DOPE DEALERS AND YOUNG ROMEOS SHOULD LOVE CELL PHONES IN CLASS

Re: Cell phones OK in class, board says (Sept. 1).

Have members of the school board gone stark staring mad in agreeing to the
use of cell phones in schools?

I see nothing in the article in question that indicates that phones must be
compulsorily switched off while classes are in progress.

While the adult world is busily engaged in trying to persuade businessmen
and others that cell phone use in restaurants and theatres is the height of
bad manners, the schools seem to be saying that the Human Right (where did
that gem come from) to carry a phone transcends all other negative aspects.

The red herring of safety has been trotted out. Did the board carry out the
most elementary and obvious inquiry as to how many genuinely serious
situations have either been averted or satisfactorily dealt with by use of
a cell pone in the classroom that could not have been dealt with by a call
to the school office?

The article nowhere states what limits are placed on the use of phones in
class - or for that matter if any such limits exist. Are a student's rights
seriously infringed if a teacher prevents a student from having a giggle
with his girlfriend two classrooms away or must the normal business of the
classroom have to grind to a halt while a kid takes a telemarketing call
from a friendly neighbourhood dope pedlar?

Ridiculous, no doubt, but possible if no limits are in place and students
are not required to subsequently justify calls to and from the classroom.

J. E. Morley, Maple Ridge