By Damien Hegler

Imagine, you’re working on your study packet for your test next block. You’re really focusing on the topic too. All of a sudden your teacher Mr. Bob’s phone goes off and he takes the call in class and your train of thought is lost. You are pretty mad and you say this to your teacher “That is not fair”. Mr. Bob replies with “Why not”?

In the student handbook it says that students are not allowed to use cell phones, pagers or other electronic devices in school except for emergencies. If this is the rule for students, why do teachers get to break a rule that they made for us to follow? Teachers get mad at us for using our phones, but then they turn around and interrupt our learning environment with their phone going off.

Here at Norrix, students use their cell phones anyways, so why not make it “legal” in school? One of the main reasons why some teachers say that they do not want their students using their phone in class is because it is a distraction to the learning environment.

I agree, but it’s the same with teachers using their phone in class. Another reason why some teachers say they do not want their students using their phone in class is because they are supposed to focus on the material at hand, not the text they just got from their friend Parker.

Freshman Felippe Santos said seeing a teacher on the phone in class would make him upset because “we’re supposed to be focused on learning and they’re supposed to be focused on teaching.” Which is very true. Teachers are supposed to lead by example, and if they are on their phone in class, it’s pretty hard to lead by example.

Obviously you cannot be focused on teaching if you are on the phone like Mr. Bob. International Business teacher, Atiba Ward said that the only time he has been on the phone in class is on school related business, like scheduling field trips. While teachers have some reasons for being on the phone in class, they make us follow a rule that permits us from being on the phone in class. If teachers can be on the phone, why can’t students?