Cell Phones in School

the school I attend and several schools around here are now finding it a good way of abusing their power to either tell students if they have cell phones on in school they will be confiscated or they will be punished... one school has actually kicked a student out for having a cell phone go off in class, im talking about students in 11th and 12th grade (im in 12th)... it is very legit to say that by the time your 17 or 18 or 19 in those grades your personal finance or english class might be the least of your concerns as you may have a job or other obligations, so is it just me or for a school to say that they can take your phone away for having it on or using it during school legitimate? i certainly think not, especially if its on silent, i can see where if you let it ring during a class itd be annoying but everyone makes mistakes and its possible to forget to put your phone on silent... not sure what everyone else thinks, but i thought the last couple years in high school were to help you prepare for the real world, and the last time i checked you wont get your phone confiscated at work or at home for using it, heck most jobs people are on the phone with someone all the time... apparently the whole preparing for the real world is out the window... this is just how i feel (by the way, theyve never tried to take my phone, but id like to see em try )

[edit on 28-2-2005 by John bull 1]

Holy moly you are a senior in high school and cant spell phone?

yes actually I can spell it well, if you hadn't noticed i spelled it right something like 8 times in the rest of the post, i posted "Fones" in the title beucase it was very possible someone in the past may have used "Cell PHONES in schools" and then it wouldnt have let me post it, then i would have had to click back, and type it all over again, so i decided the right thing to do, would be to just spell it wrong

I'm just kiddin man, I've been readin alot of your posts, you seem like a valuable new member

thank you sir, i noticed you have posted on my topics, and thank you again for the kind words, i am trying to be valuable

First of all, just imagine that you are in the "real" world as you say you are for just a brief moment. You are in a meeting with a client that has extreme importance not only for yourself career wise, but also that of your company. Your boss, or someone is giving a speech, hell, YOU are giving the speech, and your phone goes off! Do you think that it reflects well on you, or your company? Also, if you think that you wouldn't be severely reprimanded or potentially fired for such a blunder you have no idea what the real world is like.

If I was a teacher and cell phones were going off my class, I would have no problem confiscating them, perhaps not forever but it should be a detentionable offence, don't you think? I mean if we are preparing you for the real world? Because yes, in certain siuations those phones will test the patience and more. Ie, movie theatres, restaurants, meetings, plays, etc etc etc.

At about 80% of entry level jobs I have worked at having your cellie ring during work time was grounds for termination. SO in reality they are preparing you for the Real World. It really comes down to the fact that if you use proper discretion noone will ever know you have a phone and hence won't confiscate it.

it works like that in college, too, but to the tune of $12,000 a year

Originally posted by SWAT
the school I attend and several schools around here are now finding it a good way of abusing their power to either tell students if they have cell phones on in school they will be confiscated or they will be punished

In that, were you to be talking on the phone in class you would be wasting, at the very least, your teachers' and classmates' time, I think it's a bit far to say they're "abusing their power." Certainly some school disctricts have a...shall we say...skewed from reality approach to cell phones, though.

... one school has actually kicked a student out for having a cell phone go off in class

Was this a first offense, or had he been warned before?

, im talking about students in 11th and 12th grade (im in 12th)... it is very legit to say that by the time your 17 or 18 or 19 in those grades your personal finance or english class might be the least of your concerns as you may have a job or other obligations

In most states, you can stop going to school at 16 years old. In any state, once you're 18 you're considered a legal adult and can't be held for truancy. If school is such a waste of your time why are you still going there instead of getting some extra hours in at work?

, so is it just me or for a school to say that they can take your phone away for having it on or using it during school legitimate?

It really depends on the policy. For using it during a class, certainly that's legitimate. For having the phone ring during class, unless it's a regular occurrance, that's a little excessive. If the phone's on silent, and out of sight, I'd say the policy is going to far.

. . . but i thought the last couple years in high school were to help you prepare for the real world, and the last time i checked you wont get your phone confiscated at work or at home for using it, heck most jobs people are on the phone with someone all the time

As has been mentioned, phone-use in the working world is dependant on whether or not it's appropriate to the situation. If you're in a meeting with your boss, it's not appropriate unless you're someone whose job requires them to be on-call. Technically, most companies have a policy forbidding personal calls during working hours; the idea being that they're not paying you to talk to your family/spouse/friends/whatever.

... apparently the whole preparing for the real world is out the window... this is just how i feel (by the way, theyve never tried to take my phone, but id like to see em try )

Sometimes I really wish that school officials were still allowed to touch students. The image of a wrestling coach prying the phone out of a recalcitrant student's hands here is just too perfect

The bottom line is that most calls young adults receive do not merit interrupting class to take. Sure, there's the occasional family emergency, but that's the exception rather than the rule. Most calls you'll receive during the school day are from friends and family calling to chat, not to report an emergency. And if you're in a job that requires you to be on-call 24x7, and you feel that school is a waste of your time, drop out, get your GED, and go to work. If not, please stop making it harder for others in your class, who may not be as smart as you, to learn.

Man I graduated in '93, phones were huge and weighed like 50 pounds back then I can't imagine taking one to school.

Seriously though they have no place in school, and definitely don't need to be ringing and talked on when in school. But they are everywhere, in cars, in the theater, in the grocery store and the mall. I don't see any end.

I have a prepaid cell where the minutes roll over every month if your don't use them and I got like 15 hours or something on there lol. So I'm not a big talker, if I do use it it's for emergencies or short calls, "hey I'm almost there, which house is yours?" or "what do you want me to get from the store" kind of calls. And it's really handy for that.

But as for the people on it constantly just gossiping and blabbing away while driving or shopping, that's annoying. And don't get me started on those Nextel "Beep" talk "Beep" walkie talkie phones. Ignorant people love to abuse those things.

So no kids should not have cell phones in class, If they have to have them for after school, or safety etc. they need to be off and if they are ringing or caught talking on them they need to be confiscated and action taken for causing a disturbance and distraction. Like has been said if you were working in a business that did not require cell phone useage and where talking on a cell or it was ringing you'd get fired quick.


[edit on 28-2-2005 by Veltro]

veltro, man, this is totally off topic... but the fact that you have two MST3K references and two Sealab references going on there has honor-bound me to let me know that you rock

Lmao.. I'm honored. I'm a major Mistie freak (got all 197 episodes on "unofficial" DVD) And Sealab is awesome. Wish they didn't take so long between the box set releases though. I want season 3!

Ahem, anyway
(Sorry for being offtopic!)

[edit on 28-2-2005 by Veltro]

Are school is okay with cell's as long as they do not go off in class.
First offence-5 day confiscation
second offence-Until end of year
I just set mine to vibrate.

It's also a cheating concern, as well as a disruption. In high school they'd take away my phone even if I used it outside the cafetaria during lunch or during one of my planning periods (and give it back at the end of the day - that's a little extreme, but hey - private school, their rules.) Even if the phone is on vibrate it is still a distraction (those vibrating modes are actually pretty loud even if inside a bag!) I have professors now in uni that tell you the first day of class (turn your cell phones off when you enter the room - which, well no kidding!) and first offense they are failed/kicked out of the class if they go off depending on how far along in the semester we are (not all, but several professors I have seen do this.) Even the clicking of someone text messaging is a major annoyance, as well as the perfect way to cheat. You really need to re-think your priorities if talking on the phone is that important to you.

If a part time job is a bigger concern to you than school then why are you still in education? And why would that part time job necessitate bringing a mobile phone to school? How many high school students are making business deals over the phone every day?

In my experience people only bring phones to school so they can text each other in class and play those orgasm ring tones when everyone goes silent.

Text messaging gets noticed to easily in my experiance,but then again I have a small class.

Oh good god kid.. You dont need a cell phone in school. School is for learning. They have a place called the "office" that can handle any "emergency" phone calls you may get. They are a major cource of distraction, and I dont blame the teachers one bit for takin em away.

What you need to remember is that 10 years ago, nobody had them. Its only within the last few years that they have taken off so huge. Now you think you can't live without it. Your wrong. The rule should say that the phone stays in your car during school hours. I mean, who are you? Donald Trump? You got important business deals going on? Not likely. Instead, its probably more like" What are YOU wearing on friday??"

Turn off the phones and worry about getting an education.

BTW---> Most jobs will not let you have your phone during your time there. If the job requires it, yes. But if its some restaurant or something like that. No they wont take the phone, but they will fire you.

Bottom line. The phone belongs in your car, off. Get off yourself. Your not that important.

Yeah, text messaging is a little obvious in smaller, upper-level classes, but when you take underclassmen core classes in uni (intro classes like psych, bio, soc, etc.) and have 250 ppl in a lecture hall it's difficult for proctors (if your school even allows proctors!) to notice. Also, forgot to mention the high school issue of kids using their phones to facilitate drug deals on campus.

Originally posted by spliff4020What you need to remember is that 10 years ago, nobody had them. Its only within the last few years that they have taken off so huge. Now you think you can't live without it. Your wrong.

Lol, exactly, I made it through 4 years of highschool from 89-93 and then college without one. You don't need one in school. If theres is an emergency that's why you give the school emergency numbers to call and there are phones in the office if you need to call home yourself. There was even a payphone in my school, you know those things you had to put quarters in. And if you needed to use it you had to get it in between class and then only if you could get to it before the bell.

It's funny how schoolkids seem like they can't live without their phones and not letting them use them is such a crimp on their lifestyle when we got along without them just fine. If someone has so much more important things to be doing than sitting in class, drop out, I'm sure burger King won't let you have a cell while working the fryer either though.

[edit on 28-2-2005 by Veltro]

Good job pointing out things i never said spliff, I never once stated in my first post above that MY phone was ringing in class or that I was texting, im just saying i know people who have had it happen, and i really doubt my friends are going to sit around and ask each other what they are going to be wearing friday, another brilliant read from what i posted above, perhaps i can hire you to solve all sorts of mysteries and decode everything i say, that way incase another reader comes along and makes the same astute observations, you would have already solved the mystery. Some kids do have jobs where they may need to know if they have to work, or in study hall if they nothing better to do, and where did i ever say also that having a job was more important than an education, thank you for your observations readers, id like to request you decode this message as well, thanks

SWAT