Dear Principal,

I understand your dilemma regarding a new cell phone policy. However, I do not think that it is ever a good time to use cell phones in school. Not even during lunchtime or free periods. The following reasons may help you when making your final decision.

First of all cell phones are unnecessary in school. Who would the kids be calling? All of their friends should be in school! School should be a place for learning, and texting and calling friends doesn't need to be happening. They have all the time they want after school, they don't need to be in contact with friends 24/7. If a student needs to call their parent for some reason they should be permitted to use the phone in the office.

I believe that cell phones during school will also lead to cheating. Most phones now have internet on them, and it is very easy to look up information on them. Say a student has a big history test after lunch and they can't remember the year the Alamo was fought. It would take thirty seconds for them to look up the answer on their phone. This would be unfair to students who have been working and studying hard.

Even though the first policy is still making students turn off phones during class, it probably won't happen. If a student has their phone on during lunch their not going to want to turn it off for class. It's already on so they might as well keep it on. This would also encourage cheating. Kids could text a friend and ask for the answers to questions, and the teacher may never know.

The bottom line is that cell phones are just completely unnecessary in school. Students in middle school and high school don't need to be texting and calling friends during school time. With all the things phones can do nowadays, cheating will be extremely easy for kids who are unsure of answers. And also, most students will not feel the need to turn off their cells phones for class, because they will just get to turn them on again in an hour.

Sincerely,

A Concerned Student