Pros of Cell Phones in School

Pros of Cell Phones in School

There are numerous positive outcomes that can emerge from permitting children and teens to bring their mobile phones into the classroom. Here are just a few that you should keep in mind the next time you enter a PTA meeting or other public debate.

Instant Communication

Although you hope that you will never have to do this, you sometimes need to get in contact with your school-aged child while they are in class. This could be because of a death in the family, an accident or other family emergency that may require his or her attention and/or attendance. By being able to call your child directly, you also help alleviate the workload off of the school's administrative team. This is particularly useful during recess and lunch hours when students aren't in classrooms anyways, and it may be more difficult to find your child. The problems with knowing where your children are after school could also be reduced if parents had the ability to call them (and vice versa). Text messages also make this easy (and discrete).

Enhanced Learning

This would probably only apply to private schools and other learning establishments, but if each of the children were provided with a smartphone, they could run a series of applications and be all connected to one another. This is particularly easy with Windows Mobile-based smartphones. There are so many different Java applications that can be run on "normal" mobile phones as well. Having these is akin to using laptops in the classroom, except they are much more compact.

Memory Aids

Most cell phones have a camera these days, so children can use these to take pictures of things in class. This is great for science class, for example, where they may be exposed to certain creatures, plants and other things that they probably won't encounter anywhere else. This is much more effective that simply producing a quick sketch. Pictures are also useful for any sort of step-by-step process, so that they can later review the photos to better understand the procedure in metalwork, woodwork or other hands-on courses. Better still, give your child a camera phone with video capabilities!

Calendar

Nearly every mobile phone has a built-in calendar function and this can be very useful for kids who have a hard time remembering test dates, assignment due dates and other such details where time is of the essence. By putting these in a cell phone organizer and assigning an alarm, they'll never forget again! After all, paper-based agendas and notebooks can be easily lost, forgotten, overlooked or scribbled over.

Voice Notes

Sometimes, it takes too long to write down a note, so why not use the cell phone to record a quick voice note instead? Students may not always have immediate access to a notepad either, so using a cell phone to "jot down" important information is also useful.

Cons of Cell Phones in School

Of course, not everything is peachy-keen and there aren't just pros to allowing cell phones into schools. There are cons too. Be sure to read both of these articles thoroughly before coming to any sort of conclusion of your own. A balanced view is always the best view.