Students should be allowed to use their cell phones in school

Definitions: Princeton's Wordnet defines "allow" as "grant permission." [1] Therefore, the resolution reads "students should be granted permission to use their cell phones in school." Based on my personal experience, the typical cell phone ban in schools is: "no cell phones may be used during school hours." Most school cell phone bans do not prevent students from carrying cell phones to school. This would answer two of my opponent's objections: 1. Cell phones could be carried to school, and school administrators would be more than open to allowing students to use cell phones in the case of an emergency, although the cell phones might have limited usefulness since having 1500 kids call their parents all at once would overload the cell phone tower. 2. Cell phones can be used both before school and after school for contacting parents and arranging rides. My opponent's third objection, that cell phones have tools that students can use, will be answered by my case. In addition, keep in mind that most math classes require much more sophisticated calculators (like graphing calculators) than are available on the typical phone. My opponent should name which tools are vitally necessary. My case: 1. Cheating If cell phone use is "allowed" during class, then it will be very difficult for teachers to catch people who are texting each other answers during tests and quizzes. 2. Distraction Many teenagers suffer from "permanent partial attention disorder," which is a habit of paying only partial attention to their schoolwork, while devoting half of their attention, typically, to social networking sites or instant messaging. If students can text each other during class, they are much less likely to take good notes and are much less likely to fully learn the lessons. 3. Safety Schools that have metal detectors at their doors and are considered extremely dangerous are the only schools that typically confiscate cell phones. The reason: when students get into fights, they often call for "outside assistance." This could mean a gang member calling older members of his gang or members who attend a different school. School administrators report that cell phones should be considered a weapon in these schools because they allow small-scale fights to spiral out of control. Out-of-control fights put the school administrators who are trying to control the fight in danger. Milwaukee's inner-city school district recently banned cell phones on school grounds for this reason. MSNBC reports, "School brawls have gone high tech, with students using cell phones to call in reinforcements — in one case requiring police and pepper spray to break up a fight that swelled to about 20 family members on school grounds. The fracas earlier this month, in which six students and three adults were arrested, was the latest in a surge of cell phone-related fights and prompted Wisconsin's largest school district to ban cell phones." [2] Since there are legitimate reasons to deny students permission to use cell phones during school, I urge a negation of the resolution. [1] http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu... [2] http://www.msnbc.msn.com...