Zero Tolerance For Classroom Texters

[Hum]

Just about every teenager has a cell phone, but they don't always turn it off when they should. Now, schools

are cracking down on students who text or get calls during class.

Under a zero-tolerance policy at Benicia High School outside San Francisco, a first offense means the phone is confiscated for the week. Repeat offenders could lose it for the whole school year. Keep in mind, students are free talk or text during recess and lunch. Just not during class.

Even so, Principal Gary Jensen has dozens of confiscated cell phones (as well as iPods and portable CD players) locked up in his office- including some that will stay there for weeks. He says while the kids don't like the policy, most of the parents do, and agree that if their teenager would just follow the rule, they wouldn't lose their phone.

The policy is announced twice a day over the school's PA system, and each student must sign off on a form acknowleging they are aware cell phones must be turned off during class. Jensen says it's no good to have a policy in place, and then not enforce it, because, he says, "that's not teaching kids anything."

But critics complain taking away that critical line of communication for so long is unfair, and unwise. "You take that phone away, that young person doesn't have an opportunity to call 9-1-1 so they can help thwart crimes, and call home if they need to," says Dane Snowden of the CTIA Wireless Assocation.

Other critics point out parents (most likely) need to keep paying the phone bill, and that it's wrong for schools to confiscate a student's private property that can, in dangerous situations, help save lives.

But others argue if the student gets busted again and again, the punishment fits. "The key word is repeat offender," says school safety consultant Ken Trump. "If the school's saying the kid has repeatedly offended, that means the kid knew the rule, knew what the consequences were, and they suffered the consequences."

At Benicia High, students who refuse to give up their phones are suspended. In the wake of shootings at Columbine, Virginia Tech, and most recently at a high school in Wisconsin, some parents say suspension is actually preferable to having their son or daughter out of pocket for long periods of time.

But for many repeat offenders, the inability to hang it up may be part of a larger issue. When I asked one teenager who got busted for texting during class if she'd do it again, her reply was "yes, but next time I'll be more discreet."

source

[Xypro]

hahahhahhahahaha, I am sorry but I don't know who would not text in class, its been a classic cellphones were popular. Your fighting a whole generation of kids including me, good luck fighting the war. We are the young more youthful minds, we always outsmart the teachers.

[Raa]

Many schools have been doing this for years. (Some unsuccessfully)

I'm a big fan of the "no phones at the table" rule. Whether that's a dinner table, class table or otherwise.

[iamawesomewicked]

hahahhahhahahaha, I am sorry but I don't know who would not text in class, its been a classic cellphones were popular. Your fighting a whole generation of kids including me, good luck fighting the war. We are the young more youthful minds, we always outsmart the teachers.

You won't be so happy go lucky when they seize your phone and throw it in the trash now would you?

[Hum]

Just kick texters out of school for a week. :laugh:

[Xypro]

You won't be so happy go lucky when they seize your phone and throw it in the trash now would you?

But my school is not like that as long as your grades are good and there are no disturbances, its good with my school teachers, but I never at the dinner table.

[deactivated_]

I survived school without a cell phone, and so did a lot of people. It can be done!

[Nagisan]

Sounds good to me, I never had a cell phone in school and I did fine, same as many of my friends. Anyone caught using their phone in the middle of a class should have it taken away until the school year is out IMHO.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Surely a better solution is a threat of suspension instead of confiscation of their phones? That way their only consequence is the loss of their education (if they care about it at all) over a loss of a critical tool in emergencies.

[iamawesomewicked]

Surely a better solution is a threat of suspension instead of confiscation of their phones? That way their only consequence is the loss of their education (if they care about it at all) over a loss of a critical tool in emergencies.

Yeah, surely schools don't have landlines/pay phones or anything of that nature. :whistle:

[HAckEur]

The office of Principal Gary Jensen has just become a prime target for being broken into, being vandalized, set on fire and find his car tyres punctured etc... maybe the students are more gentile and sedate these days :whistle:

[Nagisan]

Surely a better solution is a threat of suspension instead of confiscation of their phones? That way their only consequence is the loss of their education (if they care about it at all) over a loss of a critical tool in emergencies.

Sadly, a majority of kids (in the US at least) would love for that to happen, sure they wouldn't get to see their friends, but they wouldn't have to go to school either. If they were suspended as opposed to having their cell phones confiscated, their parents would be the ones who would suffer, not the kids. As far as the "loss of a critical tool in emergencies"....I disagree, cell phones are great tools in emergencies but there are many other ways of communication that work fine in a majority of emergencies.

[Neoauld]

No school has the right to take ANYONES property, i never had a cell in school..but id kick the teacher's ass for theft...he can take it and say never bring it back...but to keep it for a year...hes either gonna pay me for the years worth of bills...or give it back

[Nagisan]

No school has the right to take ANYONES property, i never had a cell in school..but id kick the teacher's ass for theft...he can take it and say never bring it back...but to keep it for a year...hes either gonna pay me for the years worth of bills...or give it back

I disagree, it is the schools responsibility to give a child a good education, if the child is disrupting their education by using their cell phone (even if it is not disrupting others), it should be the schools responsibility to punish the child as well IMO.

[Persecuto]

My, my. What spoiled people, er, children. "What, I can't text while I'm supposed to be paying attention and learning?" "What, I can't <fill in the blank> just because I want to!?"

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there was a world that was devoid of cell phones. Before even then, there was a world devoid of phones, period. Folks got along just fine; in fact it's probably fair to say that folks did much better back in those "good old days". They actually learned to write, and to spell, and to talk and write in complete, proper sentences. Education actually educated because students actually learned. They paid attention in no small part because there were far fewer distractions. Rants and tantrums would inevitably result not in a confiscation of some small piece of personal property at the school Principal's office, but a harsh discipline including, for those miscreants deserving of it, the "paddle". Oh, the horror of it all! "What of our rights!?"

You have the right to study hard and to learn, and the opportunity to succeed. You also have the right to fail. Text in class, focus on the nonsensical, the trivial, and the inane, and you'll find out what failure is, up close and personal.

Why this entire subject is newsworthy is a complete mystery. The utterly vapid excuse offered by the marketing arm of the cell phone industry, that "You take that phone away, that young person doesn't have an opportunity to call 9-1-1 so they can help thwart crimes, and call home if they need to," is so patently empty of worth and so transparent of motive as to defy belief.

This is simply sad. Families have the money to pay the bill for the communications provider but find it difficult to pay the mortgage. Where have society's priorities gone?

[Shadrack]

I survived school without a cell phone, and so did a lot of people. It can be done!

lol +1

I didn't get a cell phone until after College! But I'm probably the very last generation of students that can say that because about half the college campus I attended had cell phones.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Yeah, surely schools don't have landlines/pay phones or anything of that nature. :whistle:

Sadly, a majority of kids (in the US at least) would love for that to happen, sure they wouldn't get to see their friends, but they wouldn't have to go to school either. If they were suspended as opposed to having their cell phones confiscated, their parents would be the ones who would suffer, not the kids. As far as the "loss of a critical tool in emergencies"....I disagree, cell phones are great tools in emergencies but there are many other ways of communication that work fine in a majority of emergencies.

I didn't mean the emergencies being just at school. After all we're talking about phones being confiscated from them for a year or so.

As for seeing their friends, well if they choose to do that, their own fault if they end up failing at school. That's their consequence. Consequences don't include holding a phone hostage for one year and draining their bill or wasting money for ETFs.

[Nagisan]

I didn't mean the emergencies being just at school.

Neither did I.

After all we're talking about phones being confiscated from them for a year or so.

As for seeing their friends, well if they choose to do that, their own fault if they end up failing at school. That's their consequence. Consequences don't include holding a phone hostage for one year and draining their bill or wasting money for ETFs.

How long has the human race survived just fine without cell phones? I don't see how holding a students phone for an extended period of time is going to make them more susceptible to accidents or anything than they were before cell phones were mainstream. Heck, if anything it will make them less likely to need a phone in an emergency, less people texting while driving and being distracted while doing other tasks.

And honestly, ask any normal highschool kid whether they would rather lose their phone for a year or have a week of suspension, I would be willing to bet a majority of them would pick a week of suspension. As far as draining their bill goes, that can also be seen as a part of their punishment, though most of the time it's the parents paying the bill not the students. Maybe parents should be a bit more responsible and take the phone from students during school hours?

Either way, suspension isn't much of a punishment in all honesty, most kids these days (again, in the US) would quickly pick suspension over losing their phone.

[SkyDX]

Before I get flamed, this is only my opinion and I don't force it on anybody else:

No matter under what reason, property of people no mater of what age shouldn't be allowed to be taken away, if anything, take it away for that specific lesson and give it back afterwards.

Furthermore I think after the age of 16, the whole "schools forcing to learn" thing is stupid. Instead of forcing the students to lean, schools should try to make it clear that if you don't learn by yourself for yourself you're not going anywhere in life. With 16 years everybody should have grasped that if they aren't educated, they will fall flat in life and aslong as they attend and don't disturb any other students, let the students do what they want. If they don't wanna accept the free education that is given to them, their loss. If they manage to keep their grades and show that they do learn in test, isn't it totally unimportant what they do in class?

I can give a example of a friend of mine: he never did his homework and the teachers punished him at first, however all he got in tests were As and Bs so after a while the teachers didn't care about what he did anymore because they saw he got educated and gained knowledge. And before anyone says he cheated, no he did not, he finished his A-Levels with a awesome 1.8 and is studying now.

My point is: after a certain age and grade of maturity, work with the students to learn for themselves, do not work against them, stop forcing stuff on them, because the more restrictions you apply, the higher is the thrill of breaking them.

[Neoauld]

I disagree, it is the schools responsibility to give a child a good education, if the child is disrupting their education by using their cell phone (even if it is not disrupting others), it should be the schools responsibility to punish the child as well IMO.

WRONG

its the parent's responsibility to discipline kids, not the schools. If its disrupting the class, put the kid outside and contact the parents. If schools want to take 200-600 dollar property from a child they better prepare for a backlash. If someone came up to me and tried to steal my phone on the street, theyd be lucky if i dont stab them with the first sharp object i can find, and if i was still a student and this happened, then the teacher gets it to, or better yet when i DID see this happen once with another student, he refused to give it over and kept things goin until the teacher made the first move and hit him...and got his ass fired. These teachers are paid very little for a reason, because all theyre expected to do is teach. Why do parents support offloading their own responsibilities onto them, oh right..because they love blaming others for when their kid does something wrong(mainly north american parents too ive noticed...cause foreign kids in the many countries ive been to grow up with more strict parents and tend to not have as many probs as the spoiled ones here)

[Subject Delta]

Realistically, teachers should only have the right to confiscate the phone during the school day.

[Buttus]

My, my. What spoiled people, er, children. "What, I can't text while I'm supposed to be paying attention and learning?" "What, I can't <fill in the blank> just because I want to!?"

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, there was a world that was devoid of cell phones. Before even then, there was a world devoid of phones, period. Folks got along just fine; in fact it's probably fair to say that folks did much better back in those "good old days". They actually learned to write, and to spell, and to talk and write in complete, proper sentences. Education actually educated because students actually learned. They paid attention in no small part because there were far fewer distractions. Rants and tantrums would inevitably result not in a confiscation of some small piece of personal property at the school Principal's office, but a harsh discipline including, for those miscreants deserving of it, the "paddle". Oh, the horror of it all! "What of our rights!?"

You have the right to study hard and to learn, and the opportunity to succeed. You also have the right to fail. Text in class, focus on the nonsensical, the trivial, and the inane, and you'll find out what failure is, up close and personal.

Why this entire subject is newsworthy is a complete mystery. The utterly vapid excuse offered by the marketing arm of the cell phone industry, that "You take that phone away, that young person doesn't have an opportunity to call 9-1-1 so they can help thwart crimes, and call home if they need to," is so patently empty of worth and so transparent of motive as to defy belief.

This is simply sad. Families have the money to pay the bill for the communications provider but find it difficult to pay the mortgage. Where have society's priorities gone?

+infinity

[Digitalx]

Unfortunately, unless they return it at the end of the day it borderlines theft of property. They haven't signed a waiver acknowledging they can take their possessions for such a time only that they know they shouldn't use it during the time period. Not to mention majority of school kids can't legally sign any binding contract without consent and acknowledgement of legal guardian or parent.

I hit similar issue at school in turn they returned it at end of the day after me and my parent at the time threatened to charge the school with theft since there was no agreement or policy or anything in place for such a thing and they had no right to do it.

It's one thing you can't really outlaw, only regulate so during "teacher lecture" time or something that requires full attention of students then maybe if they abuse it remove it from them for that session then return it afterwards when the need to focus on the teacher isn't of priority.

This isn't the mid 20th century eating soap or banning anything doesn't work anymore.

If there's a higher problem with conventional education not working for newer generations, maybe they need to look at that instead of creating half ass issues which just adds fuel to fire of a situation.

[PsyOpWarlord]

I say we line all classrooms with wire mesh creating faraday cages. That way none of the cell phones would even get a signal. No signal, no call, no texting, no data, no problem.

Classrooms can have a landline phone for emergencies.

[rfirth]

These teachers are paid very little for a reason, because all theyre expected to do is teach.

For a reason? Surely that's not a valid reason. I think you're mixing up babysitters and teachers. Teachers have an important job to perform with lasting consequences.