Cellphones have become as important as the air we breathe today. It’s true for all age groups, especially the students. Students keep in touch with their peers on social media with their cell phones, as well as searching for information for school projects and so on. It’s a convenient way for parents to know where their wards are at all times too. But the question is: Should cellphones be allowed in class? Cellphone usage in class by students does have a negative impact on students, according to the latest study. It distracts not only the person using it but also the students nearby.
Cellphone usage in class should be curtailed
Cell phones, if allowed within the class, tempt students to send text messages or instant messages to their friends, who may or may not be present in the same class itself. The school might have a policy of no mobile phones in class, but students frequently manage to hide the phones and get them inside the class, instead of leaving the phones in their lockers. There are many reasons why mobile phones should be banned in schools. Distraction is one of the main reasons. Students fail to understand what the teacher is explaining in class as they get distracted by their cell phones.
Dealing with phone usage in class
How should teachers deal with cell phone usage in class is a delicate matter. They can get students’ cellphones away in different ways. The school and teacher can have stringent rules about the cellphone usage in class. They can do this by trusting them to leave the phones at home or in their lockers. The message that using phones is not good for students has to be loud and clear so that they understand the importance of not texting in class. This would help them to cooperate with the school authorities out of their own volition.
Teachers can enlist parents’ cooperation
Teachers cannot enforce rules on their own. The help and support of parents can make things easy for the teachers to get things done. They can call parents if students bring cellphones to class. Once the students know that parents are going to be involved in the disciplining process, they would think twice before smuggling the phone into the class and using it.
Reward students
Students can be rewarded with extra credit if they surrender their phones. This has certainly proved to be a foolproof method for some teachers, as they found that almost all students want extra credit. This led to all the students giving up their phones with hesitation. Other teachers can follow their example and offer extra credit or some other reward in order to get student’s cooperation. The students can deactivate and surrender their phones to the teacher voluntarily, and get their devices back after class.
Using phones to help with lessons
There are other effective ways as to how should teachers deal with cell phone usage in class. They can use the cell phone as an educational tool. Instead of treating it as the enemy, they can use it to help the technology to gather relevant information for lessons. For example, they can ask the students to research on a particular topic which is being studied. The students can be divided into teams and timed competitions can help to use cellphones in a positive manner. To avoid misuse, teachers can make the net entertaining enough for educational purposes, and also minimize status updates.
There are many reasons why mobile phones should be banned in schools. Apart from students being distracted by status updates and tempting them to engage in social media, cyberbullying is another danger which can be avoided to a great extent if cellphones are not used in school.
