Comments on: The Call on Cell Phone Policies in Schools – Part I

By: Tsivya Fox

Tsivya Fox — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 21:43:23 +0000

Thank you for sharing. It is so interesting the wide variety of thoughts, feelings and actions on this subject. Time will tell what the results will be.

By: Norman Sorensen

Norman Sorensen — Tue, 03 Feb 2015 20:18:32 +0000

Cell phones are definite distractions to students. Students use them more for games. social updates, and cheating on test. Cell phones are to be for emergencies only. Most students treat it as a toy. There is no place for cell phones in the school. If parents want to contact their children, all they need to do is call the school with the child’s name and class number. Students outside the school become targets for those who rob students. There are more negatives than positives for students having cell phones.

By: Tsivya Fox

Tsivya Fox — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 22:50:45 +0000

Thank you for your insightful comments. Stay tuned for Part 2 on this topic which covers some of your thoughts. Clearly, the cell phone issue will haunt us for a long time and is not quickly resolvable. Having a clear school policy, whatever it may be, might be the only answer for now.

By: R. Drew Davis

R. Drew Davis — Thu, 29 Jan 2015 20:21:51 +0000

There are more than a few Youtube videos of teachers enforcing their “absolutely no cell phone” policies in classrooms. e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gsDKtZb8Yc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dq_a4Fi60M, etc, etc…. The bullying portion of your essay has little relevance to the question of whether cell phone use should be allowed in the classroom. Bullying is a problem, but it’d be a problem even if cell phones were banned entirely from the classroom. Arguments you didn’t raise: emergency contacts. Equal accessibility to helpful information. Seems that a well publicized emergency phone number for reaching the school’s office should take care of concerns about reaching students in the event of an emergency. And not everybody can afford a smart phone with a data plan so they can consult Internet resources during class. I believe the right policy is to absolutely forbid cell phones in the classroom And that rule goes for teachers too. Want classroom access to Internet resources? Then provide PC’s or tablets for all to use in the classroom. Separate problem: How to assure “inappropriate” sites aren’t accessed by the students using the provided equipment. I don’t have a good answer for that.