Why We Shouldn T Cell Phones Be Banned In Schools

Johnathan Pham
Ali Webb
English 2000-Section 93
24 April 2017
Cellular Devices in School
If you were to personally conduct an experiment and ask any young adult in America whether or not they can go a whole year without using their cell phones for anything other than calling other people, almost ten times out of ten, the answer would most likely be no. In the 1980s, the first cellular device was released and ready to be put on the market. The need for cellphones has grown vastly over time causing it to be brought into education within school systems. The use of cellphones in school is a topic that many educators argue about. The main issue regarding the use of cellular devices during instructional periods is whether or not it affects the
student’s overall ability to succeed in school. It is important to talk about whether or not students benefit from using cellphones because the use of cell phones affect future generations and education. For instance, if a school’s overall performance begins to decline due to the use of phones, it introduces a flaw in the education system that may carry out into incoming students so the issue has to be met and fixed before it affects the next wave of students. A number of pros have been encountered associated with cellphone usage in schools such as extended access of information, peace of mind for parents when it comes to their child’s safety, however on the opposite end of the spectrum, it can cause cheating, distractions, social disconnection, and even cyberbully. Cellphones should not be allowed into schools unless it is being used as an emergency outlet because the cons outweigh the pros in this specific situation. Cell phones are negatively impacting the educational system. Permitting students to freely have phones creates a flawed process for kids to learn thus altering the norm of using cellphones in school to not allowing to it will help the individual as a student.
Some educators and administrators want to limit cellphone use in school because it does not allow students to fully focus in class. Cell phones may influence a student’s ability to keep their full attention focused in class because their attention is distracted by the presences of a cell phone. The use of cellphones is a popular topic many teachers, administrators, and school systems discuss about daily. It is important to talk about because the use of cell phones greatly determines modern and future education as well as its effect on students. Cellular phones cause great division among the instructor, student, and the class itself. Many researches are based on ways students modify their educational experiences based upon the use of cell phones and its effects in education. When the cell phones were first introduced, it came with the vision to help benefit humans and speed up the process of communication. Gradually over time, cell phones evolved and became figuratively like a laptop computer at the palm of your hands. This evolution provided great benefits for humans to enhance everything; whether it be communication or just simply reading an article. Cellphones can open up unlimited sources of information in such a short moment of time. In the article “The Phone: A Tool for Learning,” the author states that many educators encourage students to use their cellphones in class because the internet contains updated articles that the library may not provide. (Marcoux 73). The article discuss suggestion for the use of cell phones in public school education by informing learning opportunities a smartphone can provide, “This includes reading opportunities, wide variety of sources, and instant feedback” (Marcoux 74). Marcoux’s main point is to talk about the positive resources a cell phone can open up to students in schools. For example, the use of online libraries for researching questions, student connection, and overall the improvement of cellphones compared to a textbook. In recent years, there has been a number of school shootings in America. These unfortunate acts trigger every parent’s worst fear of losing their child. In the case of a disaster or emergency, cell phones help ensure safety for the students and their parents. In an article,” Recent Court Rulings Regarding Student Use of Cellphones in Today's Schools”, written by Thomas Diamantes, he states that cell phone providers have convinced parents that their children have mobile phones for safety reasons (Diamantes). This way, students can stay in contact with their families in case of emergencies or disasters that could possibly happen in school. Diamante’s point of view is that cell phones allows a student to remain safe because the student will be able to have a way of contacting their parents or police in any case of danger. Cellphones were created to help users and rightfully so, can be useful in school at times when used in the right form and in the proper context.
The article “Should We Ban Cell Phones in the Classroom?” written by Mageau point of view is that even high school seniors are not mentally or physically mature enough to use the cell phones in the way they are supposed to be correctly used in the way it is intended to in school; as a tool for learning.
She wants to educate other teachers and school systems that the cellphone blocks a student’s ability from gaining knowledge. In the article, she provides examples of similarity that explains why cellphones are banned in places like the church and the theater. It defeats the purpose of being focused on the respective material. Based on an online article, Linda Matchan refers to Joni Siani, a Braintree psychologist and author and states, “You’ll get kids saying, ‘I’ll look something up for English, and while I’m here let me quickly check my Instagram or Twitter feed.’ And then it’s, ‘Oh, I never realized this girl said that to me,’ and now they’re distracted and not really engaged with their lesson plan,” (Siani). Educators may not completely agree on everything but most agrees that the cellphone epidemic is not going away any time
soon.
Cell phones distracts the attention of a person who is using the cell phone from what they should be focused on. Linda Matchan investigates and finds that, “a study released in May by the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics looked at 91 schools in four cities in England, where more than 90 percent of teenagers own a mobile phone” (Matchan). The study found that test scores were 6.41 percent higher at schools where cellphone use is prohibited. The researchers concluded that mobile phones “can have a negative impact on productivity through distraction,”. The results from this study proves that cell phones do indeed alter the students learning process ad how well they can test on the material. Though cellphones can be helpful, it cannot be trusted that all students will use it in the right form all the time. Even if the use of these devices were not prohibited, students can eventually fool the teachers that they are using it for “educational purposes.” Teachers will not know whether or not the student is using the phone in the proper way and the amount time the teacher puts into telling a student to put their phones up will decrease educational time.
Even though the evolution of cellphones can be quite beneficial, it being constantly being updated in multiple ways leads to it becoming an object people throughout the world simply cannot survive without. The cell phone will continue to have a massive effect on the modern society as well as upcoming generations. Over time, cellphones have evolved by starting off as a form of long distances communication to a new breed of social interactions based off of a small touch-screen. It has undoubtedly altered society from a large aspect. In modern society, it appears that children, ages three and older, are given some type of internet device whether it be a laptop, cellular device, or tablet. Children that are constantly exposed to technology have the upper hand for technology used in school. It can lead to issues of not all kids being able to afford a cellphone. That causes the students without a cellphone to fall behind the student with a cellphone, which is not a fair playing field. Education systems also encountered multiple challenges with the advanced technology with consistently having to learn how to use new technology and adapt to it can be difficult for teachers. Having teachers transition from the traditional form of teaching to a more technical orientated class room would be very difficult. Principals of schools usually leave the cell phone distractions up to the teacher and allow them to handle it accordingly, whether it be detention or parent teacher conference. In an article on HuffingtonPost.com by, Richard Freed, he states, a teacher Ed Boland, acknowledges “I just wish somebody told me how to get a cellphone out of a kid’s hand” (Freed). It can be tough to be a teacher and a disciplinary at the same time to students. Among negative factors that a cellphone may cause are distractions, which can lead to cheating, social disconnection, and cyberbullying.
For example, the article “Should We Ban Cell Phones in the Classroom?” explains that cellphones distract students from what they should focus on (Mageau 2). Distraction cause the student to fall behind, which lead to cheating on test due to the lack of knowledge he/she was on his/her phone instead of paying attention in class. Even if the student is not caught cheating during an exam, the student would still be victim of distraction of the phone because they did not learn the material causing them to resort to cheating. The constant buzzing, ringing, and flair of light catches a student’s attention which leads to the engaging in the phone rather the teacher. Social disconnection also leads to a decrease in the success rate of a student’s school performance. In Collie’s article “Mobile Technology for the Classroom,” he explains that students who use cellphones in schools are socially disconnected from other peers and teachers (Collie 80). Research shows that students who misuse their cell phones in class struggle in academics. Cyberbullying also ties into a student’s academic success rate. Cellphone usage among teens in school can result in either an advancement in knowledge or drama caused by cyberbullying. For instance, in the article “Is it Safe to Allow Cellphones in School,” Kenneth Trump discuss that cyberbullying is more prevalent
among students who are exposed to the internet (Trump 1). If schools permit cellphone use, students will constantly be exposed to the internet which will increase the likelihood of cyberbully.
Multiple positive and negative aspects associates with whether or not a student will succeed in academics through the influence of cellular devices. Today’s society revolves around the internet, which would make the use of cellphones more convenient for students, schools, and educators. Allowing the use of cellphones in schools would seem reasonable, but the disadvantages exceeds the advantages. There are beneficial stances and opposing stances on phones in school but the negatives outweighed the positives. The main issues regarding phones is that it can causes cheating, distractions, social disconnection, and even cyberbullying. Cellphone use in the education systems may be perceived as inevitable but containing it would be the challenge. Additional training must be the main focus on ways to use cellphones, limiting the use of cellphones is the more realistic way of having it become a major issue. As this research paper has shown with credible sources, students simply cannot be trusted with using cell phones. Allowing the use of the devices would seem like taking a risk on the student using it right.