By LOGAN REVEIL
A poll of about 50 Homer High students was taken by the Mariner Compass this week. The survey asked students whether or not they should be allowed to use cell phones in class.
According to an article in the Homer News, the Kenai Peninsula Borough School district is considering changing its policy on cell phone use in class. In brief, the new policy acknowledges that “these devices serve an important purpose in facilitating communication between the student and his or her family, as well as serving as tools to access electronic information.”
But district policy aside, what do students think about this subject? According to our survey, 87 percent of respondents said that cell phones should be allowed in class. In addition, 80 percent had used a cell phone in class before and 96 percent said that they would use their phones responsibly in class. The question of whether the current school policy (not district policy) was too strict met morecontroversy though. There the split was 2620 with the minority being satisfied with the current policy.
Some students followed the same reasoning as the school district, saying that their phones were necessary for communicating with parents and teachers. Others argued that education should not only tolerate technology, but embrace it as well. As one individual put it,”The classrooms should be filled with this new technology and incorporate it in learning.”
Regardless of what they thought, it seemed that many students were very passionate about the subject. Here in its entirety, is one of the more spirited comments: “From my experience, cell phone use in class does not significantly hamper education. The detriments of the slight distraction they pose are far outweighed by their benefits. Free use of cell phones allows for sometimes necessary communication between students and parents, bosses, or other students. Electronic devices can make a boring class bearable by playing music or providing distraction for antsy hands. The biggest benefit of allowing cell phone use in school is the large morale boost that such a policy would give students. It would make school seem like less of an oppressive, joykilling, mandatory education machine, and more like a free congregation of unrestricted learning where students take responsibility for their education.”