A Look at Cellphone Usage in School

One of the biggest controversies among students and teachers is the use of cellphones during school. Most teachers prohibit the use of cellphones during class, however, if a student uses his or her phone for an educational purpose it should be allowed.

In some cases, teachers allow their students to use their cellphones to look something up or use any online resources to help with schoolwork. This should be the case in all classrooms around the globe. Those students with cellphones have access to the world in their pockets. Students can look up any topic and find the answer they need. This would be a great way to expand student’s resources. If someone has access to so much information, why deny them the ability to access it?

Maybe there is more to this issue than students think. Teachers may be enforcing the no cellphone rule because they believe there is value in knowing information instead of having to look it up.The foundation of teaching is to educate students so that they will have enough information to figure out a problem on their own. Knowing the information yourself would be a lot easier and less time consuming than searching for the answers. Even though it is impossible to know everything, learning new methods and discovering new answers to problems will be more effective in the students’ futures.

With the use of cellphones comes responsibility on both the students and teachers. Teachers should monitor their students and make sure they are actually using their cellphones for educational purposes. Students should also do their part and not abuse their ability to use their cellphones during class. That privilege can be taken away as quickly as it was given to them.

With the use of cellphones in school comes the possibility of cyberbullying during class. Teachers don’t want their students to be more focused on what’s going on in the social media world rather than what is going on in class. It would be easy for someone to post inappropriate conduct on social media during school hours. This could very easily distract classmates, especially those affected by the post. Most teachers don’t want to see something, such as cyberbullying, become a major issue because cellphones were permitted in class.

As long as students are staying on task and using their cellphones for appropriate reasons they should be allowed to use them. It isn’t fair for teachers to automatically think that students will abuse the right to use cellphones in class. Most teachers won’t even give the students a chance first, and simply expect the worst in students. Some may say it is to prevent inappropriate usage of the students cellphone, which may be true but why not give it a try first? Who knows, maybe the students will surprise their teachers.