Cellphones in School (1)

Does having access to cellphones at school help or hurt students?

Mrs. Lee's son Jake is in high school. His teacher Mr. Brown caught Jake taking his cellphone out during class and took it away. Now Mrs. Lee is at the school to get her son't phone.

Thank you for coming, Mrs. Lee. Here's Jake's cellphone.

Thank you. What was Jake doing with it in class?

I don't know, but as you know, our school has a zero tolerance policy for cellphones. If I see one during school hours, I'm supposed to take it away and ask a parent to pick it up.

That seems a little extreme. Why do you have such a strict rule?

Well, one reason is that cellphones make it hard for students to pay attention.

Because students are tempted to play with them and not pay attention?

That's part of it.

Also, if a phone makes noise during a lesson, it distracts the whole class.

But students can just put their phones on silent mode. As a parent, I feel better knowing my children have cellphones with them. It allows them to contact me if they need something. Or I can call or text them if there's an emergency at home.


Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: Contact, the Noun and the Verb


Language Lab
access n.
1 a way of getting near, at, or to something or someone — often + to
2 a way of being able to use or get something
- Her access to the files was denied because they are confidential.
- The hotel offers easy access to the train station by shuttle bus.

zero tolerance n. [noncount]
a policy of giving the most severe punishment possible to every person who commits a crime or breaks a rule
- The company has a zero tolerance policy for defective products.
- The company's zero tolerance policy regarding discrimination in the workplace has received high praise.

tempt v.
to cause (someone) to do or want to do something even though it may be wrong, bad, or unwise
- The elaborate window displays tempted shoppers to go inside the store.
- I was so tempted to buy the latest platform computer, but they're too expensive.

mode n.
the state in which a machine does a particular function
- James set the machine in automatic mode.
- The camera was set in manual mode.
a particular way of doing something
- Emails are an efficient mode of communication.


mms://webvod.goodtv.tv/SC/20130910_709f6.wmv

mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130910baaa7fd2ed1b34dced11e19223eba82c5f7465fc74d0f0476ca5adca8a8f408eb66.wma