Just been reading about Meadowhead school banning mobile phones in school.

http://www.thisissheffield.net/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=58&ArticleID=1040927

There are some very good points, and I am very supportive of the head of this school. When I was in school there was a ban on Game Boys, and since then iPods have been banned. Given the link between 'happy slapping' and mobiles, as well as the distraction factor, it seems to be a sensible move.

If parents want to contact their child urgently, there is the school office. Assuming that the child is not playing truant, they will be easily located by staff.

That's my point of view. What do you think? Should mobiles be banned like other gadgets, or are they harmless?

I have mixed views on this subject, having had two sons now having left that had mobiles and my daughter about to go into senior school with a mobile, I am in the middle and can`t decide.

Considering the fact, if you phone school with an urgent message it will actually get passed on is the difficulty. I have tried this many times and the message never got to my sons, so its easier to leave a message on their mobile.

I agree it goes a long way to the "happy slapping", but those doing it would find a way to get the phones in to do it anyway, and most of it is done at dinner and after school, so schools cant do a thing about the incidents.

I feel safer, especially as this is my only daughter, her walking home with a phone for safety.She does not have the latest mobile, as I try to cut down the chances of them wanting to thieve it from her.

I can`t see how schools can monitor the complete ban on mobiles yet can`t stop bullying. One has to fit in with the other at some point.

Difficult to find a solution.

I work in a school (not medowhead). If pupils used their phones in a responsible and mature manner there would be no need to ban them, unfortunately they don't.

Every lesson I teach I have to ask at least two pupils to put their phones away. They fiddle with them under the desks (which can lead to some funny remarks!) They spend five mins at the start of lessons showing mates what ring tone thay have. If I hear the crazy frog again at work I'm sure I will go mad.

I've had pupils trying to take pictures of my arse, recording me in class but could you imagine the uproar if I filmed them?

I've had pupils talking to their parents in the middle of a lesson when I'm asking them to put the phone away then telling me that their mother has told me to 'shut up it's important'

I've seen videos of 'happy slapping' on pupils phones, that they have filmed out of school and passed around, it does not look like fun to me!

If pupils could behave with them schools I would be more than happy to let them have them but in the real world they disrupt lessons and learning.

I'd love it if my school could ban them, to be truthful the kids could still have them switched off in their bags and just look at them in private at lunch and dinner, we would be none the wiser and really thats what they should be doing anyway, it's what I have to do and most people in the job market. Why are pupils any different? They could then still get urgent messages and have it for walking home incase they get in trouble.

( edit: I have to print out type then read it as I cannot spot mistakes on a screen so there is likely to be loads of mistakes)

Originally posted by Evei
I work in a school( not medowhead). If pupils used their phones in a responsible and mature manner there would be no need to ban them, unfortunately they don't.

Every lesson I teach I have to ask at least two pupils to put there phones away. They fiddle with them under the desks (which can lead to some funny remarks!) They spend five mins at the start of lessons showing their mates what ring tone thay have; If I hear the crazy frog again at work I'm sure I will go mad.

I've had pupils trying to take pictures of my arse, recording me in class ( which I don't mind as I don't do anything wrong, but I dislike and stop it is I know it is being done, but could you imagine the uproar if I filmed them?)

I've had pupils talking to thier parents in the middle of a lesson when I'm asking them to put the phone away then telling me that thier mother has told me to 'shut up it's important'

I've seen videos of 'happy slapping' on pupils phones, that they have filmed out of school and passed around, it does not look like fun to me!

If pupils could behave with them schools would be more than happy to let them have them but in the real world they disrupt lessons and learning.

I'd love it if my school could ban them, to be truthful the kids could still have them switched off in thier bags and just look at them in private at lunch and dinner, we would be none the wiser and really thats what they should be doing anyway, it's what I have to do and most people in the job market. why are pupils any different?

They could then still have urgent messages and have it for walking home incase they get in trouble on the way home.


If you work in a school I can only hope that you're not a teacher. The spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in your post leave a lot to be desired - that is, if you are a teacher (which, having read your post, indicates that you are).

That aside, I agree with your comments and can't see any problems with a complete ban. We all seemed to manage without them, didn't we?

PS - Don't take my earlier comments too personally!

I voted for 'depends' as I don't think mobiles should be switched on during the school day but children should be allowed to have a mobile when walking home or if they do after school activities perhaps sport match at another school they can contact a parent to arrange 'picking up' afterwards.

I voted yes. However they should only be banned from been used throughout the day. They should be able to keep them in their bags to be used in an emergency on the way home for example. Been caught at school using one should mean immediate confiscation.

I am very surprised to hear that any schools allow them in the first place. I had assumed that they were already banned. It is clear to me that they are dangerous to children but if you don't think there is enough evidence then at least be cautious until there is. The poster who has a child that already has a mobile but is still at primary school really stuns me. I know there are people out there who must buy young children a mobile but I have never met one. Why exactly does a primary school child need a mobile phone?

They should not be allowed in schools. Just cause for another unnecessary distraction. There is no real justification for them - generations of schoolchildren survived fine without them up to now!
And yes, immediate confiscation should be the rule if they are spotted in school. No excuses. They have enough excuses for bad behaviour as it is ! !

Ban them during lessons but I see no reason to ban the use of mobile phones during lunch and breaks.

Originally posted by InvalidUser
I see no reason to ban the use of mobile phones during lunch and breaks.
Because it invariably leads to 'rule breaking' and the use of them during lessons etc. Remove temptation, save the trouble.

I think that everyone is missing the real issue here; their danger. Even the government says that children under 8 shouldn't use mobile phones. Schools don't allow smoking and yet some parents seem to turn a blind eye when their children smoke under age. The damage from mobile phones may not be as obvious but this is because we have only been using them a few years and widespread use by children is very new. We all know that smoking is dangerous and it has been proven since 1963 but many people could see anecdotal evidence of links to lung problems well before it was officially a killer. Even after 42 years the big US tobaco companies still do not admit that it is dangerous so why would mobile phone companies admit that their product is dangerous now?

We had a simple policy at school "Vibrate or Confiscate".

It worked quite well, if you wanted to mess around in class with a mobile and send text message to your friends, it wasn't a problem - unless your phone wasn't on silent or vibrate. If a phone rang during class then it got confiscated.

If kids want to mess around during lessons and not pay attention to their education then let 'em. It always worked pretty well at our school, and I was probably one of the biggest culprits at texting during lessons, especially during 6th form. I managed AAB so it can't be that detrimental to our education surely.

Kids do not need mobile phones. They are simply a gadget that enables them to spend their money on crap like the crazy frog ringtone. They do not make them any safer, in fact they make them more likely to be mugged.

More often than not, they wont answer anyway if they dont wish to speak.

The day parents realise that mobile phones and sky tv and playstations are turning their kids into brain dead idiots, the better this world will be.

How many people here had mobiles when they were kids?

Buy them a musical instrument or a book or ANYTHING.

Just don't buy them mobile phones like it's some kind of comfort blanket.

:rant:

Originally posted by Hook
It worked quite well, if you wanted to mess around in class with a mobile and send text message to your friends, it wasn't a problem - unless your phone wasn't on silent or vibrate. If a phone rang during class then it got confiscated.


That sounds more like a cop out. Schools are there to educate, and they can't do that if the kids are allowed to mess around and do their own thing. Game Boys and the like are not allowed, so why mobile phones?

Originally posted by Hook
... I was probably one of the biggest culprits at texting during lessons, especially during 6th form. I managed AAB so it can't be that detrimental to our education surely.

It might not have been detrimental to your education, but it could be VERY detrimental to someone else's. Some people can go through school doing nothing at all, not revising, not studying, not even turning up, and still get good grades. That doesn't mean that everyone can cope with constant distraction, and if one child is allowed to mess about and do their own thing then the attitude of the whole class goes down with it.

Originally posted by march
I voted yes. However they should only be banned from been used throughout the day. They should be able to keep them in their bags to be used in an emergency on the way home for example. Been caught at school using one should mean immediate confiscation.

exactly what i was going to say.

Originally posted by spiffymonkey
That sounds more like a cop out. Schools are there to educate, and they can't do that if the kids are allowed to mess around and do their own thing. Game Boys and the like are not allowed, so why mobile phones?



It might not have been detrimental to your education, but it could be VERY detrimental to someone else's. Some people can go through school doing nothing at all, not revising, not studying, not even turning up, and still get good grades. That doesn't mean that everyone can cope with constant distraction, and if one child is allowed to mess about and do their own thing then the attitude of the whole class goes down with it.

Please explain to me how txting inside of a lesson, to somebdoy outside of a lesson, with a mobile phone on silent is a distraction to anybody?

Mobile phones are often allowed in 6th forms, walkman's allowed in 6th forms, why should these been construed as priviledges to 6th formers and denied to lower school pupils?

Why should we have to worry about banning Game Boy's, iPod's etc from schools. If the teachers could control their classes and make sure they didn't use 'em then of course they could use them outside of lessons.

I had teachers who we had no respect for, and would mess around in lessons, extracting the urine so to speak, and those who knew how to handle children and knew how to treat people with respect and nothing would happen in those lessons. Mobiles would be put away, there'd be no walkmans, no distractions, just learning. Even from the "class knob".

It was often the "shouty" teachers who got no respect, and the calm, patient ones who got it.

Originally posted by Ousetunes
If you work in a school I can only hope that you're not a teacher. The spelling mistakes and grammatical errors in your post leave a lot to be desired - that is, if you are a teacher (which, having read your post, indicates that you are).

That aside, I agree with your comments and can't see any problems with a complete ban. We all seemed to manage without them, didn't we?

PS - Don't take my earlier comments too personally!

She could be a maths teacher :hihi:

Goodness me whatever next.
Banning mobile phones how on earth will todays school children survive?

How did previous generations cope without todays gadgets?
To us a transistor radio was as sophisticated as it got.
We managed, and so will todays kids, if they're given the chance.

Originally posted by Hook Please explain to me how txting inside of a lesson, to somebdoy outside of a lesson, with a mobile phone on silent is a distraction to anybody
They are a distraction firstly to the child using them.

If the teachers could control their classes and make sure they didn't use 'em then of course they could use them outside of lessons
You seem to forget the lack of respect schoolchildren hold these days for any kind of authority - the 'blame' for classroom control begins at home.

Originally posted by Henrietta
They are a distraction firstly to the child using them.


You seem to forget the lack of respect schoolchildren hold these days for any kind of authority - the 'blame' for classroom control begins at home.

Did you read my original post? Arrrgh. I hate when you take a reply out of context when I've already addressed that issue. Please go back and read my first post in this thread.

I finished school a year ago, I've spent 7 years in secondary education and children lack respect when they aren't treated with respect. I had some horrible, horrible children in my class at school... one who once threw rocks at the teachers wife on a school trip because he thought it was funny. He'd was the class knob.

Yet there were some classes where he wouldn't cause any problems, the classes where the teachers treated the class with respect rather than constant shouting. It was those classes where you knew the teacher actually cared, and didn't just come to work, do her job and go home. Children sense that, and if the teacher doesn't have the right attitude then how can you expect the children to have the right attitude.

Please explain to me how txting inside of a lesson, to somebdoy outside of a lesson, with a mobile phone on silent is a distraction to anybody?

Because there is nothing no more annoying than seeing some loser with no friends and a small penis tapping away at his phone sending dumbass messages to anyone with a phone.

Remember how people used to think about mobile phone users in the 80s/90s?

Yes, you thought they were all nerdy tosser yuppies.

Take away the yuppie bit and what are you left with?

You can probably guess I hate mobile phones.

Originally posted by bhunaboy
Because there is nothing no more annoying than seeing some loser with no friends and a small penis tapping away at his phone sending dumbass messages to anyone with a phone.

Remember how people used to think about mobile phone users in the 80s/90s?

Yes, you thought they were all nerdy tosser yuppies.

Take away the yuppie bit and what are you left with?

You can probably guess I hate mobile phones.

And apparently the only defence you have is personal insults. :loopy:

Not a defence, an opinion.

You want defence??

Two Words.

Crazy Frog.

Originally posted by bhunaboy
Because there is nothing no more annoying than seeing some loser with no friends and a small penis tapping away at his phone sending dumbass messages to anyone with a phone.

Remember how people used to think about mobile phone users in the 80s/90s?

Yes, you thought they were all nerdy tosser yuppies.

Take away the yuppie bit and what are you left with?

You can probably guess I hate mobile phones.

it sounds like you have some issues you need to resolve.

Hook - just because it didn't ruin your education doesn't mean it should be allowed. And just because a child doesn't particularly want to be educated doesn't mean you should let them truant. The same applies for playing around with any device instead of paying attention.
Whilst a few students might be mature enough to do something with a phone in class, it's just rude anyway, I wouldn't do it in a business meeting, why should a child do it in a class?
Banning them from being heard or seen during all lessons with a consequence of confiscation sounds like a sensible idea to me.

Originally posted by Hook
Did you read my original post
Yes, I did.
Please go back and read my first post in this thread
No, thank you.

children lack respect when they aren't treated with respect
Yes, hence my comment 'good behaviour begins at home'.

Children sense that, and if the teacher doesn't have the right attitude then how can you expect the children to have the right attitude
Children can sense when they can take the p*ss, and if they can, they will. Those looking to disrupt aren't concerned over whether the teacher actually cares about them or not.

it sounds like you have some issues you need to resolve.

Why, cos I hate mobile phones?????

Do you work for orange or something? Are you trying to 'sell me a network'?????

This is hell.

I don't understand how anyone can defend the use of mobile phones in schools. Yes it can be beneficial for a child to have a phone on them, but there is no reason for their presence in lessons. Teachers should have every right to confiscate any phones switched on in lessons without a good reason to be collected at the close of the day. As much as anything else it's rude to be texting someone while being addressed.

When they banned chewing gum when we were at school it was pretty hard to stop people. Mobiles are a different matter, I'm sure it would only take a couple of mobileless days for them to learn not to use them in lessons.

Originally posted by bhunaboy
Why, cos I hate mobile phones?????

Do you work for orange or something? Are you trying to 'sell me a network'?????

This is hell.

yes obviously, anyone who doesn't hate mobile phones and agree with your agressive and abusive posts must work for a phone company.
Why don't you call the talking clock and rant to it for a while.

Do you take everything so seriosuly?

www.billhicks.com

Because you need it :P

Originally posted by Hook
Please explain to me how txting inside of a lesson, to somebdoy outside of a lesson, with a mobile phone on silent is a distraction to anybody?

Because they are not paying attention to the lesson in question. When I was at school you got a clip around the ear for just staring out of the window when you were not paying attention.

Our school banned phone use a while ago, mainly for this reason. We also found that some kids were bringing in £200-£300 phones which were getting lost, broken or stolen and the parents thought it was our responsibility to look after or pay for them.

I invigilated two ICT exams last week, and in both a mobile phone went off.

I get the impression that a lot of posters expect teachers not only to teach but to be also all-round entertainers for the students.
Teachers are primarily there to teach their subject in the best way they know how , not to be happy-clappy social workers , listening and sympathisng with their students' various social problems ; they are not there to sing songs , tell jokes or juggle with the textbooks------they are there to teach.
Not every teacher is so charismatic that they can keep every class enthralled for 40 minutes , 7 times a day.On the other hand they are not paid to be charismatic. Does that mean that if the class are the slightest bit bored or affronted because the teacher is not listening to THEIR problems , that they should get on their mobiles to pass the time away ?
The truth is , that lots of today's teenagers should never be in a classroom ; they would be far better going elsewhere to pass their time. That would leave more time and energy to devote to those students who really want to learn. If you desire to learn something it should not matter who teaches it to you. Obviously , if the teacher IS " in tune " with the class , so much the better-------but the learning-teaching is the most important------and I guess that's why a lot of students learn so well from computers.

Originally posted by Hook Please explain to me how txting inside of a lesson, to somebdoy outside of a lesson, with a mobile phone on silent is a distraction to anybody?
Looks like it was to you, judging by your spelling :lol:

Originally posted by Fareast
I get the impression that a lot of posters expect teachers not only to teach but to be also all-round entertainers for the students.
Teachers are primarily there to teach their subject in the best way they know how , not to be happy-clappy social workers , listening and sympathisng with their students' various social problems ; they are not there to sing songs , tell jokes or juggle with the textbooks------they are there to teach.


Believe it or not, but many schools do have one of these in each 'problem' class - they're called Learning Support Assistants. It's their role to give 1-1 support with the problem kids who disturb and ruin the lesson for everyone else.

As I have to work with them I reserve judgement as to whether they do help keep a class calm, or just provide preferrential treatment to brats who need a good kicking.

On the other hand they do provide excellent support to pupils who are struggling with reading and writing.

But, going back to the original topic, the biggest problem we now face is kids finding chatrooms and web based chat clients during their IT lessons. We try and block as many as we can, but new ones are springing up daily, with ever increasing cryptic URLs to avoid the filters.

Most of the time they send stupid messages to their friends in another part of the school saying "I am bored in Languages", "What time you going out tonight" etc.

Originally posted by Henrietta
Looks like it was to you, judging by your spelling :lol:

Sorry I apologise for being dyslexic and not always managing to catch all the spelling errors or grammar errors in my posts. I also apologise for the spell checker that I run on every post not picking them, and first foremost I apologise for using an 'incorrect' form of English, because obviously there's a right and wrong form of everything, and that nobody knew what I meant or failed to understand that in the world 'texting' I actually missed out the letter 'e' resulting in 'txting' and that I accidentally hit the 'd' key on my keyboard before the 'o'.

Insult what you want, except my intelligence and my disabilities. If you disagree with my point of view and opinions I have no problem with that, but please don't assume that I'm not smart, or that I don't try to overcome any short fallings I may have.

Originally posted by Hook Sorry I apologise for being dyslexic
No, please - if you are dyslexic, don't apologise for it.
Insult what you want, except my intelligence and my disabilities
I will, thanks for the invite.
don't assume that I'm not smart, or that I don't try to overcome any short fallings I may have
I did neither. You had been claiming that texting during lessons didn't distract anybody - least of all the texter themselves. Combine this with some simple spelling mistakes, which you say were a result of careless typing (as opposed to any dyslexia) and one might assume that the sloppy spelling was a result of your education.

I can't imagine what situation could only be resolved by the use of a mobile phone in school. I guess there might be situtions where people get 'stranded' on their way home by buses or something similar, but I do believe that mobiles in schools should be restricted.

If people object to banning phones, why not install signal blockers?

Stick a low power one in the main building of a school so that it would interfere with phones in and aroudn the buildings, but not outside the perimeter of the school ground. Of course, folks would complain about the presence of a low power transmitter but the option would be to ban the phones.... :)

Actually using phones less would probably improve planning skills for people - actually arranging to meet someone several hours in advance and not being able to ring them up 5 minutes before you're due to meet to put the meeting back 30 minutes would be good.....

Joe

Personally I think mobiles are a danger to children - they are more likely to be mugged for it than saved by using it. If a child is in danger and needs to call a parent they can do what my mum always told me to do - 'go in the nearest shop and ask to use their phone, or ask a policeman or a woman with children'!

Joe is it possible to get a thing that stops mobile phones working in the area?

Originally posted by rosie

Considering the fact, if you phone school with an urgent message it will actually get passed on is the difficulty. I have tried this many times and the message never got to my sons, so its easier to leave a message on their mobile.

I don't remember a single occasion when my parents had to get an 'urgent message' to me whilst at school.

Even a family death can wait until kids get home.

Perhaps your type of 'urgent' is different, and that's why the school doesn't interrupt a classfull? :confused:

Originally posted by kathythebean

Joe is it possible to get a thing that stops mobile phones working in the area?

Hi Kathy,

Yes, they're basically a low power radio transmitter that emits a signal that is designed to 'jam' the phones. I think they work by interfering with the exchange of information between the handset and the nearest base station.

The military deploy them in places like Iraq nowadays to stop mobile phones being used as remote controls for roadside bombs - if they suspect there is such a bomb they'll bring the box of tricks in and turn it on - makes life safer for the bomb disposal people.

Some trains have them fitted, I believe, and some theatres and concert halls are talking about having them fitted, as are some hotels to force you to use the more expensive hotel phones!

Joe

I wonder whether pagers will make a comeback? If you had a 'receive only' box like an old style text pager that you could SMS to then that would allow kids to receive urgent messages.

Joe

Wow thanks for that Joe. You truly are a fountain of knowledge :)

They should have those blockers in lecture theatres and the library :rant:

Anyway, I digress.

Pagers are a good idea, however, I think that kids like to have phones because they can get videos and ringtones and stuff. Its not always a case of parents buying them, either, sometimes kids get their own (although I would never have managed it on my pocket money!)

How far would schools get if they tried to ban mobile phones? It might waste a lot of the teachers time.

My old school 'banned' mobiles. Didn't work - kids just brought them in and were more secretive. Also probably had increased rate of stolen phones - 'well you aren't supposed to have them in school anyway' as one teacher told my mate before walking off.

I can see that mobiles are a lifesaver sometimes for kids in certain situations where they need to call parents or any form of help. However, as someone mentioned they all increase the risk of the child being attacked. It's a real toss-up but at the end of the day not many will listen to the ban so meh.

Originally posted by JoePritchard
Some trains have them fitted, I believe, and some theatres and concert halls are talking about having them fitted, as are some hotels to force you to use the more expensive hotel phones!

Joe
I was under the impression that they are illegal in the UK as they would require a licence, and they don't give 'em out for blockers.

Originally posted by Tony
I was under the impression that they are illegal in the UK as they would require a licence, and they don't give 'em out for blockers.

Hi Tony,

Having read back through my Electronics and Wireless World you're right - they're trying to get approval in the UK and they have been fitted in the US, Canada and some parts of Europe.

The rest is accurate, though!

Joe :)

Originally posted by Tony
I was under the impression that they are illegal in the UK as they would require a licence, and they don't give 'em out for blockers.

I doubt it, if that were the case we'd all need a license for the mobile phone we carry as that uses the same frequency.
The only difference is that this transmitter is slightly more powerful and just transmitting electronic white noise.
I remember reading about a restaurant that had installed one a while ago.

I think that you will find that the mobile operators posses the (very expensive) radio licences that enable you to use your phone.

Blockers are a completely different case, and are illegal, and will stay that way.

you are correct, but it appears that it may change in the near future.

story here (bbc) (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3738652.stm)