Your Responses To The Cell Phone Ban
Posted April 19, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Talk about a nerve. The Toronto District School Board – and CityNews – both hit one when we asked you about the new ban on cell phones in public schools.
You flooded us with emails on the new prohibition and almost no one phoned it in. We may not have heard the last words on this topic – but here are a few of yours.
I completely agree with this ban, and wonder why these types of devices were ever even allowed to be used in schools anyway. The fact that students were able to receive calls and/or make them in class up until now is completely ridiculous. There are enough distractions to kids without throwing in cell phones with text messaging and web access – not to mention the door it leaves open for kids to cheat with greater ease than ever before.
This will undoubtedly be an uphill battle for school teachers and administrators with all of the negative feedback they will be getting from students and parents, but this doesn’t seem like an issue that should even be up for debate. Arguments concerning parents’ frustrations about not being able to get in contact with their children hold no water; all anyone has to do is contact the school to get in touch with their child.
Also, since students are still able to have these devices with them, communication will still be available in times of extreme emergency; individuals will just need to exercise basic judgement for when these apply (i.e., notifying a parent that you are safe in the case of a lockdown due to a school shooting is quite obviously acceptable, whereas notifying a parent to let them know that you are going out with your friends after school is not).
Joseph Melo
As much as the kids and the parents say that they are needed to keep in touch, the reality is that there is no need to have a cell phone on during class time.
Now, enforcing this ban will be a challenge, and here’s hoping that the schools punish appropriately. In truth, though, there should be a look at banning cell phones in other places as well. There’s a time and place to talk with your friends, just not during school (or, for that matter, while driving a car?)
Luigi Fisico
I think this is a positive step forward for schools and the learning process for students. These devices should be used for emergencies when students need them.
To have them being used during school hours is a distraction not only to the student, but the teacher and the students around them. There is no need for them to be used during school hours as the students are there to learn.
The “old fashioned” way of reaching your child worked fine in the past, so it should be the way to do it in the present and the future.
Jamie Beblow
I don’t agree. A phone is needed in emergency situations. I’m sure you’ll get some kids chatting or texting during class but maybe there’s a reason.
I’m a positive thinker, you need to give theses kids a break. The daily routine of school is hard enough on kids. Not everyone cheats. Think more positive thoughts with our children and students and you’ll get better results.
June Parson
I do not agree with a citywide school cell phone prohibition. I think that the board has overstepped its authority.
Sure, there has been great concern over how students use the technology available nowadays but I do not believe that banning the use of them on school property is the solution.
There are many reasons why students are given or provided a cell phone. In my personal situation, my child has been given a cell phone for emergency purposes and for many reasons.
It will now restrict her ability to contact me or police and possibly jeopardize her safety. I am concerned on the board’s decision as not all students misuse these privileges they once had.
They should have requested that the items be placed on silent mode and only allow use of them during lunch or breaks where they are away from the classroom setting and not disrupting anyone.
Michelle Lightfoot
I can imagine how disruptive cell phones can be in a classroom however, they are the mode of communication these days and I do not feel that an all-out ban is justified.
I agree that they and iPods should be turned off completely during classroom time but I feel that students should be allowed to use them otherwise.
I also feel that a teacher should have the right to take a cell phone off a student they suspect is not abiding by the rules, but it should be returned to the student after class is over.
Ross Barnett
I totally agree with the cell phone ban. Cell phones have a time and place and it’s not in theatres, schools, hospitals or places of business.
I have also heard from my children that teachers will get phone calls during class and I think this is inappropriate as well.
The bigger issue here is teaching people proper cell phone etiquette. I have gone to dinner with people before and they have been chatting on their cell phone the whole time. It’s very rude and inconsiderate.
Annette O’Hearn-Gaul
Children are at school to learn. Parents shouldn’t object to anything that removes a major distraction from that key goal – and cell phone use is out of hand.
Pupils will still be able to have phones with them on their way to and from school. Parents shouldn’t need to contact their kids when they are at school – if they do have an emergency they can call the school directly.
It’s about time that children and their parents focused on education and not gadgets and “bling.”
Ian Latham
Cell phones (and iPods) are a huge distraction in the classroom environment. If you think that your son or daughter simply uses the phone after school hours, you are mistaken.
Some students just pull out their cell and start texting right in the middle of class. Apparently some students try to provoke their teachers so that they will get mad, then grab the phones with cameras, and then take a video so that they can post it on YouTube.
Cell phones also can have access to MSN, Facebook and Myspace, which is another problem altogether.
I think that the ability to have them, but not turned on is the fair, very fair. Part of being in school is to learn RESPECT and respect is not texting your friend across the classroom and saying the teacher is lame.
Rebecca Wemyss
I absolutely agree with the ban. I am sure that the students and their parents are going to blame the schools (what else is new). However if they had not abused the privilege, there would not be a ban in the first place. Schools and their classrooms are for learning purposes only.
While a student is on the cell during class hours the only things he/she is learning are rudeness and ignorance. Let them have the cells back if this is what their parents want them to learn.
Carol McGorman
Personally, I believe that the complete ban of cellular phone use within schools could be loosened up a little bit.
Perhaps set rules and restrictions, making sure teachers are enforcing them, rather than having a complete, all-out ban.
As proved by the tragedies in the past, the most recent being the Virginia Tech massacre, schools are not always the safest place for students to be…
If the unthinkable were to occur in one of the city’s schools, when it comes down to it a cellular phone could very well be the difference between life and death.
I think somebody needs to take another look at this topic. Rather than banning cellular phone use from all students, why not take disciplinary action upon those who do abuse the use of the tool during school hours.
Rachel Hendrickson
Give me a break! My generation survived without cell phones. We had one phone and that was in the kitchen. If a parent needed to contact a child at school they called the office.
Kids wailing because they can’t have their phones, drivers causing accidents while yapping on cells and business folks in Blackberry withdrawal … technology is way out of control!!!
Susana Crisp
Peter Longfield
