It has been clear that a drastic change occurred in the evolution of technology. Cell phones, computers and household appliances have all been modernized to fit the demands of today’s society. In school, the question of whether or not cell phones should be allowed in class has been an issue for several years as phones such as the iPhone and the Android have been in the use of students.

The capabilities of these new phones have a potential positive impact on the classroom setting, and young students should be permitted to use their phones for educational purposes, even though there is a high risk for distraction.

Senior Beau Black uses his iPhone in class to look things up, to back up a point or to research a topic he is curious about.

Students suggest that cell phones make it easier to solve problems in class.

According to junior Hayley Lawyer, cell phones help. She states that if someone forgot their calculator or they do not know a word in Spanish, then they can just look it up on a phone real fast. It is so much of a hassle that students cannot use them.

Sometimes even the teacher will step in and ask for students to look certain things up on their phone. According to activities director Ty Gonrowski, it really depends on the setting and tone set by the school in general. There can be legitimate educational uses for a cell phone, but they can also be major distractions. He adds that last year when he taught English, there were times when the class used phones to research things and in some classes there are apps that can be helpful.

The question is very controversial, as there are cases that can be made for both sides.

Some students do, in fact, use their phone in school for educational purposes. Cell phones are too such a benefit now with internet access, texting other students and apps that help in the classroom, that it would be funny not to use them.

However, not all teachers feel that way.

According to social studies teacher Brian Currier, cell phones are a distraction and they hinder learning because they make us dumber.

According to Currier, cell phones just clutter the mind, and they are a tyranny of the urgents.

While Gonrowski states that sometimes he permits his students to use cellphones in school, he also sees how they can be a bother. According to Gonrowski, the negatives are plentiful in that they can be a distraction in any moment of the day and he does not believe most kids have enough self control to know when to use them and when not to. While he has a point, if students cannot learn self control here, where will they? It should be up to the student if he or she chooses to waste his or her class time on their cell phone.

Although some students see more of a benefit of using cellphones in class, they too are seeing the negative.

According to Black, cell phones should not be allowed in school because maybe kids will actually pay attention and show respect to the teacher that is spending their career in order to share the knowledge.

There is no telling where the future will lead into with allowing or banning the use of cell phones due to the fact that they really both help and hinder students, however the positives in allowing cell phones in class outweigh the negatives.

According to Gonrowski, schools can go one of two ways: schools can allow them or they can go the way we did with the hat policy and completely ban them, which would be the only way to control their use.

As a teacher and director at a school, Gonrowski also believes that the issue really could go either way and in reality, banning them would not solve all problems but that would help kids be able to focus more in class.

There is compelling evidence for both cases and one could be swayed either way.  Now the cellphone is such a tool to the school’s and student’s advantage that teachers and professors should alter their teaching methods around the materials that are available to them and use the tools to their potential.