According to a story in the Globe and Mail today, cell phones have had to be banned from use in the classrooms of most high schools.
You've got to be kidding! Why is this something that had to be considered? Why would they ever be allowed? "Hang on a sec, Mr. Green. I'll answer you after this call."
Okay, you know, I think we may have taken lack of discipline too far. According to the article, almost all schools have banned their use in the classroom. "Almost all"??!! And one school has changed the rules to allow students to use their phones in the hallways and cafeterias. The reasoning? This way, students won't break the rules and sneak into the washrooms to make calls. They might have camera phones, after all.
Okay, this is nuts. First off, the need for a cellphone in a school is questionable. If you really need to be contacted, there's always the school office. But, there's no reason to assume you can't have one; just don't use it on school property during school hours. If I brought a radio to school, nobody would have cared if it sat in my locker turned off. But there sure would have been issues if I propped it on my desk and turned it on.
And this bit about allowing it in the hallways to prevent people from breaking rules is crazy. If they break the rules, deal with them. They sure didn't allow smoking in the hallways to stop kids from sneaking to the washroom. Now, part of this washroom thing was to deal with bullies. Apparently, some of the new camera phones have been used to bully other students. While I deplore bullying, deal with the bullies. As far as I know, there have always been bullies in washrooms. I would have been very stressed if we dealt with them by giving them an official bullying room instead.
I think its time we unite as a society to deal with kids and discipline.
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