Posted on: Tuesday, December 2, 2003

EDITORIAL
Turn off those darned cell phones in class

Kaiser High School is grappling with how to restrict students' use of personal telecommunications gadgets such as cell phones and pagers that transmit sound, text and photographs. Not only do they disrupt lessons, but they also make it easier to cheat on tests.

Some other public schools, such as Mililani High and Lana'i Elementary and High School, have already dealt with the problem: Cell phones are strictly verboten during the school day. Penalties for breaking the rules range from detention to confiscation.

Meanwhile, states such as Maryland and California, which outlawed pagers and cell phones at public schools during the 1990s to deter drug transactions and gang activity, have lifted those bans.

The way some public schools agonize over how to restrict the use of cell phones, you'd think 24-7 access to this ubiquitous technology was a First Amendment right. Not so.

Schools are supposed to set boundaries, and if cellular phones are disrupting their No. 1 mission to educate, then by all means, make students turn them off.

That said, we can't see why students shouldn't be able to make calls and check their messages during the lunch recess.

As for emergencies, if someone is urgently trying to contact a student, they can call the principal's office. It worked in the old days and if it's not working now, then perhaps the real problem is that we've all become too dependent on cell phones.

We wouldn't let a parent or friend barge into a classroom for no good reason, so why let them call?