After I read THIS REPORT, I felt compelled to write this post and had to skip my TRX class at the gym.
According to The Star:
The Education Ministry is still discussing whether to allow students to take hand phones to school.
Deputy Education minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said the ministry has not finalised the matter and was still in the evaluation stage.
“Many things need to be scrutinized before any decision is taken, including the views of the students. To date, many views have been received. In fact, I myself received a letter from a 10-year-old student who disagreed with the proposal.
“It is surprising when a standard four pupil himself offers such a view and state why he disagrees. So, there will be an in-depth study before a decision is made,” he told reporters at a cheque handing ceremony to Negeri Sembilan government-aided schools at Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan (Cina) Chung Hua, Tuesday.
What is there to discuss? I cannot believe what I read.
1. Still discussing?
2. Matter not finalised?
3. Evaluation stage?
For heaven's sake, don't they have better things to do such as:
- raising the standard of English in the education system
- making sure our students can compete internationally
- improving facilities in schools
- improving the scope of the syllabus of core subjects
- improving the marking scheme of public examinations etc etc
Even if mobile phones have become an integral part of our lives, it does not mean that schools should bend backwards and follow trends at the expense of the quality of education being imparted to students.
Let's consider the cons of allowing students to carry hand phones to school.
Such a move could enable/allow students to:
- cheat by sending/receiving text messages with the answers
- create havoc via false or seemingly harmless text messages such as "There will be early dismissal today due to an emergency staff meeting" or even bomb threats
- make or receive phone calls during class for any reason but family emergencies
- be distracted and have difficulty in following the lessons
- violate people's privacy by taking pictures of their teachers/other students without permission and then posting them online after these have been photo-shopped.
- influence others to view unsavoury/pornographic websites, use websites to do their homework if their phone is a smart phone and if they have their own data package to surf. They can also partake in unhealthy habits such as betting/gambling or gaming etc
- be at risk to threats/attacks from gangsters/undesirable elements e.g. if they are threatened or extorted because they were using fancy hand phones as the high end mobile phone models would be an indication of the students' financial background
- have disagreements/fights over hand phones out of jealousy or misunderstanding
- have difficulty in being disciplined as the hand phones rightly belong to students
- be at risk for more thefts could occur
- burden families as children are likely to keep up with the latest models of hand phone and/or even rake up a hefty phone/data bill.
- be easily distracted in class, learn less, have difficulty in paying attention to teachers and disrupt the concentration of those who want to learn
- have less respect for others around them
- be deprived of social graces and communication opportunities to develop themselves to become well-adjusted individuals if they persist in playing with their hand phones instead of paying attention in class, responding to their friends in social situations
- organize criminal behaviour
- be exposed to the disorders and dysfunctions caused by the cell phones including medical problems from over-usage of mobile phones such as loss of hearing, brain problems and many more related problems.
If the public phones are out of order and the calls are urgent, no administrator or teacher will prevent a child from using the school’s phone.
Of course there could be situations where students really need a hand phone especially if the student or a family member is very ill, needs medication or advice or has mental problems and needs to contact their loved ones as soon as possible. I am sure in such situations, there could be exceptions to the rule.
Hence, I strongly feel that the whole issue is a non-starter. Is there a necessity to consider the the views of the students? Surely as an Education Ministry, they should know what is best for students and not the other way round. If a ten year-old can object to the proposal, does it not show how ridiculous it is to take such a long time via a tedious bureaucratic process to make a simple decision to disallow the usage of mobile phones?
Another point to consider is that most schools already DISALLOW students to even BRING their hand phones to school. If the Ministry decides to allow students to do otherwise, is it not tantamount to declaring that previous school policies are wrong? I really do not see the logic of the matter at all.
Hence, all they need is to go through very simple decision making process that requires maybe an hour's meeting the most instead of going round the mulberry bush and giving all kinds of ludicrous reasoning.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THIS VIDEO PRODUCED BY A STUDENT on why handphones should not be allowed in schools.
adie The country has really gone to the 'dogs'... :(