The Richmond County Board of Education is sternly against cell phones and on campus. This rule has its positives and, of course, its negatives. Some students are adamant about rebelling against the system. Some students just cower down and comply. I personally agree that no, cell phones are not needed during class. However, I feel that modifications could be made.
The positives of the rule are obvious. No cell phones means fewer distractions in the classroom. No cell phones means less cheating on assignments. No cell phones means the teacher has more control over his class. Cell phones can be a huge burden. While in a class setting, students could decide that the text at hand is more important than copying down the notes for Friday’s math test. Then, on Friday, during that math test, students could send the answer to a question in a matter of minutes through text. Therefore, yes, I agree that cell phones should not be allowed during class.
With every situation there are negatives. In the situation regarding the RCBOE cell phone policy, the negatives aren’t so straightforward. Cell phones could help relieve stress or worry from some students. The school day is hard and stressful. In my opinion, there would be nothing wrong with a student texting their pal or calling their mom to help render some worry they have about their big exam coming up next period. Also, in high school especially, students stay after school for extracurricular activities. Often times, if a student needs to call a parent or person scheduled to pick them up after school, the office is empty and locked. If cell phones were allowed on campus, this problem would become more rare. The negatives of this policy have quite an impact.
I feel that the cell phone policy could be altered. If I had the liberty to do that, I would keep the length of time the cell phone is held if it were to go off in class. However, I would change it to where a student could use there cell phone after school and in-between classes. If the phone was not put away and on silent or off by the time the tardy bell rang to begin class, the student would have to hand the cell phone over to their teacher. This, I feel would be an improvement and satisfy more people.
The cell phone policy is a large dispute in every school system. In Richmond County it’s one that changes quite often. If administrators, teachers, and staff would look more into the hardships of being a student, I do feel they would agree to my alterations of the cell phone policy. That, in turn, would calm a conflict that is constantly buzzing about schools.
