Katie Eastridge Katie Eastridge Mrs. Anderson 4th hour English 9 December 5, 2012

Title: Let It Ring, Get a Sting
Thesis: Students should not have cell phones in class.
Audience: School Board

Reasons: I. Safety Concern/Cyber Bullying II. Source of Cheating III. Distraction IV. Interference of Learning

Interfering with students’ learning, distracting them from listening or studying, setting up for failure, a method of cheating, and safety hazards or cyber bullying are outcomes of permitting cell phones during the school day. Many people attending school want to be able to have their cell phone with them at all times. According to Lee, “In April 2008, the Manhattan court of appeals noted that cell phone bans in schools are constitutional.” With that response, a complaint is not necessary under any circumstances.
With the allowance of cell phones during the school day, numerous amounts of students could be in harm of safety and cyber bullying could become a bigger issue than it is already now. School safety should be the number one priority within the district. “In terms of school safety, cell phones have been used by students in a number of cases nationwide for calling in bomb threats to schools. In far too many cases, these threats have been difficult or impossible to trace since they have been made by cell phones” (Lee). Likewise, bomb threats or safety concerns being reported to the schools can not always be subscribed by outsiders. Even if the bomb threat was assumed through a felon or an older person who never attended that school, the cell phones would not be an advantage. “Additionally, experience in crisis management has shown us that regular school telephone systems become overloaded with calls in times of a crisis” (Lee). Therefore, when the students have their cell phones out trying to get a hold of their parents or guardians, chances are very slim all the calls could be made out. According to Cambria, there was a tweet that was spread a few of the classmates about a female teacher, highly and sexually inappropriate. “At least ten were suspended, unleashing an explosion of criticism online” (Cambria). Those students went against the school rules. “The wave of suspensions at Granite High School started after a student wrote a demeaning comment that sexually objectified a female teacher on the social networking site Twitter” (Cambria). A mistake had occurred, two of the student’s friends decided to click “retweet”. That action just led to more followers coming across it and of course, looking upon it. “Gossip spreads like wildfire, after all” (Bagaria). Thus, cell phones in school without a punishment can allow a student to take a picture of another classmate or teacher in an awkward position, spreading foul material online. The use of them could help send a bomb threat too and making it hardly impossible to figure out who it came from. Classmates in school are eager to look at others’ exams while taking one themselves if unsure of a certain question. In other words, this action is called cheating. “In addition, most cell phones have a picture-taking device included in the basic technology” (Lee). So, cheating is a piece of cake of anyone who is willing to take risk of making a bad choice that can resort in many consequences. A camera is built in on almost any type of cell phone you can purchase today. “This allows a student to take an exam, take a photo of the exam, and send the picture to someone for the purposes of cheating” (Lee). If a friend was to send a photo of a test, this would be setting up any person for failure. Everyone would be bound to cheat. Obviously, it is wrong and will not put anyone in the position to succeed. In my research, I found, “Students can text friends or find answers on the internet, for example” (Bagaria). That is another way to cheat. “According to a 2010 study by the Pew Research Center, 64 percent of teens with cell phones have sent