OMG! TXting in class is gr8!!!
October 2, 2008
Beneath the desk, you hold your phone while feeling for the keyboard. While above the desk, you keep eye contact with your teacher. Then your text message is sent, unnoticed from the teacher… so you think.
If you are seen texting in class, it is up to the teacher whether to let the student off nicely with a warning or to send it to the office where the student cannot get the cell phone until the end of the school day.
The teachers and staff at PHS are really cracking down on kids for texting in class. Last school year, students got three warnings before their phone was sent to the office. This year, they only have one warning.
“It’s all about following the rules and regulations. You have to get used to it now so you are prepared to follow rules in the future. It’s part of the society,” said Dr. Agbamu, Principal. “It is the District Policy that says ‘no phones’ so we need to follow that.”
Rob Bach, Assistant Principal states that the biggest concern for using cell phones in school is the information transmission. Also known as cheating. He feels that phones are used for taking pictures of tests, or texting answers to friends. “It’s a social pattern and teens are used to texting,” said Bach.
Many sophomores, juniors, and seniors text in class. Sylvia Lowery, grade 10, Derek Glazier grade 11, and Kannetha Koy, grade 12, all admit to texting in class at least every so often.
“I text in class 24/7, except for when I’m concentrated in my studies,” says Koy.
Some students even go into the bathroom to get away with using their phones during the day. Bach says it is still against the rules, but Agbamu says that as long as she does not see it in the bathroom, she will not take it.
Many students wonder why teachers care so much about why the students text in class and why it is enforced. Tom McCarthy, English Department says, “Students should not text in class because clearly they are not paying attention to what they should be.”
“They think that were not mature enough to handle having phones and still being able to get good grades even though the majority of us still could do it,” said Glazier in his response to why teachers are so tough on these rules.
“They are tough so we won’t cheat on our tests and quizzes and so we can focus more on learning rather than talking to our fellow friends,” says Koy. Lowery also agrees with the thought that teachers do not want the students to cheat.
The thought of being able to text in the halls is an option. Glazier says, “Oh for sure, we should be able to text in the halls. It is ridiculous that they take them in the hallways. It’s not like were doing any learning out there besides how to walk to class.”
-by Courtney Lindblom
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“I text in class 24/7, except for when I’m concentrated in my studies,” says Koy. What a studious student…
Teachers are wayyy too strict on us, i think they should let us at least text in the hallways and give us more warnings as they did in the past
At least at PARK we get the phones back at the end of the day. Here in Mexico, whether you are using your phone or not, they take it. They have ¨class raids¨ where they come in and search backpacks and purses and then they pat you down!!! And when they find it, (ipods too) they take it and you dont get it back until the end of the school year. I almost got mine taken, but I got off on the excuse that I didnt understand the rules since they were explained in spanish.
I believe that teacher’s should be less strict about texting in class, it doesn’t distract anyone but the student and it’s OUR responsible to pay attention in class. All students do when they text is not pay attention to what is going on in class. Like i said it’s our job to pay attention and get an education. So Park should allow cell phones in school.
My brothers both graduated from park high school, and they both got to use their cell phones in class because teachers and principles didn’t used to be this strict on the whole cell phone thing. and i totally agree with everybody else. we should at least be allowed to text in the hall ways because we aren’t learning anything. im in 10th grade and new to park high school and from the junior high, they are a little bit more lenient with cell phones but still. its our grades and work and knowledge. we are responsible for our failing grades. and if we can multitask, then why not let us text in class? who cares. its our own lives. and its our own mistakes that we will have to fix in the future.
you spelt my name wrong :/ haha no worries !
there’s just no E in my last name. LOWRY
great article by the way!! you really know how to state a point !
Honestly, texting in class is no different than passing notes like we did in elementary school. What is really pathetic is people communicating via text to the person sitting right next to them in class. Texting in class really highlights the abuse of technology that will be satirized twenty years from now. Your cell phone is a great piece of equipment, don’t overdo it.
Exactly!
Teachers always say that we should be responsible, but how can we be when they don’t give us the chance? They expect us to do tough work, which more often than not requires multitasking, OUTSIDE the classroom, but they don’t let us do the same IN class. It’s our education, is it not? If our parents are willing to pay their taxes – which goes directly into our teachers’ pockets – and we text during class, so what? The teachers get paid the same to do even LESS work. They can also, then, direct their efforts to the truly dedicated students.
OUR education, in my opinion, should be in OUR hands. The only person who truly get’s burned by the situation is the student who’s responsible for the act in the first place. If they would normally text during class and get their phone taken away, they will certainly find another distraction. Notes, talking across the room, drawing, writing, whatever it may be, there is no stopping distraction in class without obstructiong our rights.
I completely understand the cheating concern, but that can be negotiated. As can hallway and/or lunchtime texting. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing. And that’s one lesson we are encouraged to learn and experience, right? Compromise.
Ms. Koy concentrated in studies..
heh, thats a good one.
In my opinion I think that students should be able to text in class. Yes I am a student myself, but I have never been caught texting in class and I dont text in class as far as my teachers know. One way that the school could take that over is if they make the rule that anyone who has an “A” can text in class and if your grade drops, then your texting privilages can get taken away. At my school- EHS- they only take your phone with no warning and I guess that is ok if you are silly enough to get caugh, but if your texting your mother, father, or guardian cause it is an emergency then that should be acceptable. On the other hand it is kinda disrespectful if you get caught and you make a big deal about it and disrupt the whole class.
That is only my opinion, if you agree, cool, but if not its ok cause everyone is entitled to an opinion.