NationStates Jolt Archive


Should cell phones be prohibited on campus for students?

South Lizasauria
29-06-2008, 02:30
Should every student be prohibited to bring a cell phone on campus? Why or why not?
New Genoa
29-06-2008, 02:32
Well it's nice to be able to call people especially after class instead having to go back to your dorm every time. Or are you talking about high school students?
Katganistan
29-06-2008, 02:33
Assuming you mean elementary through high school, no, cell phones should not be banned from campus simply because some students are too irresponsible/disrespectful about using them in the middle of class.

The phones of students who are too irresponsible or too disrespectful to retain them in class should be confiscated and returned to the parent of said student.

On a second infraction, the student ought to get a detention.

On a third infraction, a choice -- leave it home or have it confiscated on sight, and retained by the school until the end of the year.
South Lizasauria
29-06-2008, 02:35
Well it's nice to be able to call people especially after class instead having to go back to your dorm every time. Or are you talking about high school students?

Elementary through high school.
1010102
29-06-2008, 02:37
High School or Uni/college?

For the first, unless you check every student when the enter the building, it would be impssible to enforce.

For the second, Cell phones are the main line of communication.
Poliwanacraca
29-06-2008, 02:38
Assuming you mean elementary through high school, no, cell phones should not be banned from campus simply because some students are too irresponsible/disrespectful about using them in the middle of class.

The phones of students who are too irresponsible or too disrespectful to retain them in class should be confiscated and returned to the parent of said student.

On a second infraction, the student ought to get a detention.

On a third infraction, a choice -- leave it home or have it confiscated on sight, and retained by the school until the end of the year.

I'd say this is pretty reasonable, with the possible addition that any student who actually makes or takes a phone call in class should get an immediate detention or something similar.
Katganistan
29-06-2008, 02:39
High School or Uni/college?

For the first, unless you check every student when the enter the building, it would be impssible to enforce.

For the second, Cell phones are the main line of communication.

How difficult to enforce? If a student is being a moron and making a call in the middle of class, "Cell phones are banned on campus. Boom, enforcement." Or as I prefer to say, "If I don't see it or hear it, you don't have it. If I see it or hear it, we have a problem."
Ashmoria
29-06-2008, 02:39
cell phones are important tools for kids to keep in contact with their parents. they should be allowed at school and regulated like anything else kids bring to school.
Dontgonearthere
29-06-2008, 02:57
Assuming you mean High School, yes, they should be banned.

I remember how 'essential' they were during the little gun scare we had at our school. Some kids called their parents, who then showed up at the school DEMANDING that the police officers let them go pick up their children.
Keep in mind, everybody thought there were a couple of guys with pistols running around the campus.
Not to mention they're an annoyance to students who arent constantly getting phone calls. Aside from the humerous moments when the teacher from Japan answers them. In Japanese.

Maybe its just because I cant stand cell phones in general, but the whole idea of cell phones is horrific to me. People bother me enough to do stuff for them as it is.
My personal opinion is that every last one of them should be put on a rocket and launched into the sun.

EDIT:
I'd heard tell that some school in the UK had installed cell-phone jamming devices on their campus. Any NSG UK'ers confirm this?
Yootopia
29-06-2008, 03:01
No, because they're super awesome.
Yootopia
29-06-2008, 03:03
I'd heard tell that some school in the UK had installed cell-phone jamming devices on their campus. Any NSG UK'ers confirm this?
Mine doesn't, and the thought of being extra blatted with radioactivität makes me sad :(
Chumblywumbly
29-06-2008, 03:26
Should every student be prohibited to bring a cell phone on campus? Why or why not?
Why on Earth should they be?
South Lizasauria
29-06-2008, 03:33
Why on Earth should they be?

Ask NSG. I did.
Chumblywumbly
29-06-2008, 03:42
Ask NSG. I did.
Yes, but presumably you had some motivation for doing so, and thought there was at least some arguments available in favour of banning mobiles...

Or are you asking purely random questions without any motivation, i.e. spamming?
Self-sacrifice
29-06-2008, 06:01
If the lecturers are worried about the distraction everyone can be told to put their cell phones on silent. If it rings you get kicked out for the rest of the class. That way if it is a real emergency you would leave anyway. And if it is not an emergency you may learn to put it on silent.

There will always be something that makes a bit of a noise and with a group of students this should be accepted. If cell phones are a distraction should there also be a limit of brightness for the clothes? or a decibel limit of sound that a student cant exceed?

Phones can be very important but still the student should not distract the session. The easy medium option for this is keep it on silent during movies, lectures and other public places that people may get annoyed if it rings
Unlucky_and_unbiddable
29-06-2008, 06:08
No, you don't know what the students are doing after school that they may "need" a cellphone for. Personally, I take the city bus home and I don't have a cellphone but there are circumstances where the bus has been 1-2 hours late in -20 degree weather where a cellphone would have come in handy and if the fact that the school disallowed them was the reason I couldn't get a ride home, I'd be pissed. Yes, they are annoying when they go off during class but a look from a teacher is usually all that is needed to keep them off, and when it's not enough, punish the individual, as Kat said.
Pirated Corsairs
29-06-2008, 06:17
I voted based on it being at Universities/colleges before I read the thread, but my answer is pretty much the same.
Why I originally voted the way I did:
You know, plenty of people live ON CAMPUS at their schools. Not being able to have their phones could cause problems.
Also, at that age, you are (theoretically) an adult.

However, I think even before then they should be allowed as long as nobody is disrupting class. If they want to make calls between classes or at lunch, what's the problem with it?
Mirkana
29-06-2008, 06:27
My school forbade usage of cellphones in class. In theory, we weren't allowed to have them at all, but nobody enforced that.
FreedomEverlasting
29-06-2008, 08:21
You can X-ray all book bags and go through metal detectors. I mean some school (like my old high school) already does it to scan for weapons, so you are just keeping an eye out for cellphones too.

But it's hard to enforce this since most parents feel safer when their kid carries cellphone. So you will end up with a lot of complains from the parents trying go for a universal ban.

So I think they should use a more realistic approach of banning it in classrooms, that if it doesn't ring, it's not there. If it rings, their parents have to come pick it up.
Sarkhaan
29-06-2008, 08:55
Assuming you mean elementary through high school, no, cell phones should not be banned from campus simply because some students are too irresponsible/disrespectful about using them in the middle of class.

The phones of students who are too irresponsible or too disrespectful to retain them in class should be confiscated and returned to the parent of said student.

On a second infraction, the student ought to get a detention.

On a third infraction, a choice -- leave it home or have it confiscated on sight, and retained by the school until the end of the year.

How difficult to enforce? If a student is being a moron and making a call in the middle of class, "Cell phones are banned on campus. Boom, enforcement." Or as I prefer to say, "If I don't see it or hear it, you don't have it. If I see it or hear it, we have a problem."

Yep...these.

If you have one, cool. Turn it off. It you use it in my class, expect me to take it. If you won't give it to me, expect an in-school at the very least.
New Wallonochia
29-06-2008, 09:30
No, they shouldn't be banned. Blanket punishments such as that are lazy and generally cause more problems than they solve.
Rambhutan
29-06-2008, 09:46
Makes more sense than them having guns.
Abdju
29-06-2008, 10:25
As a last resort, yes. However first of rather than simply banning them, there should be an effort to teach the kids the importance of using the things properly in the first place. One of the biggest problems with cell-phones is that there is no etiquette of using them appropriately. Teaching that and instilling it should be the first priority.

If that fails totally, then, and only then, should there be an out and out ban, and it should be explained why that ban has had to be introduced.

The same should apply to most adults too.....
Reeka
29-06-2008, 10:33
When I was in high school, the policy was "If I don't see or here it, it's not there." I think that one works best.

The idea that only high school kids are so immature that they'll use their phones constantly through class is misleading. In my literature class this month (yay mini-mesters) one of the guys who sits next to me sleeps and texts through class. Everyone on our side of the class hears his phone every time it goes off, and I want to strangle the kid- well, I say kid, I think he's older than me and closer to graduating.
IL Ruffino
29-06-2008, 10:48
Assuming you mean elementary through high school, no, cell phones should not be banned from campus simply because some students are too irresponsible/disrespectful about using them in the middle of class.

The phones of students who are too irresponsible or too disrespectful to retain them in class should be confiscated and returned to the parent of said student.

On a second infraction, the student ought to get a detention.

On a third infraction, a choice -- leave it home or have it confiscated on sight, and retained by the school until the end of the year.

At the high school I went to, the first time you are caught using your cell phone, they take it off of you until 2:30 and you get detention. Not like they enforced it, though.

If we were having a test that required a calculator, the teachers didn't really care if we just used our phones.

And being the great student I am, I just took pictures of the notes with my phone instead of writing them.
Damor
30-06-2008, 10:03
Should every student be prohibited to bring a cell phone on campus? Why or why not?I don't see a reason to forbid cellphones on campus, but they should be turned off in class. Or the very least used in a way that doesn't disturb other students; although it's disrespectful to your professor/teacher to use them at all (then again, not all of them are respectable).
I suppose it also depends a bit on whether classes are optional or not (Which I suppose hardly applies to high school, but I was thinking university before I read more of the thread). If they are optional, then you have no reason to be there other than pay attention to class; if you prefer texting or talking on the phone you can stay away.

If the lecturers are worried about the distraction everyone can be told to put their cell phones on silent. If it rings you get kicked out for the rest of the class.Or the rest of the course.
People should learn to behave in class, and not bother other students. If they can't get that in their mind after being told a few times, they can sod off.

There will always be something that makes a bit of a noise and with a group of students this should be accepted. If cell phones are a distraction should there also be a limit of brightness for the clothes? or a decibel limit of sound that a student cant exceed?Yes. No strobe lighting on your clothes, and no exceeding 120 decibels. I don't see any reason why a lecturer should just accept everything.

Maybe its just because I cant stand cell phones in general, but the whole idea of cell phones is horrific to me. People bother me enough to do stuff for them as it is.
My personal opinion is that every last one of them should be put on a rocket and launched into the sun.seconded.
Self-sacrifice
30-06-2008, 10:26
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dontgonearthere
Maybe its just because I cant stand cell phones in general, but the whole idea of cell phones is horrific to me. People bother me enough to do stuff for them as it is.
My personal opinion is that every last one of them should be put on a rocket and launched into the sun.

seconded.

yeah ill agree with that as soon as I can get all thoes bleeding heart hippies to be launched with them

But really there is something called tolerance. You should be able to accept a few odd things in your life without going postal about it.

But yeah if someones phone rings too many times for the course I would agree that they should be kicked out. But people do make mistakes and forget that they didnt put it on silent occasionally.

For distractions in a course I have always found the worst one to be a single individual that grabs attention for stupidity
Damor
30-06-2008, 10:42
yeah ill agree with that as soon as I can get all thoes bleeding heart hippies to be launched with themI think that might put it over the weight limit; unless you use them as fuel. (Almost anything will burn if you add liquid oxygen.)

But really there is something called tolerance.Lies; LIES, I tell you! There is no such thing. I won't hear of it. *puts fingers in ears and hums loudly*
;)
Katganistan
30-06-2008, 11:40
If we were having a test that required a calculator, the teachers didn't really care if we just used our phones.

And being the great student I am, I just took pictures of the notes with my phone instead of writing them.

This is why at least five students I know of missed graduation this year -- they were texting answers for one of their statewide exams -- and then had ALL of their exams for that week invalidated. Now they need to take them in summer school.

You need a calculator? Use a calculator. Cellphones are nifty cheating devices and we know it.
Nobel Hobos
30-06-2008, 13:38
Just install a cell-phone blocker over the whole school. Turn it off only between classes and during breaks.

If anyone has a genuine urgent need to communicate with a student, they can call the school on a landline, and let the school administration decide whether to pull the kid out of class, deliver them a message, or whatever.
Self-sacrifice
01-07-2008, 10:41
Then you couldnt send out a text message when there is an alert on campus. It would seem to be highly practical but all it would take is one nut case or fire to cause the administrators to be sued unless they had other protocals.

They would need campus PA's all over the place in case of an emergancy as a shooter could always just take out the head office first. And if you have PAs all over the place someone can distract the whole campus at once.

Oh and you may also get the odd case that someone wasnt alerted their house was on fire of their loved one went to hospital and therefore they may seek compensation for the delay.
G3N13
01-07-2008, 10:45
Should every student be prohibited to bring a cell phone on campus? Why or why not?

no, cell phone technology is essential during the normal course of studies.
New Wallonochia
01-07-2008, 10:59
Just install a cell-phone blocker over the whole school. Turn it off only between classes and during breaks.

That's quite expensive and it would require a rather powerful transmitter(s) to be able to block calls everywhere inside the building. Of course, if you used a reactive system you'd need sensors around to locate the outgoing signals. All in all it'd be quite expensive and probably much more trouble than it's worth.

You can X-ray all book bags and go through metal detectors. I mean some school (like my old high school) already does it to scan for weapons, so you are just keeping an eye out for cellphones too.

This still boggles my mind. When I went to high school (1996-2000) there were no x-ray machines or metal detectors or anything of the sort. The only places I'd heard of such things were in Detroit and Flint, but now it seems they're everywhere.
New Granada
01-07-2008, 12:40
College campuses, of course not.

Elementary/middle/high school grounds, if they go off during class, should be confiscated.