Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Cellphones and School



This Mornings Fog

Some schools have now banned cellphone use according to NBC's Today Show, Should Cellphones Be Banned? Having and using cellphones at school is something that brings a whole slew of problems with it that I've never even considered; I've only ever thought of the benefits of having a cellphone. There is comfort in knowing that our kids can always be in contact with us.

Some problems mentioned with having cellphones in school - unwanted picture taking. That is a horrible thought. Showering for PE was bad enough but to know that someone could take a picture? Oh my! I can see where that could be a problem! Do kids even have PE in school anymore? (Remembering Richard Simmons trying to get PE back in schools.) Snapping pictures for answers to tests was also brought up - upgraded cheating. Text-messaging during class time is a problem.

According to NBC, kids admit that they can text message without even looking at the phone; pocket messaging, ha! Now why can't we do that? It would be a good thing to learn for those of us that need reading glasses to read now.

How about that mosquito tone for making it easier to be sneaky?

When it came out in Britain in December, the Mosquito sound system was supposed to be the sonic equivalent of a "no loitering" sign. Its annoying, high-pitched sound -- which many adults can't hear but most young people can -- would act as a teen repellent. WashingtonPost.com

That is funny. I cannot hear that at all! I turned it way up and... nothing. The kids could hear it all the way downstairs!

We must make new ways to deal with new.... ways! The cellphones are good for keeping in touch with our kids and these gadgets should be incorporated into everyday living that will work for both student and teacher, parent and kid and wherever else their use may be disruptive - if used without manners.

I say kids should keep the cellphones. College kids videoed with their cellphone when the shooting happened at Virginia Tech. If they need to be taught cellphone manners then they should be taught that. Not at school, but Mom and Dad should teach them proper times when one should turn off the phone, in consideration of others.

I know that there will be those that transgress the rules, there always is. The majority of people grow up enough to abide by rules. If they won't abide by school mandated rules then yes, the cellphone should be confiscated, but only after a kid has proven that they cannot appreciate the freedom they have been given to keep a cellphone in their possession.

My phone won't work in Walmart, so whatever Walmart does, do it at school. There must be a way to make a cellphone dysfunctional in certain areas like classrooms and bathrooms.

Wow, I am using Mozilla Firefox and their browser shows up misspelled words and when I right click on it, it gives me options for words I might be wanting to use instead. It's cool! I don't even have to use Blogger's spell check! Great feature, Firefox!

Later - I think I hear my phone ringing!

4 comments:

Kerri said...

I keep checking your blog but haven't been able to comment in weeks! Well, maybe not that long...but recently everytime I try to load you comment box, I get error messages instead. :o(

Anyway, about your post. We tell our kids not to bring their cell phones to school...but they do, anyway. I don't know about the junior high and high school, but at the elementary it hasn't really been a problem. I'm surprised to know how many little kids have their own phone! My little niece in 2nd grade has had a phone for almost a year already.

I've missed you, Ms. Connie (entirely MY fault). I'm back to work, as is Michael, so hopefully being back on a regular schedule will allow me to post more often!

*crossing fingers* I really hope I can post a comment this time!

Constance said...

My almost 17 year old son is probably the only high schooler in Denton who does NOT have a phone! I told him,
"You get a job and pay for the bill and then you can have one!".

Laura my 20 year old has had hers less than a year!

A jamming frequency would be good but then there are parents who would get worked up that their kids couldn't call out should there be some kind of an in-school emergency.

To say,
"We never had cell phones as kids and we turned out fine"
doesn't work in today's hi-tech world we live in. Time and technology change and unfortunately, so does the evil around us. I don't think there's an easy answer. How do we expect kids to do the right thing when I look around and see adults with bad manners! I can't believe how rude it is to see someone checking out at the grocery store, blabbing on their phone at the same time! If I was the clerk, I'd be tempted to stop and wait for them to finish their call. Yesterday while I was at the store, some lady was talking on her cell, her kids were screaming and fighting with each other, she was trying to write a check at the same time and the rest of us were getting more & more aggravated waiting on her! Grrr!!!

Connie Marie said...

Hi Kerrie,

Sorry about getting errors. I hope that stops, it's good to hear from you. Looking forward to reading your blogging too.


BBF Connie,

I agree with you on the phones being something the kids should work for. My own bought their own phones too.

Yeah, how can we expect kids to do what is right when we as parents many times don't ourselves. Nevertheless, they are the ones that suffer in the end, as we all do.

Our lives should become less hectic with all the gadgets and gizmo's we have, but it seems to have accelerated the busyness in our lives!

mrsjojo said...

I have another angle on the phones in the schools!! If more students videoed what is happening in the classrooms and posting on youtube we just might get teachers paying more attention and doing a better job at teaching. Or the parents can see out of control students in the classrooms and do something about that atmosphere. Something to think about. :)
I agree with you Connie with our lives becoming more hectic with all the gadgets to help us become more organized.
It seems to be the problem with paper. We have the computer to lessen the usage of paper but I'd like to see a "STUDY" on how much LESS paper we are using in this computer age. I feel like we just might be using more but that is a whole other discussion. :)