Bill Introduced In Pennsylvania To Ban All Portable Gadgets In School

[The Straight Story]

Bill Introduced In Pennsylvania To Ban All Portable Gadgets In School
from the seems-a-bit-extreme,-right? dept

We've seen various schools or school teachers/administrators try to ban bringing mobile devices into schools, and the whole concept seems backwards. It's perfectly reasonable to have rules within the classroom where students are told not to use the phones during class time, but a full ban makes little sense. In fact, many parents have protested such rules, as they feel safer when their kids have mobile phones. However, it looks like some politicians in Pennsylvania are going even further. Dan Callahan, a 6th grade teacher in Pennsylvania wrote in to let us know that a state legislator has introduced legislation for a blanket ban on students having portable electronic devices in schools:

The possession by students of telephone paging devices, commonly referred to as beepers, cellular telephones and portable electronic devices that record or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other vehicles provided by the school district.

Callahan points out how ridiculous this is, referring to it as the Luddite Bill (though, in fairness, it would just be one of many such bills). He notes that his school does already have a ban on phones (which he's helped enforce), but notes that there should be flexibility -- especially for the school to decide. He also notes that mobile devices may present a great learning opportunity for smart teachers who learn to make use of them:

A few years ago, I wouldn't have thought this a big deal, but to take away the option of teachers allowing cell phone use in their classrooms to me now seems ludicrous. Right now we stand on the brink of a major shift in computing resources available to students in their pockets, with phones as powerful as a computer from only a few years ago.... Honestly, if you think we really want you to take away more teaching options from us, you're sorely mistaken.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090213/1835443768.shtml

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. I like the part of banning them in schools - but not buses, at activities, and so on.

I agree with the spirit of the idea - kids have absolutely no need to have an iPod, cell phone, walkman, or other device from the time they enter a school until the time they walk out at the end of the day.

Fear-based parents who insist their children have phones at school "just in case of emergency!" should have their faces slapped with a cod. A cod that's been filled with buckshot. And then they should be shot in the forehead.

But I can't see banning such devices at, say, football games or while they're on a bus, whether it's the bus to and fro school or a bus taking them to an activity.

[Mz Pip]

2. I really dislike any zero tolerance

policies.

I worked for 20 years in high schools and MP3s, Walkman, pagers, then cell phones and iPods were a real annoyance. I continually saw kids in class with headphones on and their heads on their desks. Eventually, the school issued a not in class policy, which seemed to help until the kids got so good at texting that the teachers didn't even see it.

I wouldn't object to a rules about not having any of this stuff on in class.

[TlalocW]

3. Wow, the biggest tech advance I can remember in school

Were shoes that used velcro instead of laces. My classmates would constantly unfasten and re-fasten them during class to keep them tight to the point that my 5th-grade teacher thought that various people in the class were constantly tearing paper for some reason.

TlalocW

[Occam Bandage]

4. Let's not harness this astounding leap forward in information capability.

Let us instead fear and hide it from our youth.

[Fleshdancer]

5. Freaking hell. Legislation is not neccessary for crap like this!

Schools are perfectly capable of banning portable gadgets without lawmakers getting involved.

[Iggo]

6. We do not send our child to any school function...

...where she is not allowed to bring her cell phone. Period.

I know we didn't have 'em when we were kids, but that was then and this is now.

[Missy Vixen]

7. I seem to remember that students were calling out of Columbine

High School for help during that terrible tragedy.

I'm not crazy about any kid with a cell phone, but after that, maybe they do have a place. We don't have kids, so maybe some of the parents could help me out here: Would you want your kid to have a phone for the reason above? I know we seriously discussed getting a phone for our high-school student niece at the time; my sister went ahead and did it.

[DCKit]

8. Won't that be, like, fatal to half the kids?

They'll DIE if they're not connected!!!