Cell phones are a wonderful convenience and fun gadgets to have. However, there is still debate about whether or not they belong in schools. Consensus needs to be reached between parents, students, and educators regarding the fair use in schools. Certainly to ban them completely is to ignore some of the educational advantages of having a cell phone in the classroom. Also, there needs to be sensible communication concerning the misuses of cell phones; some uses are definitely unacceptable.
Educators, parents and students should think of some of these possibilities when addressing the cell phone issue:
* Students can take pictures of class projects to e-mail or show to parents. Ordinarily, parents do not see projects that are completed in groups in school.
* Students can text message missed assignments to classmates that are absent. A buddy system can be put into place.
* Many cell phones are equipped with calculators—plenty of new math curricula encourage the use of a calculator when problem-solving. A student should become accustomed to having a calculator handy for both homework and real life math applications.
* If a student is slow to copy notes from the board, pictures can be taken of the missed notes and accessed later. Ditto sending notes to absent classmates.
* Students can listen to music with ear buds if the cell phone is equipped with this option during independent study—many students find this relaxing and comfortable and are more productive as a result.