Cell Phones should not be Allowed in School – No

Cell Phones should not be Allowed in School – No
When I first read the question, should cell phones be allowed in school?, my gut reaction is NO. If students are allowed to have cell phones in class then there is going to be a lot more cheating, more distractions, and less classroom focus. In order to keep students from cheating there would have to be more than just a few different tests made up. The distraction of students texting, reading texts, and such would go through the roof, and with the age of smart phones students could be doing many things that are not allowed with the schools acceptable use policy. If there was a way to block students from accessing sites on their phones like they can on the internet then it might not be too bad, but since they can surf the internet through 3G and now 4G technology I don’t see how we can keep them from accessing “forbidden” material. On the site teaching technology suite 101, they mention that phones can even be used for arranging drug deals, plotting a bomb threat, and/or arranging a fight. They also mention a Fair Cell Phone Use Policy, which is a great idea, but how could we monitor it?
Ezine Articles shares a great point, if there was a bomb threat, or another reason for having to evacuate the school, then if the students had their phones they could be in more danger because they are not giving their full attention to the administration during this crucial point. They could be contacting their parents to come and get them, which could cause even more problems because then they may run off to their parents and the school would not know where they are. I actually had that happen and it is quite scary. We had a bomb threat in one of the districts I have worked in and my student was so scared that he texted his mom, even though he wasn’t allowed to have his phone, and then snuck off to the store down the street for someone to pick him up. It was terrifying when we realized that he was gone, especially since he was with us when we exited the school.
The National School Safety and Security Services state, “On a day-to-day basis, they are disruptive to the educational environment. This also has been the general position of many school districts over the years”. Cell phones are disruptive. Even if a phone is on vibrate you can usually still hear it going off. I know that there are good things that can come out of students having phones in school but in this case I feel that the cons outweigh the pros. They are disruptive, they can be used for harming others, and they can be used to cheat. These reasons alone are enough from me to say that they should not be allowed.