Cell Phones Usage Causes Major Problems

 

Cell phone usage causes major problems in high school classrooms across the county.  Cell phones distract students during the school day because students are too concentrated on vibrating phones, or texting or receiving texts from friends.  However, cell phones can be used on occasion for educational purposes.

Cheating is also a big problem when cell phones are allowed in the classroom.  According to a survey published by Who’s Who in American High School Students approximately 98 percent of all students now cheat.  Students use their cell phones to cheat on tests and to copy homework from a friend.

Students also use their phones to take pictures of students in their classroom, locker rooms, and bathrooms and think it is acceptable to post these pictures or to send them to their friends.

In most school district phone usage is prohibited across the county unless a student is using the device for approved classroom purposes for learning.  However, some cities (like New York) have banned cell phones altogether in their public schools.  Some advocates of totally prohibiting cell phones indicate allowing cell phones in school is like giving a child a candy bar and telling the child they cannot eat the candy bar.

Many school district ban cell phone use and then take an “out-of-site, out-of-trouble approach to the problem.  Then teachers end up totally ignoring the policy entirely because enforcing it become too much of a discipline issue.  This out-of site, out-of-trouble approach also helps the administrators deal with the issues parents have about their child having their cell phone  available to them at all times. 

Most parents want to be able to keep up with their children’s whereabouts.  Some parents even have global tracking devices on their children’s phones so they can track them at all times. Most parents also want their children to have cell phones in an emergency situation before, during, and after school. Many times when students are caught texting during the day they are actually communicating with their parents.

What can be done?  There are devices that allow students to be able to call only certain phone numbers or text certain numbers.   There are devices that block cell phone use in the school entirely or just the use of texting and cell phone use.  However, most parents are opposed to their children not being able to use their phone during the school day.  There are parents in New York who are suing the city for banning cell phones use in public schools.

As an educator I find the situation ironic in nature.  Parents and politicians are pushing educators to improve the educational opportunities students are receiving.   However, they continue to want students to have constant access to cell phones which end up being a major distraction in schools across the country.