Prompt: The South Kitsap School District is instituting a no-tolerance ban on student cell phones and personal electronics while on campus during school hours. Write a persuasive essay supporting or opposing this new policy.
Introductory paragraph Attention Grabber: Currently, over 90% of all American middle and high school students own either a cell phone or a personal MP3 player and a recent USA Today survey found that 98% of teenagers admit to using their cell phones while in class at least five-ten minutes out of each school day. Background information: Most teenagers own at least one piece of personal electronic gear in order to make their daily lives easier or more entertaining: MP3 players, cell phones, e-readers dominate today’s teenage existence and there is no slowing of this trend. When teens aren’t engaged with entertainment and communication at school, the Internet and television are ready and waiting at home. However, this prevalence of media access and usage is infecting schools more and more. Summary of the issue’s controversy: Currently, schools, parents, and students are holding discussions regularly about how to balance school life, home life, personal lives, and their digital lives. Many schools like South Kitsap High School argue that the best balance and solution is to remove all media and electronics from campus during school hours. Parents and students, however have many strong objections as to why students should be allowed to carry and sometimes use their devices throughout the day on campus. Position statement: The South Kitsap School district must intervene in this debate by mandating that all personal electronic devices be kept off school campuses during school hours because the education process and the overall atmosphere of the schools will be improved by this ban.
Body paragraph – Ethical
Topic sentence: Students across the school district have a fundamental right to learn in a