Cell phones should be banned in schools: an argumentative analysis

Cell Phones Should Be Banned

In the contemporary era, cell phones have turned out to be one of the most essential every day requirements. There was a time when possessing a cell phone was regarded a luxurious thing. However, in the present times, it has become really common to own a cell phone. It is not an untold secret that children, especially the teenagers, are using the cell phones just like adults. They use their cell phones to do almost everything. Not only are cell phones used to stay in contact with friends and family, they are also used for watching videos, text-messaging, playing games and listening music. Cell phones that have cameras are also used for taking pictures that are later shared with friends. The introduction of smartphones such as Blackberrys and iPhones has allowed them to connect with their friends around the clock on Facebook. In addition, cell phones have made it easy to receive and send emails, locate places and obtain any information required.

However, the use of cell phones in the premises of school and within classrooms has popped up as a hot issue that has raised concerns among the school boards, administrators and teachers. There are a number of issues that can be related with the use of cell phones by students within the walls of school. A majority of people believe that cell phones not only distract the learning environment in the classrooms but are also used by students to cheat on quizzes and tests through texting. Math tests are solved by using the calculator functions in the cell phones. A lot of students use this modern device with the purpose of cyber bullying as they share spiteful and mean messages. Not only this, wicked pupils also has use cell phoned to give false bomb threats. On the other hand, a lot of people hold the opinion that using cell phones is particularly helpful during events of emergency. However, a majority of police officers that are assigned to the educational institutions consider that cell phone usage by students in fact get in the way of school safety in a catastrophic situation (Obringer & Coffey 41).

Even though the cell phones are ranked as by the teens as vital status symbols, their use for cheating purposes could not be justified. There are a lot of students who simply turn off the sound of their phones to send the answer to their friends. In seconds, the correct answer is received by the friend in the other corner of the classroom. In addition, the young cell phone users also use this device to contact to other pupils that are in a different classroom for recording, storing and retrieving the right answers. They even get the pictures of their answer sheet captured to deliver them to other fellow students. Thus, it can easily be said that "Cell phones can be the devil's handmaiden when teachers are giving tests -- some students are so familiar with the keyboard, they can text-message answers to friends by reaching into their pockets and never pulling their phones into view" (Sturgeon). As far as the issue of cyber bullying is concerned, the easy access to Face book, Twitter and other such social networking sites have promoted it which is something that must not be brought within the classroom walls. It is the need of the time to understand that Information technology in the classroom is meant for bridging digital devices and for the student research enhancement. It is a real unfortunate fact that networks are increasingly used for the purpose of entertainment and instead of using cell phones for better things, today's Face book Generation is using this useful device for text-messaging during lectures, labs' experiment etc. (Rover).

If truth be told, today public schools have turned out as battlegrounds with teachers and school administrators performing as the bare-handed negotiators. It is a worldwide problem nowadays that behavioral problems are increasingly occurring within schools and cell phones are a big reason behind such patterns. Cell phones are used by students in a number of negative ways. For example, if an argument occurs, students use their cell phones to call gangs and older kids that eventually result in violent incidents. If teachers notice pupils talking on the cell phones, they run away. Also, cleverness jumps in this case and pupils using cell phones turn off or lower their ringtones to a degree that cannot be heard by adults. Another disadvantage of having cell phones is that students use them to download x-rated videos, images and movies and then share them with their pals that results in the disruption of class. Such an inappropriate practice may even lead to situations of sexual harassment.

Other drawbacks of using cell phones is that it has become an easy thing for ill-minded students to coordinate drug deals in the easiest manner whereby they call dealers into schools. Such people use false identities to pretend being the students' parents or guardians. It would not be incorrect to state, therefore, that a student carrying a cell phone in his/her pocket or bag pack is an uninterested one whose attention is only focused on the blinking of his/her cell phone. Such a student does not have much care for his/her education. Instead, he/she is more careful about his/her social life, Tweeting, Face book statuses and notifications. For all the mentioned reasons, I strongly agree that schools should ban cell phones and no pupil must be allowed to carry a cell phone inside the school/classroom.

On the other hand, many people may disagree on the ban of cell phones in schools and argue in favor of cell phones usage in classrooms. The first reason they give is that of safety as cell phones are considered necessary for security purposes. This is crystal clear from the fact that at the inopportune September 11 incident, it only became possible for parents and children to contact with each other. Also, the advocates of student cell phone usage also claim that cell phones are really helpful in unfortunate events like that of the Columbine attacks and other such events. The students are given the means to get in touch with the emergency personnel if they are stuck in a catastrophic situation while at school. Some people advise that students must be allowed to have cell phones but they should turn them off during lectures so that no distraction could be caused. In this way, it would be still possible for them to still have the cell phones to be used in an uncalled event.