Student Work

Letter by Sidar in 9A.

Letter by Fayod in 9A.

A safe school environment is a good school environment!

Have you ever heard someones phone go off in the middle of the class? Or even worse, have you ever been so afraid to change in the locker rooms, because you are scared that someone could use their phone to take a picture of you?
 

This should not be happening, and that's why I think that phones should be prohibited from schools. According to the website Scholastic, 42% of the kids have been bullied online and 1 in 4 says that it has happened more than once1. Prohibiting phones from schools may not make the cyberbullying disappear but it may decrease. A positive side effect to prohibiting the phones is that students will be able to concentrate on the lesson and not on their mobile device. Many students do actually have a hard time concentrating on the lesson. Instead of concentrating on what the teacher says they are more worried about if they are going to get the most likes on their newest instagram picture or if someone has added them on snapchat.  

Schools that have been prohibiting phones from the school and classroom environment have actually been surprised with better academic results. The Centre for Economics Performance wrote in the Ill Communication: The Impact of Mobile Phones on Students, that they banned mobile devices and the test scores increased by 6.4% for students aged 16.2 Think what would happen if you banned phones from all the schools and in all the grades? It would both help the academic results and it may help to reduce or even stop the cyberbullying.       

Caralee Adams wrote that: “In the worst case, students are so worried about cyberbullying that they can't focus on their studies or are afraid to come to school. It has become a school climate and safety issue.” 3   Students are to afraid to come to school, and they aren't focused enough to do their homework. This is also another reason to way I think that phones should be banned from schools. Instead of students being on their phones during the break times, students can engage in other activities. They can talk to each other; they can play cards, or even study if you have the time for it.

Some people may come back with a counter argument, saying that students need their phones during class time, but then my counter argument to that would be, guess what your teachers are there for? Your teacher is there for a reason, and that reason isn't to tell at you to put your phone away. He or she is there to help you and teach you, and you should be appreciative of this, that they take their time to teach you.

Think about this the next time you take up your phone in class, or you could even come with a suggestion to your principal that the school should be prohibiting phones from your school.                                                  
 

Works Cited

1 Adams, Caralee. Cyberbullying: What Teachers and Schools Can Do. Scholastic. Website. Accessed February 9, 2017.

https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/cyberbully...

2 Louis-Philippe, Beland Richard Murphy. Centre for Economics Performance May, 2015. Ill Communication: Technology, Distraction & Student Performance. Website. Accessed February 13, 2017.

http://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1350.pdf

3 Jamie, Doward. Schools that ban mobile phones see better academic results. TheGuardian May 16, 2015. Website. Accessed February 9, 2017.    

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/may/16/schools-mobile-phones-...