The Washington Times--
Children hide them under their pants... in the lunch boxes... disassemble them to smuggle them by the metal detectors and pat downs before they entered the buildings.
This "item" is a cell phone.
The ban on cell phones in the nation's largest school system [New York] is creating a uproar among parents and students alike. parents having sent angry letters, e-mails, staged rallies and press conferences and also threatened to sue.
However, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and school counselor Joel Klein have refused to drop the ban on cell phones. They insist that cell phones are a distraction and they are used to cheat, take inappropriate photos in the bathrooms and organize gang rendezvous.
Students however have refused to give up their cell phones, stating that the devices are too vital for their daily existence and their parents peace of mind.
" my mother, she needs me to have the cell to call me and check up on me," said Steven Cao, 16, a sophomore who lives in Staten Island and attends Stuyvesant high school in Manhattan. He calls the ban stupid. "
late last month, city officials began sending portable metal detectors every day to a random but small set of schools to keep out weapons which have led to the confiscation of hundreds of cell phones.
" It's kind of ridiculous that we think we can't survive without a cell phone, when people did it for thousands of years," said Elisa Muyl, 14, a freshman at Stuyvesant High. "But now that they have this invention, we should use it. "
I understand that schools are concerned about cell phones disrupting classes and the possibility of cheating is a valid one. Even in the colleges and universities they can be a problem when a student either forgets to turn the cell phone off or has the ring tone set loud enough to disturb the class.
I would think however that after school shootings have become more frequent, that cell phones would be more of a welcome safety tool.
So I disagree with the ban, however, the disruptions in the classroom are the responsibility of the instructor, and violators should be dealt with appropriately.
3 comments:
There are options to be had.
If it were me, I would have one of these in the classroom:
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Cell phones in schoos should be checked at the doors of each classroom until that class is over. If these kids want to blab on their phones, they can do it between classes. Period. End of sentence.
Cell phones should be unconditionally illegal to use while driving. I saw a lady one day last week blow through a four-way stop intersection and nearly getting hit by two cars from each side. She was blabbing on a cell phone and not paying one bit of attention to where she was or what she was doing.
If you let one modern convience into school, you have to let them all. A cell phone may seem like a minor thing until you put it into perspective. Try this analogy....it takes 20 minutes to drive from Cottage Grove to Eugene. Most people can't go without a cigarette or a phone call for that 20 minutes. A class is only one or two hours long. Next thing you know, the classroom will be for everything BUT learning. I think the phone is a wonderful convience but it has its place and I don't think school is it. Let's allow guns and knives, too, or maybe even stereos.
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