Cell phone debate

"Hol on let me answer mi cellular"
Cellular Phone - Bounty Killa

Recently I've been hearing and reading a bit about proposed bannings of cellphones in schools in various countries. There is some talk of it in Barbados at the moment after a recent incident where a student was killed for his phone and now there is some talk of it here in Toronto.

Frankly I'm surprised that this issue has taken so long to be put on the table as it was one of the first things I thought about when I realized the prevalence of cellphones especially amongst high school students. I can just imagine how annoying it must be currently to be a teacher and continually be reminding students to turn off or turn down their phones in class etc. Talk about issues with attention span back in the days it was only paper planes and spit balls and the like that teachers had to deal with. Now on top of those they have to compete with text messages and the random, whistles, bells, song snippets and whatever passes for ring tones these days. So many distractions to the students. I think as a teacher that might drive me postal.

Yes the new portable technology that we have at our finger tips is amazing. Cell phones, Ipods and other mp3 players, portable DVD players, Ps2s, laptops etc are great ........ when put to legitimate use. Still when one is in school is there the need for all of this stuff?

I remember back in my high school days, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, at the advent of portable video games our school staff took what appeared to myself as a young student to be a draconian stance regarding those items. They were completely banned from the school premises. It didn't matter if you weren't playing with them or not if they were found in your possession you were in trouble. (I could tell you a story about me, that and detention but I have a certain image to uphold.)

OK so you cant really compare video games with cell phones which sometimes have a legitimate use but at the same time whats the big issue with banning cellphones from the classrooms and hallways of our schools?

Well the above linked article gives some opinions of staff, students and parents towards the proposed ban and if there is one thing that the article suggests to me its that human beings in general are getting more stupid by the minute. It makes one wonder if those fanciful back stories to sci-fi tales where the machines rise up and take over aren't as far fetched as they seem cause frankly technology is making us bleeping imbeciles!

I mean I understand keeping in touch with where the child is going to be after school but do you have to keep in touch during school hours too? Hear one parent talking about how she uses the cell phone to remind her children of appointments. So wait before cell phones children didn't have appointments too? You cant remind the children before they leave home? Chupse! The children don't got a memory that they cant remember something so for a couple of hours and you have to call them in class to remind them? In class the child should be focused on the teacher or doodling in a notebook or troubling some other child not dealing with parents on cell phones reminding them of things to do.

Then hear one child talking about she don't mind them banning them in the classrooms but they shouldn't ban phones in the hallway cause she uses them to find her friends at break. Again big chupse! So before cell phones how people used to find their friends? Ya didn't used to ask them where they were going to be at break or holler out their name to find them or use the eyesight or speech that God give you to ask somebody where them is? Cheese on bread!

I tell ya, we becoming too dependent on this technology business. It stunting we brain! It stifling we common sense!

And what got me is that when you think about it the parents of these kids should know better. I forgive the kids cause they grow up with the technology and they ain't know any better but the parents? They ain't grow up with no cellphones. Yes is a different society we live in with more dangers etc but still ain't no need for cellphones during class hours. Tell the child what he/she needs to do in the morning before they go off to school. Don't wait till they trying to get lil Arithmetic in dey head in Ms Jones class to confuse them about home business. Plan out what needs to be done and if ya forget deal with it the next day.

That took my thinking to another thought. Why do we need to be continually connected? Even in the adult world is it absolutely necessary for persons to know where you are at every moment of the day? Do we need to converse with persons who aren't around that much? You cant be in the car or walking for 10 minutes without checking in or dialing up or whatever?

Just a thought.

But back to the schools and the cellphones. I didn't even mention the dangers of kids taking naughty photos and videos with cellphones or using the Internet or text messaging to cheat. No man too much issues with this phone thing at school. Take it away from the classrooms. Its just an added distraction to the already short attention span of kids these days. Take it out! Dash way the cell phones at school during school hours. Ban dem!