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Should students be allowed to have cell phones in elementary and high schools?
The issue of use of cell phones in school is faced by various controversies. The use of cell phones has increased due to advent of affordable technology. Consequently, there is increased availability of cell phones to students. Increased cell phone availability necessitates scrutiny of their use by students. This paper explores the effects cell phone use in elementary schools and high schools the effects of cell phone use by students to infer whether cell phones should be used in elementary high schools.
Cell phones can be used as learning tools. Cell phones can be integrated in schools to facilitate learning process (Keengwe, p. 139). For instance, Higgins observed the use of cell Phones in teaching French. Schargel (p. 53) accounts for the need of safety of students. Cell phones are crucial in enabling students to communicate with their friends and parents (Keengwe, p. 139). Such communication is essential in allowing students to contact their parents, or vice versa, to inform them of any emergency or know their whereabouts.
As earlier stated, there is increased availability of cell phones to students. Therefore, it would be more prudent to formulate policies that allow for productive usage of cell phones by students rather than banning their use. According to Schargel (p. 53), students will use cell phones despite their prohibition in schools. Schargel further argues that allowing use of cell phones by elementary and high school students is a form of empowering them with technology. He further argues that parents frequently use of cell phones by parents while banning students from using them is a controversy that ought to be stopped.
Kolb (p. 8) accounts for the possible use of cell phones in schools to inculcate digital etiquette to the students. Most teenagers are not aware of proper cell phone use. Incorporation of cell phones in schools will give teachers an opportunity to incorporate digital etiquette to their students. Sanchez (p. 76) sees the use of cell phones as a method of inculcating responsibility to the students. Allowing students to use cell phones will encourage and can be used as an indication of level of responsibility of the students. Students will be required to take care of their phones and switch them off when in classes.
However, the use of cell phones by students has various disadvantages. For instance, cell phones may cause competition for attention with teachers (Kolb, p. 1; Schargel, p. 53). Students may be tempted to communicate with their friends while in class. Moreover, cell phones may encourage cheating through texting of answers.
Banning of cell phone use based on the possible distraction and consumption of class time should be lifted. Productive incorporation of cell phones in schools has been shown to be beneficial to the learning process. Given the increasing trend of cell phone use by students, facilitating productive use of cell phones will have more efficient results than their banning.
Works Cited
Bergin, David A, and Christi A. C. Bergin. Child and Adolescent Development in Your Classroom. , 2015. Print.
Higgins, Josh. “More schools use cellphones as learning tools.” USA Today, August (2013).
Keengwe, Jared. Promoting Active Learning Through the Integration of Mobile and Ubiquitous Technologies. , 2014. Internet resource.
Kolb, L. “Toys to tools: connecting student cell phones to education. International Society for Technology in Education.” (2008).
Sanchez, Dianna. Aims High School Exit Exams in Reading and Writing. Hauppauge, N.Y: Barron’s Educational Series, 2007. Print.
Schargel, Franklin P. Creating safe schools: a guide for school leaders, teachers, counselors, and parents. Routledge, 2014.
