Dear Principal,

It has come to my attention that you are considering banning cell phones in school. Please do not do this. Students have a right to talk to their friends even if they aren't face to face. As long as students don't use them during class, there is no harm in using them at all. Students can't do anything with cell phones out of class that they couldn't do without them. It just makes talking with friends easier.

What's the difference between allowing students to text their friends and allowing them to talk to their friends? Maybe if a person doesn't have the time to see his friends between periods, he can just text them instead. It doesn't do any harm as long as you don't allow them in classrooms. It's not like you can cheat outside of a classroom. If they were to pass on answers to a test they could do it even without cell phones.

If a student doesn't use cell phones during class, then there's no danger of cheating. Even so, it's very easy to tell when someone is cheating. I highly doubt that someone is going to have the exact same answers as his friend by pure coincidence. Also, most people don't have a habit of looking down at their lap then immediately writing down an answer. Cell phones reduce the danger of cheating while making it easier to catch cheaters.

Lets face it, it's human nature to do what we are not allowed to do. There's examples of that throughout history. If you disallow cell phones, it's going to make more people use them, and in ways they aren't supposed to. If you allow them, people will be much more willing to follow the specific rules since they are still able to use them.

So, I do hope you consider my appeal to you. Cell phones aren't a bad thing as long as they are used correctly. They reduce the risk of cheaters and make those that do easy to spot. And remember, if you do ban them, people are going to want to use them even more.