They text in their pockets, they text the person sitting next to them and they even text their parents. “It’s addictive,” said Joshua Ortiz, a senior at Clifton High School. “During class and in between classes and even when there’s a teacher around.” Texting in class has become widespread — more than 40 percent of teens say they do it despite the fact that the overwhelming majority of schools ban cellphone use, according to a recent survey.
Anecdotally, local teens say the percentage may be higher still, and educators concede that the phenomenon may be here to stay.
“I’m not naïve. I’d like to think they don’t do it, but I know they do,” said Jack Hurley, principal of Rutherford High School.
Hurley said he runs a “tight ship,” confiscating phones when students use them during school. Still, it can sometimes feel like swimming against the tide. “It’s epidemic,” he concedes.
Cellphone use is ubiquitous. A Pew survey last year found three-quarters of teens and an even higher percentage of their parents have cellphones. And for teens, texting is the thing.
“It’s the norm, it’s just part of our culture,” said Drew Olanoff of textPlus, which conducted the survey that found 43 percent of teens text in class. The California-based company offers a free texting application for phones and other devices.
The survey found that 17 percent of the kids who text in class said they did so “constantly” and more than half say they text friends who are sitting in the same class; 22 percent said they’ve texted answers to classmates struggling to answer a teacher’s question.
“It’s a new spin on an old story: Parents will remember when they slipped little paper notes from one desk to another,” said Michael Yaple of the New Jersey School Boards Association. Read full article in North Jersey.
the schools should demand that every student drop off their phones at the office in the begining of the day and pick it up at the end.
the teachers will go thru our phones and invade our privacy
so put a passcode on the phone
keep the battery to your phone if you are that worried about privacy and if your phone doesnt have a passcode.
i had this system when i was in high school a few years ago,best thing ever. kept the students and teachers happy and out of trouble…
worked in my highschool too
My childs phone has parental controls. We have the phone set so she is unable to text during school hours. If parent s were more responsible they might consider this option to cut down on the problem. Our school district also has the kids and parents sign a clause that phone will remaim turned off in lockers and if caught the phone is taken and a parent must pick it up.