When I walk into a class for the first time in a semester or the beginning of the year, I’m always hoping that the teacher doesn’t have a caddy for cell phones hanging on the back of the door or somewhere else in the room. If they do, then I have to hope that they don’t use it or don’t enforce the policy. Unfortunately, most teachers don’t know that the use of cellphones is the best way to easily help with learning in a classroom setting. Cell phones should be allowed for educational purposes.

 According to the school help website Resilient Educator, “Smartphones provide the ability to get answers really fast.” This is important because if you are waiting for a teacher to help you during class, but they are with another student or are working on their computer, and all you need is a simple answer, you end up not getting as much time doing the work that needs to be done. But with being able to use your phone for an educational purpose, you can get the simple answer done quickly and get back to work.

Resilient Educator also said to “Set ground rules for smartphones in your classroom, along with clear expectations of what happens if they’re used inappropriately. Just like with anything else, too much of something can be a bad thing—but just enough, can be perfect for learning in new ways.” This will be something necessary for classrooms because some people won’t be able to use them for predetermined purposes and will try to text a friend, go onto Tik Tok or even try to cheat on tests. 

Phones can, and are, an excellent use for communication among student and teachers, says Pierce Public Schools:  “Teachers can also use phones during school to send out a message to all the students if they need to remind them on a subject they forgot to mention during class.” This can be used in other ways to help in the classroom as well. For example, if there was a mistake on the homework that the teacher needs to let everyone know about, or an extension to a project that students were working on super late into the night, they could inform students with a message. 

Schools might be apprehensive about starting to allow something that they have been against for so long, but if schools really want to keep up with the times and be able to help their students, then this is a necessary step. Allowing phones with restrictions is the best way to start out to show students responsibility and using something for the right reasons.