by Bartley Mcmurray

Created on: March 02, 2010

Should children be allowed to have cell-phones in the school? What about laptops or PDAs or Ipods? I think that we have moved to a time in our society where we have to embrace all of the possible technologies that are available as learning tools. While there is always a possible negative or downside to using new technologies in class, I think that the benefits of using cell phones in the classroom far outweigh the down. So should children be allowed to use cellphones in the classroom? I say YES!

To have a fair argument about this topic, I feel that brutal honesty is a must. If I am being honest with myself, I know that the majority of students would much rather spend time on a cell phone than reading a book. Most all students have cellphones and love using them. In fact, according to Juliette LaMontagne, “76% of students 12 to 18 have their own cellphone.” (LaMontagne, 2009) In a time of budget crisis, this certainly would be a low priced option of introducing technology into the classroom. Schools would not have to build the infrastructure to support this technology because it is already there. There are no more computers, servers, routers, or any other pieces of equipment to buy. The technology is waiting to be used.

At one point in the educational time line we would have thought that using calculators was a wild idea. Now every student that goes through the public school system uses calculators. They own them and are taught how to use them at a very young age. In fact some classes require the use of calculators that are basically hand held computers. There was probably a lot of angry teachers when calculators first started appearing on the scene. This is similar to the opinion of a large group of educators with cellphones. They are looked at as more of a hindrance than a help. Most cellphones I know have calculators built in. In fact there is not too many things that you could not do with an Iphone or a Smartphone. You can graph chart, plot, create formulas,etc... U.S. Secretary of Education Arnie Duncan had this to say about cellphones in the classroom, “Finding ways to use cellphones to deliver lesson plans to students would improve education and meet federal guidelines. (Lamontagne, 2009)

Improving education has been proven in some cases. A study was done on a group of schools in a low income area of North Carolina. Some students were given smartphones that had Windows mobile and programs to help with algebra. The results were astounding.

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