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opinion
Should students
have unlimited access to technology in class?
Pro:
Even students can have jobs important enough to require constant
accessibility and technology can also play a part in preventing
tragedy.
It is 3 p.m. in
the auditorium where the Biology 101 professor is discussing
mitosis and meiosis when a woman with a gun bursts through
the auditorium doors and starts shooting.
Luckily a student
in the back row has a cellular phone. Although it is not going
to prevent the shooting, it will speed the arrival time of
police and paramedics.
Suddenly, the concept
of technology in the classroom is a comfort, not a distraction.
Since the Columbine
shooting in 1999 when two students killed 13 people and wounded
21 in the school during first-lunch period, a handful of telecommunications
companies have donated phones to various schools.
High school and
elementary schools around the country realize the importance
of keeping connected to the outside world and are embracing
cellular phones in the classroom. However, the stigma of carrying
a cellular phone to class is obvious at Cal State Long Beach
as professors ban outright the potentially life-saving devices
from classrooms.
Two weeks ago violence
at the university level made news headlines when the president
of De Anza College in Cupertino evacuated the campus. The
Santa Clara County police found a large number of explosives
and weapons in a student's home, a student that according
to police reports, had been planning an attack for two years.
A tragedy narrowly
averted as another student tipped police on the possible threat,
this could have easily happened at CSULB.
Pagers in classrooms
have also recently come under fire. What professors see as
a distraction, to some students is a work requirement. Balancing
work and school schedules is a challenge most college students
face, and often the compromise between employers and students
is an on-call shift.
Seemingly, professors
automatically think the sound of pagers indicates a drug deal
or booty call. In reality, the sound of beeping in the classroom
could be the X-ray technician being called to work after a
plane crash.
CSULB is embracing
computer technology in the classroom. Internet access is available
in many buildings, which makes gathering information much
easier. However rarely in lab classes where there is Internet
access and students are using it during lectures do the professors
cite distraction.
Is Internet usage
less distracting than cellular phones or pagers?
While constant
beeping and ringing of cellular phones and pagers has the
potential to make teaching and learning a challenge, students
should not be punished or banned from carrying the items.
Being able to access
information and be accessed at any time and any place is part
of the beauty of technology. Professors need to emerge from
their stone caves and realize technology is not something
you can ban and neither are pagers and cellular phones.
The bottom line
is the college setting is one where adults come together to
learn. Adults know what is acceptable and what is not. Pagers
and cellular phones are an asset to a classroom when used
properly and with discretion.
To ban these devices
would be a step back to a time when card catalogues still
existed and the Internet was unheard of.
Stephine Michrina
is a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
Con:
Having cell phones and pagers available during class is not
only unnecessary for students, but also inconsiderate of the
teacher and other students.
Sure, there have
been great strides in technology in our days. Instead of calling
someone we simply e-mail them, perhaps even attach a picture
or two or go in a chat room and meet our boyfriend or girlfriend,
instead of going to some bar. The ease in which we can contact
each other is great. We can reach each other on the road or
out of town or even during school.
Unfortunately,
many of us have fallen prey to the new technology and, despite
our cooler heads, have gone out and bought ourselves a cellular
phone. Yes, they are great and so much simpler than scrambling
around looking for change for a pay phone or making collect
calls, but do they belong in the classroom?
Imagine this: You
have a difficult mid-term coming up; you stay up all weekend
studying and cramming for it. You are full of caffeine and
sugar, have not slept all night, and are stressed out beyond
belief. Then suddenly, you hear Beethoven's fifth or some
other witty yet highly irritating ring tone; it is somebody's
phone and you want to kill him or her.
In fact, there
is nothing more irritating than the ring of a cell phone during
a test or lecture, even if it is boring. Having a phone is
one thing, but having no consideration for those around you
is unacceptable. People with cell phones have no shame; you
see them with their phones at hospitals (despite the warning
signs), at the video store (what do you want to see?) and
of course, while you are driving.
There is nobody
and nothing so important that cannot wait an hour until class
is over and maybe that's the whole problem in a nutshell.
People think that lives are so important and they are so caught
up in it, that they lose respect for those around who don't
want to hear their phone conversation or that irritating song
that let's them know someone is calling.
Cal State Long
Beach does the right thing by not allowing cell phones and
pagers to be on during class. None of us are doctors or lawyers
yet, where it is vitally important to be reached at anytime.
I for one see no
reason why phones and pagers should be allowed in class, on
top of it they should be banned completely from any place
you are expected to have common courtesy for others. This
would include the market, the movies and the freeway. I guess
it is just common sense, but once we get a cell phone it seems
like we lose it all and begin to act like a cell phone idiot.
So those of you
who are unwilling to cooperate and continue to leave your
cell phones and beepers on during class, beware! There's a
consortium of fed-up folks trying to get an education, who
desire nothing more than taking your cell phone with its pretty
color and cute little ring and smashing to the ground once
and for all.
Alex Roman is
a print journalism major at Cal State Long Beach.
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