The current student code of conduct spells out that "Students must turn off their phones and store them away during instructional time or face possible discipline." However, this code of conduct is being debated by many after the Premier Dalton McGuinty's statement had been issued. Premier Dalton McGuinty suggested that letting students use cell phones if used appropriately in classrooms could be very beneficial. Premier believes that rapid advancement in technology opened various different opportunities for students to study and be educated much more efficiently and effectively. For example, cell phones such as blackberries and iphones will allow students to surf internet to research information quickly. Moreover, the keyboards on the cell phones will also allow students to take down notes digitally in to their phones. Due to these reasons, large number of people seems to be supportive towards this idea; in fact, some school boards are already reconsidering to change the rules as suggested by the Premier. However, the majorities including the head of school boards and teachers are disagreeing towards the Premier's suggestion. They believe that although technology will be substantial to the students in the future, any hand-held electronics including cell phones will provide distractions, temptations and various cheating options. Secondly, they suggested that not everyone can afford a cell phone nor can everyone afford the different levels of service providers as they are very costly.
After Premier Dalton McGuinty had indicated all of the objections and reasons against his new idea, he responded back through his tweeter by saying "If they're used to help kids learn, great. If not, they're a distraction and don't belong."
It is true that the cell phones in classrooms for educational purposes can be beneficial towards the students. However, I still believe that every cell phones as well as every other hand-held electronics should be banned during classes. In my opinion, although there are some definite advantages of using cell phones in classes, realistically there are far more disadvantages. It is factual that students can research information through cell phones by surfing internet and take notes digitally using the attached keyboards. However, cell phone will also provide great deal of distraction to the students as they can do many other things through advanced cell phones such as playing mobile games, texting, surfing non educational websites and so on. Moreover, cell phones will also provide great deal of cheating methods such as by recording important notes to the cell phone ahead of time for tests, texting answers to other classmates during tests, and surfing internet for answers, just to name a few. Lastly, I believe that every student should be educated equally in same environments and conditions. In my opinion, even if government allows cell phones to be used in classes for educational purposes, not every student will benefit equally through this method. It is because not everyone can afford to have advanced cell phone devices and different levels of services due to its heavy costs. Therefore in order to keep the same environment and equal opportunities to everyone as well as to prevent extra distractions and temptations for students, I believe that cell phones should be banned in classrooms. Our government was successful when giving high quality educations to the students without usage of cell phones for past decades. So why would you support something that will most likely affect the system negatively as an improvement plan? I believe that if something provides more disadvantages and risks than goods and advantages, it isn't feasible to be considered as a benefactor.
http://www.torontosun.com/news/torontoandgta/2010/09/15/15357441.html
No comments:
Post a Comment