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It makes sense to ban the use of things like cell phones and MP3 players inside the classroom, and anyone who tells me differently is on crack. But if you’ve got a couple minutes between classes, when the most you’re doing is probably either hanging out at your locker/at the nearest vending machine/wherever the hell it is highschool kids hang out these days when they’re trying to delay actually having to go to their next class, how is it things like that can disrupt the learning process? That’s one of the reasons behind a local highschool’s decision to ban the use of cell phones, iPods, and other crapola of that nature, *outside* the classroom as well. So basicly, if you get to school 15 minutes to half an hour early like I used to do (I took the bus, sue me), you can’t throw on some tunes and kill that 15 minutes to half an hour before your first class. Well, gee. Now you’ve gone and given them one more thing to do behind teachers’ backs. Or off school property a ways where they can’t get in shit for it, thus possibly making them late for class. And for what? Because one or two students decide to videotape a teacher in the hall and post said video on youtube. As much as the reasons against the ban given by the students they interviewed irritate me, they do in some ways make sense. If I needed to call a cab to get home, or if something came up, I had a choice… stand in line at a pay phone for anywhere from 5 minutes to half an hour depending on how talkative the person(s) in front of me were, or call on my cell on my way out the door. And, because I hate relying/waiting on other people when not absolutely necessary, guess which option I picked. Now, I’m not gonna sit here and say they were wrong to do anything about what happened, but IMHO, they did the wrong thing. Even one of the parents who supposedly support what the school did say they didn’t particularly have a problem. Well, now they do. The person(s) who posted the video pretty much got away with it, and everyone who actually bothered to be responsible–they do exist… I should know, I used to be one when I was going–pretty much gets told “Yes, we know you didn’t do it. But you’re still being punished.”. I dunno, maybe I’m a bit more on the defensive side than I should be, simply because I’ve been on that side of a policy change thanks to the jackassery of one or two morons. But I still say they went just a little tiny bit overboard. If I had children, I’d be ashamed to send them to that highschool. It’s a catholic school, though, so that wouldn’t even be an issue. Although… if I had children, I’d be very, very worried. Father material I am most definitely not.