Do children need to have cell phones with them at school?

Monday 08th December, 05:55 AM JST

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kokuryu at 04:49 AM JST - 10th December

It is an issue of safety. They need to have the cellphones on them at all times, even in school, in class, where ever they are. And they need to be on and ready to receive any type of emergency call, and be able to make any type of emergency call at any point in time. Confiscation of the cellphones by teachers is a life threatening act that can cost a child their life. Such actions should be banned.
KobeKid at 06:32 AM JST - 10th December

Confiscation of the cellphones by teachers is a life threatening act that can cost a child their life

If you really believe that then best to home school your kids and never let them out the door
Jigg88 at 01:34 PM JST - 10th December

"Confiscation of the cellphones by teachers is a life threatening act that can cost a child their life."

Exaggerate much?
smithinjapan at 06:23 PM JST - 10th December

I gave a mini-lecture at several BOEs in the Kinki area for Professional Development earlier in the year. While they were for mostly Admin., they also involved teachers, and in two cases I also talked education with senior highschool classes as a guest. In the former, during every lecture at least four or five cell phones went off and adults checked email or excused themselves to gab on the phone. Maybe it was important... I don't know, but with the highschool kids not a cell phone went off.

That's not to say it doesn't happen -- it does. But my point is that these adults that complain about kids' lax morals and the 'cell phone problem' are very lax themselves. What's more, many parents WANT their kids to have cell phones at all times because of the murders that have been going on in Japan over the past 8 years or so... kids without them can't be tracked (GPDs built in) and/or contacted in emergencies, etc.

I say give the kid who answers a phone or is caught emailing in class the boot. If it goes off by accident and the kid promptly apologizes or what have you, fine... it happens and you're NOT going to get kids to give up phones. But no... in Japan you canNOT give a bad-ass kid the boot because those kids 'have a right to an education' (at the expense of everyone else's).
phooks at 06:29 PM JST - 10th December

Look guys they do this at my Aussie school. The rule is that you leave your mobile with school staff until school is over, or you keep it in your locker.

Although, nobody does either of those. It's usually a game of "not getting caught".

Usually phone rings disrupt class about 2-3 times a week. Can be pretty annoying sometimes though.
cleo at 07:13 PM JST - 10th December

"Confiscation of the cellphones by teachers is a life threatening act that can cost a child their life." Exaggerate much?

Not at all. I remember when I was at school back in the bad old days before mobiles, kids were always disappearing, exploding in puff of smoke and melting into sticky, smelly puddles in the school corridors, all because they didn't have an instant means of contact with the outside world.

:-)

Kids do not need phones in school. If parents need to be contacted during school hours, there's a phone in the staff room. If parents are afraid junior is going to run away/get kidnapped/forget his way home, let him have his mobile but if it disrupts class just once, it gets confiscated till the end of the school day.
smithinjapan at 12:09 AM JST - 11th December

Just rechecked the question and realized how stupid it was (never really read it in the first place). Do they 'need' phones in school? No. Are they going to have them anyway? yes.
kavikahi at 03:52 PM JST - 11th December

no
Beelzebub at 11:53 PM JST - 11th December

Kids? Why does ANYBODY need a cell phone? Are they that desperate to enrich au, Softbank and DoCoMo?
Blue_Tiger at 12:48 AM JST - 12th December

Children under the age of 16 should not have cell phone. Period.
saitamakid at 03:35 PM JST - 12th December

In a society where neighbors are quite indifferent to each other, having a cellphone can indeed give the parents some sort of peace of mind, especially when untoward incidents happen to their kids. But then, parents should also be responsible enough to guide their kids with the limitations of using cellphones because what they perceive to be the one safegurading their kids could also be the same tool for their kids' destruction - eg deai-saito, etc... Because these cellphone, most of the time, are useful when the kids are outside the portals of the school, then its usage should be banned within the school, and can only be activated once the kids leave the campus. I have to say though that even mobile phones cannot totally save your kids from the dangerous predators of society!
mixo88 at 04:29 AM JST - 13th December

there is no need for children to have cellphones in school. if they want to take photoes they must have digital camera and if they want to listen musiks , they must have ipod. but not in school.
helloklitty at 07:29 AM JST - 13th December

Not just kids, everyone. I wish they were never invented. Now, I have to pay 3,000 yen a month for the toy just because my wife insists that we need it.
kitakirisuzume at 08:29 PM JST - 13th December

while I'm personally undecided on the issue I'm just wondering if the kids don't have their phones at school how will they communicate with each other?
badge123 at 09:49 PM JST - 14th December

They they need them at school...no. Do they need them going to and from school..yes.