These random sweeps have been happening all school year, in response to the city-wide cell phone ban and supposedly to search for weapons. In addition to the items mentioned, also confiscated were house keys and markers (yes, really).

First, let me point out the school’s ethnicity: 38% white; 26% black; 33% Hispanic; 5% Asian–this is not a case of “whiny privileged white parents.” Do the addition–whites are a minority in this school. The parent body, however, is vocal when it comes to our children’s safety.

Martin M-B: Most of the students travel to/from school by themselves using public transportation (some from quite a distance away) and their parent/s work. These are 11-14 year-olds. Having cell phones (and keys, which were also confiscated) are necessary. How would you feel if you were out of touch with your child in New York for 8+ hours? Or if he/she was unable to get into your apartment until you could get home from work? School offices will not relay messages to children and phone lines are often down (this is a wide-ranging problem at all school levels). Pay phones are few and far between, if indeed they are functional. NYC doesn’t provide cell phone (or book) lockers in many schools, including this one.

Will: For us, yes, it IS a safety issue as well. What you might not have known was a 7th grader was choked and beaten up the next Friday (the day the phones were returned) in the late afternoon on his way to a dance at the school. Help was called for. On a cell phone.

Tom: Another missed point (”If you are pro-cell phones in schools, does that mean you think seventh graders should be able to answer and place phone calls in your class?”)–of course not. And since 404 phones were confiscated, but the children have not abused phones by using them in class, why should they NOT have them turned off and in the bottom of their backpacks?

These children were frisked, cursed at, scanned and made to feel like criminals. Now THERE’S a lesson.

So they did a “sweep” with metal detectors at a middle school on the Upper West Side of New York City on Thursday and the result wasn’t pretty. Out of 900 plus students, 404 cell phones were “confiscated” from the……

http://www.districtadministration.com/pulse/commentpost.aspx?news=no&postid=19280

My ONLY concern about having cellphones in class, mine or anyone else’s, is rude behavior. Don’t educators know how to create environments in which students behave in a civil fashion?

When I board an airplane or enter a concert hall a polite announcement asks me to turn off my cellphone - done - no police action necessary.

Why have schools become so antagonistic?

The larger problem is that our school paradigm is militaristic and built upon a top-down hierarchy of blind obedience to arbitrary rules and regulations (ie… NCLB)

If one desires to create a productive learning environment free of coercion, grades, tests, ranking, sorting and discipline problems, they can - tomorrow.

I just earned my PhD for documenting the work I did along with Seymour Papert (and others) in creating an alternative learning environment inside of a state prison for teens.(1) Not only did we create a productive context for learning where the only rule was “do something,” but we did not have a single incident in three years requiring a student to leave the classroom for disicipline reasons.

My work with severely at-risk children in the USA, Australia and Canada continues to reinforce my belief that it is possible to create educational experiences that place the needs and interests of children ahead of adult domination fantasies.

(1) Lest you think this was some sort of idealistic setting, Amnesty International documented examples of student torture within the facility.

However, this is an indictment of the news media’s priorities and bias rather than a dimunition of the isses at stake.

Come on Will, a 35yr old calling his wife to explain why he will be late for dinner is a little bit different than a 13 yrd old texting who they have a crush on…

Middle ground… they drop- off their cell phones in homeroom or the front office in the morning….pick them up after school….emergencies… call the front office.. American students survived for a 100 years using that method…better yet.. converse with your family {face to face} before going to school..

If anyone has lessons on cell phone use.. please post.. be sure to include variations for students who are unable to afford them…

Now my question is, do they have the same policy for teachers? I’ve seen staff at my school either on the phone or text messaging while at the same time telling students to put their phones away. I want to yell at them about the example their setting and how their expectations can be so off from what they’re doing.

They’re also usually the staff members that talk through a staff meeting (or fall asleep) but complain that their students won’t sit quietly and listen while they’re talking. I guess it’s par for the course.