should pupils be banned from taking mobile phones to school?

[editor]

They should be working to eradicate thievery at school.

LOL. So how does that work then?

Big kids have taken stuff off smaller kids since time immemorial; sweets, pencils, comics, radios whatever. It's what happens at school.

So if they're given mobiles to carry around by mummy, they'll get nicked. End of. But don't take my word for it - here's the facts:

Last year a report by the Home Office found that school kids were five times more likely to be victims of mobile phone thefts than adults. The report also found that in many cases it is young people who are responsible for the thefts.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/24/kids_targeted_in_mobile_phone/

But please elaborate how you'd 'eradicate' such theft.

 

[_angel_]

Only if they answer it. Or the teacher hasn't confiscated it. Or it hasn't been stolen/lost/loaned/left round little Timmy's house etc etc....

I was thinking more of police being able to trace mobiles. Any potential abduction, this gives them a lot more to work on.

As far as school goes, so long as it's switched off/ taken off kids till home time I can't see the harm.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

My parents would have jumped at the chance. Tbh I would probably give mine mobiles if they could, like, talk.. just for emergencies.

What possible emergancy would require you to ring them at school, that couldn't be sorted by you ringing the school instead?

 

[_angel_]

LOL. So how does that work then?

Big kids have taken stuff off smaller kids since time immemorial, sweets, pencils, radios whatever.

So if they're given mobiles to carry around by mummy, they'll get nicked. End of. But don't take my word for it - here's the facts:

Adults also get mugged but it's not really a compelling argument against going out without a phone or any money on you just in case.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

I was thinking more of police being able to trace mobiles. Any potential abduction, this gives them a lot more to work on.

Oh ffs.

 

[girasol]

I think they should be turned off during school hours, but children should be allowed to take them in, as other people said, parents use them to keep in touch after school. (like angel said already )

 

[_angel_]

What possible emergancy would require you to ring them at school, that couldn't be sorted by you ringing the school instead?

After school. If you read what I said, I said take the phones off em during class time. Give them back at home time.

 

[scifisam]

Practically speaking, it'd be impossible to ban them outright unless you searched every kid as they came in. Strong sanctions are the way forward, though; the schools I've worked at have had very lax policies regarding mobile phones, which makes life really difficult for the teacher.

I'll be letting my daughter have a mobile phone when she's at secondary school, so that she can go round a friend's or something and easily let me know/check that's OK. It won't be a top of the range one, because that would be a theif magnet, and it won't be a bottom of the range one either, because that would be a bully magnet. Mid-range phones don't seem to get stolen all that often.

Why didn't we need them when we were kids? Well, a lot more kids just roamed free after schooltime and their parents had no idea where they were, and other kids had to go home and tell their Mum in person (if they had a stay at home Mum) or had to use a phone box/landline. Given that there aren't many phone boxes now and lots of people don't have landlines, kids do need mobiles more than they used to.

And I bet we'd have wanted mobiles if they were available then, and so would our parents.

 

[foo]

some good points there scifisam, and ones i hadn't thought of.

you're right about some people choosing not to have landlines these days. we haven't had one for a while, we all use our mobiles. thinking about it, i don't really miss it.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Would it be possible to do this effectively, I'm not sure.
Would it be a good thing, why not.
We managed perfectly well without them before, they are not a necessity and definately have no place at school.

 

[Stobart Stopper]

Ban all kids from schools I say!

 

[Treacle Toes]

Ban all kids from schools I say!

No just the gadgets that get in the way of teaching and learning.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Ban all kids from schools I say!

Ban all kids, even better!

 

[moomoo]

If the teen wasn't allowed to take her mobile phone to school, how would she contact me to ask me to bring her a bottle of water to the school gate.


Ban them, I say.

 

[moomoo]

Ban all kids, even better!

 

[Treacle Toes]

If the teen wasn't allowed to take her mobile phone to school, how would she contact me to ask me to bring her a bottle of water to the school gate.


Ban them, I say.

I feel the need to ask you if you did that for her?

 

[moomoo]

I feel the need to ask you if you did that for her?

More than once.

But I'm not doing it any more, she started taking the piss.

 

[Treacle Toes]

More than once.

But I'm not doing it any more, she started taking the piss.

Oh moomoo.
This is the part of maternal instinct and mothering I doubt i'll ever feel.

 

[moomoo]

Oh moomoo.
This is the part of maternal instinct and mothering I doubt i'll ever feel.

It wasn't a problem, I used to combine it with taking the dog for a walk. I just thought she should start to take responsibility for sorting out her water/pe kit/whatever in the morning and not to always rely on me being around to bring it to her.

 

[dodgepot]

i say ban them. i'm not 100% sure of my arguments why, but it would cause loads of teenagers to scream "but that's unfaaaaaiiiirr!" and that makes me laugh. ha ha ha.

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

I think that kids have a much right to mobile phones as adults. I reckon there's a bit of envy going on when people say kids don't need mobiles

 

[Treacle Toes]

It wasn't a problem, I used to combine it with taking the dog for a walk.

I know, I didn't imagine you drove across town or caught a bus.

I just thought she should start to take responsibility for sorting out her water/pe kit/whatever in the morning and not to always rely on me being around to bring it to her.

Damn right , just remember you are teaching her a valuable lifeskills. Be prepared, take responsibility and develop your independance.

 

[Treacle Toes]

I think that kids have a much right to mobile phones as adults. I reckon there's a bit of envy going on when people say kids don't need mobiles

Envy?
About children having mobile phones in school?

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

Envy?
About children having mobile phones in school?

No, about children having mobile phones in general

 

[Treacle Toes]

No, about children having mobile phones in general

Doesn't bother me in the slighest, good for them actually.
But mobiles in schools are another matter.

 

[MsShirlLaverne]

Doesn't bother me in the slighest, good for them actually.
But mobiles in schools are another matter.

Well I'm glad it doesn't bother you but if adults take phones to work, why shouldn't children take phones to school? Are adults more in need of phones than children?
I'm not advocating phones in the classroom any more than phones behind the till in Tescos.

 

[Treacle Toes]

Well I'm glad it doesn't bother you but if adults take phones to work, why shouldn't children take phones to school? Are adults more in need of phones than children?

Ermmmm I think they probably are. More responsibilities and all that.
BTW, I never use my phone at work.

Anyway I'm not sure that's a good comparason. Adults tend to be more responsible, mature etc. Teachers have a hard enough job competing for childrens' attention as it is etc.

I'm not advocating phones in the classroom any more than phones behind the till in Tescos.

I have never seen anyone working in a supermarket use a mobile phone or even have one.

 

[danny la rouge]

I managed to survive school without the need for a mobile, so I fail to see why kids should 'need' them now.

There was much we didn't have Ed, but which didn't exist them. That isn't an argument for banning those things, though. Unless the argument goes "nothing invented after 1978 permitted in schools", or something like that.

Of course kids don't need mobile phones, but, again, that isn't an argument for banning them; there are many things kids don't need which aren't banned.

One poster has said they didn't see why phones shouldn't be banned, however I'm still waiting for an answer to my question why they should be banned.

Set ground rules: no using phones during lessons. That's reasonable.

 

[N_igma]

Yes.

 

[N_igma]

One poster has said they didn't see why phones shouldn't be banned, however I'm still waiting for an answer to my question why they should be banned.

Disruptive, especially if they go off in class and there's practically no way of enforcing that all mobiles be switched off in class.

Allows pupils the chance to cheat in exams. (Slighlty sinister but entirely possible).

School is also about interaction and development of a childs social skills, if all children do is just look at their mobiles during lunch and break then it hinders this growth.