The only constitutional issue here is property rights, and yes: they absolutely are beyond their jurisdiction unless the cell phone in question is being used as a weapon... and they probably need a warrant to do anything about it engaging in illegal trading.
But not like that matters. Schooling where you are not interested in the material is schooling that is not helping you. Taking the cell phone is irrelevant to teaching. There is only one class I remember anything from in high school, and I certainly didn't have a cell phone to deal with my boredom... and I was there but 2-3 years ago. The class in question was Russian, and the reason I retained anything from it is that the teacher had an entertaining teaching style that made me (and most everyone in the class) actually interested in the subject material. You didn't chat with your friends in his class... not because of anything he did (he was lax about every rule under the sun)... but because you wanted to pay attention to the class.
Honestly: You cannot force learning... and trying to do so will only cause resentment, irritation, frustration, and other fun things that not only don't assist the learning process as intended... but actively forestalls your ability to teach someone anything.
They shouldn't be.
Elemetary-middle-high schools are places you are made to come to for the purpose of learning. You will almost never retain something if you don't care about it. If you find your cell phone more interesting than your classes: the school has failed to make you care about it, and all that taking your cell phone away will do is to cause (further) resentment towards authority and to detach you even more from the material.
College is on your own head... a teacher might find it pointless (as do I) to text-chat in the middle of a class, but even then there would be nothing good accomplished by a(n) (extremely out of jurisdiction) removal of their cell phones.
But not like that matters. Schooling where you are not interested in the material is schooling that is not helping you. Taking the cell phone is irrelevant to teaching. There is only one class I remember anything from in high school, and I certainly didn't have a cell phone to deal with my boredom... and I was there but 2-3 years ago. The class in question was Russian, and the reason I retained anything from it is that the teacher had an entertaining teaching style that made me (and most everyone in the class) actually interested in the subject material. You didn't chat with your friends in his class... not because of anything he did (he was lax about every rule under the sun)... but because you wanted to pay attention to the class.
Honestly: You cannot force learning... and trying to do so will only cause resentment, irritation, frustration, and other fun things that not only don't assist the learning process as intended... but actively forestalls your ability to teach someone anything.
(September 27, 2011 at 10:17 am)thesummerqueen Wrote: Well, I'm not. I'm arguing with an old codger about education and whether cell phones should be confiscated in schools or not. I'll make a new thread.
They shouldn't be.
Elemetary-middle-high schools are places you are made to come to for the purpose of learning. You will almost never retain something if you don't care about it. If you find your cell phone more interesting than your classes: the school has failed to make you care about it, and all that taking your cell phone away will do is to cause (further) resentment towards authority and to detach you even more from the material.
College is on your own head... a teacher might find it pointless (as do I) to text-chat in the middle of a class, but even then there would be nothing good accomplished by a(n) (extremely out of jurisdiction) removal of their cell phones.
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
