You make no sense. You want to have them check them in the office? Maybe hire a 'phone check' girl to give you a ticket so you can get your phone at the end of the day? Maybe someone to hold their hand while they go potty?

Why punish anyone that hasn't done anything wrong? If they are distracting people, punish them. I don't understand why people want to take issues like this and tinker with them because of some esoteric ideal when all they have to do is punish the people who do things wrong.

We are raising generations of institutionalized kids who are just as much toddlers when they hit college as they are in kindergarten. We put all the accountability on everyone BUT the kids. Protect them from themselves for 12 years then turn them loose to destroy themselves.

You make no sense.

I feel that I make perfect sence. The problem being, as you are inflexible to any opinion other than your own. You are entitled to think as you please.

You want to have them check them in the office?

I never said that, but odd how you thought of it. I've said what I think more than once. I wonder how it was before we had cell phones. I never took one to class, and guess what, I actually survived
Maybe some parents could step up to the plate; sounds like a plan to me.

Why punish anyone that hasn't done anything wrong?

I dont see how asking children to not use a phone in class is punishment.

The school's solution was, if they had their cell phone out in class or it went off, it was confiscated and they had to go to the office and pay 15 bucks to get it back. For multiple offenses, the school could also hang on to it for lengthening periods of time.

So long as they are turned off, there should be no problem with a kid having a phone in school.

I second this.

If a kid is spending time texting or getting calls in class, maybe the teacher could take the phone away for the duration of the class and return it at the bell.

I had my locker broken into once every few weeks in school, and the school takes no responsibility for items lost when that happens. I don't think that's a reasonable request.

"This is plain rediculous....just as mothers milk leads to heroine."

If you don't think institutionalizing young people has an effect on them, go hang out on myspace or watch MTV for a few hours. Kids are taught that rules will make them safe and keep them "good" until they are 17 or 18. Then they are turned loose into a world that doesn't make sure they don't have their phone in their pocket when they go to work, and they haven't learned any self control to deal with reality.

It's the phone's fault. Or the bartender's, or the gun's.

btw...students now do not even have to turn their phones on silent...there are ringtones they can get that adults can't hear...if ya don't know about it, here's a link...WWW Link

just think what that does to student's collective minds when they see other students blatantly "fooling" the teacher and other adults right under their nose?

collect the phones in the morning, etc,etc, etc,,,i won't go into my plan again, if ya'll are curious, read the post above this one...take care:)

I started to see the beginnings of this problem while I was in high school.  Unruly kids could not be removed from classes, could not be disciplined within the (reasonable) limits of the school system.  If any action was taken against a child for inappropriate behavior (ranging from talking in class to threatening a teacher with a blunt object), very often a parent would come barreling in the next day and scream at the administration and teacher because their little angel would NEVER do anything bad unless provoked by some other student or the teacher themselves.

Students would refuse to leave classes when sent to the office.  No one could force them to move either as they'd claim assault if anyone even tried to touch them.  The resolute ones would at this point become even more of a distraction. 

Students would refuse to hand over distracting items such as cell phones, palm pilots (though these were very rare and pretty new when I was still in HS) or other electronics.  Any attempt to confiscate them would result in claims of theft (and again assault if any physical contact occured).

I also knew many students who would regularly skip classes, and whose parents would again swoop in when they failed an exam or entire subject, claiming that their little angel DESERVED a better grade, no matter that they never attended class... it was the teacher's fault for not teaching the subject properly.

The problem ultimately is that teachers and administrators no longer have any power to enforce rules in the school system.  Many students behave just fine, many parents are perfectly reasonable, but with the tendency to sue and press charges over stupid things in recent years, schools have to be ultra-cautious and can't enforce rules on anyone.  Cell phones are the latest distraction/cheating device that schools are finding themselves powerless to combat. 

Most kids will use cell phones responsibly.  Most will not be a distraction or use them to cheat.  But there will always be those who do.  And ultimately, do kids NEED to have a cell phone on their person while they sit in 5th period English?  How on Earth did parents and kids manage before cell phones?  Me, I used the pay phone and setup pick-up times and after-school schedules with my parents ahead of time.  I was always in contact with my folks wherever I went after school using either pay phones or phones at friends houses.  So did kids for several generations prior to mine. 

Unless power is given back to the teachers to enforce rules properly, things like cell phones have to be blocked at the door to the school (either out-right ban, or require a check-in, with harsh consequences to those who violate the ban).

Zoomba December 30, 2006 13:10:50

Well said Zoomba - the truth is out. What you wrote is so very true.

Teachers need to be given back the power to enforce.

~~As a matter of interest Para:
If an instance as Zoomba suggested arises anbd the child refuses to hand the phone over to the teacher, then what, what would you suggest? ~~

The principal or asst. principal would be called in this case, and if there was still refusal, then the parent should be IMMEDIATELY notified and made to come down to the school to deal with this matter. To have someone such as a principal or school security try to physically take away the phone from a defiant student would only be asking for trouble (harassment charges, lawsuits, like someone else on here said).

Sorry I am not being difficult I am really curious.

The bottom line is disruption. A cell phone, turned off, in a pocket, bookbag or purse disrupts no one. So it should be a "with priviledges comes responsibilities" thing. No one will ask for your cell phone, but if it rings during class, you just lost it.

Cha-ching!