http://gearlog.com/blogs/gearlog/archive/2006/05/22/12456.aspx
posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 4:27 PM
When a Cell Phone is Like a Gun
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It is pretty safe to assume that as a gadget-lovin' Gearlogger I am going to come down against Mayor Bloomberg's ridiculous ban on cell phones in New York City public schools, but as a step-father with an 11-year-old riding the city bus to school, my opposition borders on outrage. The ban itself has been around a long time (1987, I think), but it has always been enforced with an appropriate amount of laxness. Show it, you lose it. Evidently, that wasn't good enough. Now kids are being patted down for telecommunication devices. Why? According to the Gotham Gazette:
Klein and Bloomberg say cell phones make it easier for kids to cheat on tests, take pictures in locker room and bathrooms, arrange drug deals or call in reinforcements for schoolyard fights. In a radio address, the mayor likened cell phones to guns and knives.
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Well, if you send your child to the gummamint reeducation camps, then why would you be surprised when they are treated like prisioners?
If they can't keep drugs and weapons out of their prisons and skoolz, then you don't have to worry. The lawless will have guns, drugs, AND cell phones.
The socialists didn't learn their lessons from the old Soviet Union. Government can't run "education" any more than it can do anything else.
As the boys at Free Talk Live (http://www.freetalklive.com) ask all the time: "Name ONE government program that works?" Haven't heard one yet.
So I'll sign your petition for all the good that it will do.
Reinke Faces Life 
I agree that the cell phone ban is ridiculous. The reasons for banning cell phones are pathetic. Here they are as follows and the initial truth.
1. Cell phones are used to play video games, take inappropriate pictures, surf the web, text friends, and summon fights. Fact: students can still do these things even without cell phones.
2. Cell phones are used to cheat on exams. Fact: students can still cheat even without their phones and there are plenty of resolutions to solve this problem, especially during regents (i.e. Have the test protor take all cell phones and put them on the front desk with name tags and when a student is finished, he/she can take their phones and leave; OR, have the test proctor walk around the room and monitor the student’s every move).
3. The teachers work as hard as they can to teach students. Fact: how do you know that’s true. You don’t know what teachers are doing behind classroom doors.
4. The mayor and DoE have the right to confiscate cell phones. Fact: confiscating is like stealing, and one of the Ten Commandments says “Thou Shalt Not Steal.”
5. The metal detectors were meant to confiscate weapons. Fact: only 1 in 1,000 items confiscated was a weapon. The primary targets are cell phones and other electronic devices.
6. There was a increase in the number of weapons found in schools. Fact: there is no proof that thishappened.
7. The teachers’ union supports the ban: Fact: they oppose it.
8. Cell phones are totally banned from school. Fact: teachers can still have their phones ON during classes. Mayor Bloomberg says cell phones from students are a distraction. Well, here’s a fact: A teacher’s cell phone ringing in the middle of a lesson is just as disruptive to the class as a student’s phone ringing. Students might take advantage of this and do inappropriate things while the teacher is on the phone. Students can also make deals with their favorite teachers to help sneak their phones in.
9. Education is more important than safety. Fact: safety should be the #1 priority anywhere, anytime. Education is important, but it is not the number 1 thing in life, not even close. Some students have long trips to/from school and if anything happens, they can use their cell phones to contact their parents and let them know what is going on. Also, many kids in the city can’t even afford to go to school, and instead of using money to help them out, they’re spending it on metal detectors that strip kids of their freedom.
10. A school is for learning. Fact: yes it is for learning, but it is NOT JUST for learning. It’s a place where kids gather around to pass the time, talk to their friends, and make new ones.
11. This is a non-negotiable situation. Fact: there are plenty of resolutions, even though only a few are practical. Bloomberg and DoE are just being plain lazy because they don’t care about working people, only education and big business.
12. The metal detectors are a good thing. Fact: they hurt more than they help. It makes kids late to class, invades their privacy, and makes them feel uncomfortable in their school. A school is not a jail. Kids are not fugitives seen on America’s Most Wanted. The DoE wasted thier money and probably lied to us that they were on a budget
13. There is no constitutional right to distract the class. Fact: yes that’s true, but there is also no constitution right for adults to take away students’ natural rights and treat them likes trash.
14. Principals support the ban because cell phones are a distraction. Fact; they support it because they are Bloomberg’s big business buddies.
15. Cell phones are returned at the end of the day. Fact: usually they don’t. A parent has to come retrieve it and after a while, it is thrown away like trash. Sometimes, they are sell to a store and the money is given to the greedy mayor and/or school.
This is only a partial list. I have lots and lots of more to say, but it’s too much for me to say it right here. I’ll comment again if I can think of more.
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