by Bridget Webber

Created on: February 01, 2008   Last Updated: December 24, 2008

In this day and age most children seem to have access to a cell phone. This can be very useful with regards to safety as it provides them with a means of keeping in touch with their parents and calling for assistance if they require it. However, when it comes to cell phones in the classroom the cellphone itself can become a distraction, both for its owner, the rest of the class and the teacher.

Whilst some teachers believe that confiscating cell phones from children is good practice, although I understand their reasons for believing this, I think that it is not in the child's best interests to do so.

Children need to learn to cooperate with others and to have social concern for their environment. They also need to understand the impact that they personally have on the environment so that they can act responsibly in the future.

Taking the cell phones away from the children doesn't give them the opportunity to behave well. The decision of whether to act respectfully or not is taken away from them by this act and with it the opportunity to learn a life lesson.

A way to handle the possible problem of cell phone use is to educate children as to 'proper' use rather than to treat them as-though they are not capable of behaving well. Informing students clearly, right from the start, that cell phone use is banned in the classroom and that the students themselves are responsible for switching off their phone before class begins, will help teach them to use their cell phones respectfully.

There will always be the odd one or two students who use their cell phones as a way of gaining attention by not sticking to the rules. Such students would be using a different means of gaining attention if they didn't have their phones to help them.

This is the time to take the more severe approach of actually confiscating the disruptive students cell phone so that they recognize that because they have behaved negatively toward the other students and the teacher they are in return, reaping a negative result.

As most students will behave, they are unlikely to be pleased if another student disregards the cell phone rule. Because of this they will reprimand the unruly student themselves, thus giving the unruly student an added incentive to behave more appropriately.

As cell phones are such an important part of our culture it wouldn't go amiss if a cell phone use exercise was placed on the curriculum. This would emphasize how cell phones should be used for safety reasons, and for communication outside of the class.

In this way we could educate the next generation not only about how it is inappropriate to use cell phones in class, but also about how it is disrespectful to use them, unless in an emergency, in other social settings such as restaurants and theaters.

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