Misuse+and+abuse

“It hasn’t happened in 9 years,” says math teacher Mark C. What is he talking about? What else than cell phones going off in class. Cell phones have basically consumed not only students, but also teacher’s lives. Most teachers said that they got their first cell phones just after Katrina because they needed to be able to contact others. Mark C. says that he bought his first cell phone because “I needed a way to text people, because I couldn’t call anybody after the storm.”

With the new technology, people are starting to buy phones that can do more than just be a phone. For example, history teacher Carolyn ., who recently purchased an Iphone, says that, “I like the music, and being able to get on the internet anywhere. I also run with it.” Many others agree that this is an upgrade from their first phones, which were very large.

Children are starting to get their first cell phone at younger ages every year. When asked about lower school kids having cell phones, Mark C. said that “It’s just a distraction, they need it to have a nice ring tone, and maybe something from Shrek, a cover, and they need it to be fuzzy.”

With so many students and teachers now having access to these phones on a daily basis, it raises the issue of their use at school. If a student’s cell phone rings during class, the student gets in trouble. Isabelle H. notes, “it’s against the rules for a student’s cell phone to ring.” Should it be the same for a teacher? When asked if she felt that there was a difference between a teacher and a student’s cell phone ringing, history teacher Carolyn T. said that “If your kids are somewhere else and your kids get sick and need to go home, I would need to be able to know that” On the other hand, Mark C. added that “Students have a responsibility and teachers have a responsibility in the class. It’s my job to teach during class, I can check my phone afterwards, and if it’s an emergency, they can come get me.” Also, one anonymous Junior said that “I think they're equally disruptive, and it's not fair for a teacher to not play by the rules they're enforcing with their students.”

To give them the benefit of the doubt, most teachers said that they don’t bring their cell phones to class and if they do, they are put on vibrate or silent. However, one teacher said that her phone rings “on average, once a day.” However, Carolyn T. said that she “could count the number of times on one hand” that her cell phone has rung in class. If students are given a mark or detention for disrupting the class, shouldn’t there be some sort of penalty if a teacher were to do the same?