Students Safety or Schools Safety?

By Yune Song-hee

What is the most high-tech device you have these days? MP3? Laptop? You'll probably answer one of these things. When it comes to the students in school, they'll surely point to computer or cell phone.

Actually, cell phones are getting smarter and more useful nowadays. However, they have both advantages and disadvantages. Ever since I've been working as a teacher, cell phones have been a problem in school.

In my first year in school, one of my co-workers had her pictures taken in school. The problem was that the picture was taken under her skirt. After that, cell phones were banned at school. Taking pictures of female teachers often takes place in boy's schools. As well as that, there could be fatal effects of using cell phones in school.

Then, here comes the question. Should we allow children to take phones to school? Or, does the school have the right to take cell phones from students? It is very controversial and the question of whether cell phones should be allowed in schools has been hotly debated recently. Here are some pros and cons.

There are some people who assert that children really need cell phones in case of an emergency, because the phone is the only way their parents can reach their children. They believe that cell phones can prevent children from being kidnapped or getting in a dangerous situation. It is true that there are cell phones with tracing chips or services available which are useful to check a child's safety. In terms of distraction, they believe that phones can be silenced during class or study periods, and activated only at appropriate times.

Also, student themselves actually don't understand why cell phones are prohibited in school. They maintain they have the freedom to carry whatever they want, and cell phones are not harmful or dangerous at all.

Additionally, they argue that there are not enough public telephones available at school. Furthermore, they strongly assert that it is even useful for studying in that they can access the Internet.

Cell phones definitely do have some educational advantages in the classroom. For instance, students can take pictures of class projects to show their parents. Usually, parents do not see projects completed by their children in school. If a student is slow to copy notes from the board, pictures can be taken and students can finish later. Above all things, they can easily contact others which can be a help in daily life.

There are other people who don't agree with the idea of cell phones in school. They don't think it is necessary because it can be only a distraction to the classroom atmosphere and school activities. When a phone rings during class, it really bothers others. Even though they assert that they can just turn it off during class, we all know that even grown-ups sometimes forget to.

And they don't use the phones just to talk. They use phones for sending and receiving texts, taking pictures, surfing the web, playing games and listening to music.

For example, when a teacher explains an important thing in class, students, who have cell phones don't seem to concentrate on the lecture because they are always playing a game, sending text messages to their friends or accessing the Internet. In addition, many believe that students can use cell phones to cheat during an exam. This happens in school a lot.

With a camera phone, there are some students who record the teachers during class. If a teacher is not conducting him/herself properly, they threaten to report them to their parents, administrator even the police.

Most of all, there are reports of long-term side effects on cell phone users under the age of 12. Those are the reasons why some people think cell phones should be banned from school.

In conclusion, there are strong arguments on both sides of the debate. What do you think? Would you allow your child to take a cell phone to school?

The writer teaches English at a middle school. She can be reached at enuyshe@gmail.com.