by Michael King

Created on: January 13, 2010   Last Updated: January 14, 2010

This question depends more on the definition of "school time" then anything else. Frankly, if a student wants to listen to an ipod during his/her own break, then banning it is entirely unreasonable. The student should be expected to take responsibility for his/her own personal items, if lost then the school should not be to blame. Fortunately the law supports the schools on this.

However, the real question is whether ipods should be allowed during class. Some students claim that it helps them to relax and concentrate. There is actually reasonable argument behind this. One major point being that a student with two headphones plugged in will not be talking and thus causing less distraction. If every child was listening to their ipod then, with a suitable volume control, the teacher's dream of a quiet hard-working classroom might come true.

On the other hand, the ipod itself is a fair distraction, I know that I certainly cannot concentrate on the words in front of me when song lyrics keep breaking the rhythm. However, to base the whole answer to this question on my personal experience could be seen as slightly naive. However, I know I am not alone.

This is where we get to the crux of the matter. Students will always have the option of not listening to music if they don't want to, but will they use it properly? Will the students prioritize their schoolwork over their personal enjoyment of the music they could be listening to? Certainly not. Thus, the argument for an against allowing ipods in classrooms falls flat on its face. The answer is entirely relative.

It all depends on the individual teacher, each class, the school, everything relative. If the teacher is skillful enough, and some truly are, then all the benefits of allowing ipod use are entirely nullified. For the class is quiet and hard-working anyway. The isolation provided by the music is already assumed. However, less able teachers, or just more difficult classes, will find that the use of ipods can be a useful tool in getting students down to work. It can be a form of the carrot vs the stick in these classes; ipods are a nice thing to be allowed, but can also be taken away as punishment, increasing the arsenal of the educators considerably.

In conclusion, there should be no national, state or school-wide rule on this topic. Teachers should decide. If we cannot trust our teachers to use their disgression on the use of ipods in the classroom then we shouldn't be trusting them with the futures of our children, let them decide.

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