Cell phone use in class?

Written by: Kaylee Heinz '12

I believe that cell phone use should be allowed in schools. Cell phones definitely have some educational advantages and can be of help to students. Students can stay connected with their parents, relatives and also friends. In a time of emergency cell phones can prove to be very useful. In the classrooms, cell phones can be a big help and a legitimate academic use. Technology today is a very helpful and important thing to have.

As stated before, cell phones have educational advantages. For example, many cell phones now days have internet capability. With our schools limited technology ability on computers, cell phones would be very convenient. Also, cell phones can be useful when in mathematics solving a problem, with built-in calculator to get the answer fast and correctly. Having cell phones in school would make things a lot easier on everyone, including teachers and students.

Students can also stay connected with their parents, relatives, and also friends. In a time of emergency or when parents wish to know if their child is doing fine or not, cell phones can come be very useful. This could be because of a death in the family, an accident or other family issue that may occur to require your son or daughter’s attention and/or attendance. By being able to call and text your child directly, you will also reduce the workload of the schools administration team. Also, the problems with knowing what’s going on after school can be avoided, when being able to communicate by cell phones.

The bathroom seems to be a very popular place to visit, is this because of cell phones? I notice that more kids leave class to send a text during the hour just to hide it from the teachers. I think that cell phone should be allowed in classrooms as long as they are not heard. On the other hand, I believe that they should be put away during tests and exams. If you have permission from a teacher I think you should be able to have them out during a discussion for learning purposes, such as recording the material talked about for later references.

Regardless of the schools policies, students already bring there phones to school in the first place. Being so tiny and compact cell phones are very easy to hide in places such as, clothing, shoes, purses, pockets, gym bags and many more places. If parents were to look at their phone bills each month they would notice that their child is already texting in school. Therefore, I believe that it is too hard to enforce a “no cell phone use” policy in school. So instead, I think that teachers and staff should look for ways to embrace the technology that is already being use in the classroom.