if I don't check in every few hours they are blowing up my cell phone. The world has changed a lot and cell phones are a necessary part of life it seems these days. About the concern of children cheating in the classroom, where are the teachers? I understand if no one was supervising them they would have the opportunity to cheat but if the teacher is doing what they are supposed to be doing, cheating via cell phone would be impossible. To avoid distractions make lessons out of the kids that have the cell phones go off. An essay as to why that was a disrupptive behavior, detention, garbage duty whatever is age appropriate. Banning them would cause all kinds of havoc especially since the parents are the ones that thought the children needed them in the first place.

Answer 11

I have mixed thoughts on this issue. I agree with many of the others that children should not be left without an option to call for help - even if that is an extreme line of thought. Columbine and other situations notwithstanding, child abductions happen all the time.

On the other side of the fence, I understand that phones are causing major headaches for teachers. And I can see why. Restricting cell phone use to non-classroom hours would be one option. As would immediate expulsion for any student caught using cell phone technology to cheat.

Another point of view: When I was a kid, my mother had very little money. We lived below the poverty line. Most of the other kids in my class had many toys and gadgets popular at the time. Even the poorest of the poor had Nintendos and Ataris. I had none of those. My clothes came from the Salvation Army store. One year, I saw a calculator for sale that also offered the option of storing short notes and phone numbers in it. It was about the size of a credit card. I thought this was just about the neatest thing I'd ever seen. I begged my mother for this 80 dollar item until I felt I would die if I didn't get it. I don't know where the money came from, but she got me the calculator for my birthday that year and I was ecstatic. Three days later, as I entered a friends' phone number on our lunch hour, a teacher walked by and told me to put the toy away. I said it wasn't a toy. It was a calculator. She said, "It looks like junk to me." She snatched it out of my hands, snapped it in two, and dropped it at my feet.

Later that night, in a fury of frustration and tears, I demanded my mother go see the principal and avenge the injustice. But my mother was meek and beaten down after a hard life and she refused.

In this day and age it would be an entirely different story I'm sure. Since the first school bell rang however many hundreds of years ago teachers have dictated what we wear, the kinds of items we bring to school (weapons are not included in this category for obvious reasons) and even, to some extent, how we think. Students are often punished for creativity or deviation from what is deemed by teachers as a suitable argument or presentation or essay.

I see the problems with cell phones, but in my experience everything from a baseball cap to a piece of chewing gum can make a teacher's life a living hell. Where does it end? Will the teachers finally be able to concentrate if we wear a solid colour prison uniform and only answer questions with a pre-approved set of conforming answers? I believe we'd have to be speaking German for that.