school confiscates cell phone, lawyer dad is mad?

[MikeyPatriot]

I am calm?

[Homer]

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I don't think I should need to provide a reason why a device that has become as widespread as a wristwatch or a calculator should be outlawed from a school.

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Just because an item is widespread makes it acceptable for usage in a school?

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I grew up as cell phones blew up when I was in high school ('99-'03). My school (or at least any classes my friends and I had) had no problems with classroom distractions. I think you guys are overstating how bad the situation is. It's no worse than a class clown, passing notes, or whispering to your friends.

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I think you are out of touch with reality. The situation has gotten a lot worse, even in as little as four years.

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It's hard to provide reasons "for" cell phone use when I don't find any reason to ban them.

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Simple, kids are not responsible enough to use them appropriately. They cause tons of problems in the classroom, to the point that it becomes nearly impossible to teach. They should not be allowed for the same reason PSPs, ipods, etc are not allowed. Kids are not using their cell phones for practical purposes most of the time. They are text messaging, playing with ring tones, playing games, etc. If they need to contact their parents, they can go to the main office and use the phone. I cannot think of one reason for cell phones to be allowed.

I do agree that the argument someone else stated (quicker escalating fights) is not a main reason for disallowing cell phones.

All of these problems would be solved if schools would just get jammers.

[Tron]

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Evan,

"There are plenty of legit reasons for that and I did it all the time."

I'd like to hear some of these and your after-school plans don't qualify in the least. Whether or not its a "big deal" to use a cell during lunch or whatever goes back to the common sense thing, but there's no denying that if they make a "no cells" rule, using it to tell your parents you're going over to Kevin's house after school doesn't really exempt you from following the rule.

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Wtf? I didn't say it made him exempt from any rules. Come on man, there's a big difference between breaking rules being a douche, like this.

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I don't understand why you included that link.

[ebepse]

if they allow phones at lunch they obviously will call/text their friends who are in class

[chesspain]

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Also, IMO, leaving a kid with no phone outside of school for a month poses an unnecessary safety risk.

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There was a time, in a galaxy far away, when there was no such thing as a cell phone.

[chesspain]

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Places its ok to use phone:
Car while driving
Restaurant
Grocery Store
Between classes at high school



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I'm sorry, but you suck at this game.

[chesspain]

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I'm not justifying parenting...

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I was giggling too hard to read any further. [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[MikeyPatriot]

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I don't think I should need to provide a reason why a device that has become as widespread as a wristwatch or a calculator should be outlawed from a school.

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Just because an item is widespread makes it acceptable for usage in a school?

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It doesn't make it acceptable to disrupt a class. I don't understand why making a phone call on your lunch break is unacceptable.

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I grew up as cell phones blew up when I was in high school ('99-'03). My school (or at least any classes my friends and I had) had no problems with classroom distractions. I think you guys are overstating how bad the situation is. It's no worse than a class clown, passing notes, or whispering to your friends.

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I think you are out of touch with reality. The situation has gotten a lot worse, even in as little as four years.

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Maybe things have gotten worse. I recently got in touch with an old math teacher of mine. Maybe I can get him to chime in on this discussion?

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It's hard to provide reasons "for" cell phone use when I don't find any reason to ban them.

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Simple, kids are not responsible enough to use them appropriately. They cause tons of problems in the classroom, to the point that it becomes nearly impossible to teach. They should not be allowed for the same reason PSPs, ipods, etc are not allowed. Kids are not using their cell phones for practical purposes most of the time. They are text messaging, playing with ring tones, playing games, etc. If they need to contact their parents, they can go to the main office and use the phone. I cannot think of one reason for cell phones to be allowed.

I do agree that the argument someone else stated (quicker escalating fights) is not a main reason for disallowing cell phones.

All of these problems would be solved if schools would just get jammers.

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First off, are you a teacher? If not, I don't think you're qualified to make statements like students having cell phones = impossible to teach class.

If kids are using phones in the middle of class, the cell phone is not the problem. The student is the problem. Maybe the teacher as well for not sending the kid to the office. Regardless, the student is a distraction and should be punished appropriately.

My school had two (luckily hoax) bomb threats called in. Kids that had cell phones on them were able to get their parents to come pick them up from where the school moved us to. An emergency situation like this is enough reason for me to allow a student to carry a phone on his or her person. And, in my opinion, a student's lunch period is their own time and they should be able to do with it as they please.

In the same vein, I think it's OK in case of a family emergency. The student should have the cell phone off in class, but he/she can check his messages in between class/at lunch. Because if we're arguing about distractions, a parent calling the school and that kid being pulled out of a class IS distracting. Especially if the kid is told some awful news and has to come back in to get his/her crap and is obviously upset.

Maybe I'm not emphasizing how much I agree with you that a student who disrupts class should be disciplined? I also don't agree with the notion that a ban on cell phones in school is going to somehow increase a student's concentration. If a kid is bored in math class, he still isn't going to pay attention because he doesn't have a cell phone to f around with. He's going to fall asleep or talk to his buddy or draw or stare at some girls. And he should be disciplined for it.

Ultimately, I think this all boils down to the fact that some kids lack any sort of respect for the teacher, the school, and other students. I think we can all agree on this?

[MikeyPatriot]

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Also, IMO, leaving a kid with no phone outside of school for a month poses an unnecessary safety risk.

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There was a time, in a galaxy far away, when there was no such thing as a cell phone.

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Why does this argument keep coming back? There is a time, in a galaxy right now, when there definitely is such a thing as a cell phone.

[oneeye13]

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So if the kid brings smokes, drugs, guns, knives and booze the school can't seize them because it's his personal property?

School grounds are not public grounds where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy.

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The school doesn't seize them because they have not been granted any authority or power to do so. That's why schools will have uniformed police officers assigned to them. That way someone with the training and authority is there to handle the situation correctly and within the law.

You are correct that school grounds are considered to be public grounds so courts have upheld the school's/police right to search things like lockers with drug dogs. However, anything that you have in your possession such as a bag or pockets does have a reasonable expectation of privacy. That's why the drug dogs can only search the lockers, otherwise wouldn't it just be better to have all the students line up in the halls to have the dogs search them? Thank you Fourth Amendment!

I'm not against the kid getting punished for being disruptive with his cell phone, or being a douche bag. However I don't believe that the school seizing the phone is the correct, or lawful, thing for them to do. Give the kid a detention or suspend him, or use some other form of punishment that is within their authority, but they do not need to be trying to extend their power beyond what has been granted to them by our government, certainly not past what is allowed by the Fourth Amendment. Your constitutional rights do not disappear when you step through the doors of a public school and the school has no authority to seize personal property. Especially without due process.

Unless the phones are taken on sight, instead of when they are disruptive while learning is taking place, not during the time between classes, at lunch, or before and after school, no one is going to argue that he didn't do something disruptive and deserves reprimand. My issue is that the school has overstepped its bounds and is doing something illegal with the seizure of property and should not be allowed to continue to do so. They are wrong because of the punishment, not because they attempted to punish the kid.

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right to bear arms in schools?