Our school, like many I have seen or heard about, has a no tolerance policy about electronic devices, specifically IPODs and cell phones.  I love the rule.  Students are here for school not to text to their friends or listen to music.  Oh sure when I was in school I was known to sneak my Discman (yes I am of that generation) and listen to a single CD throughout the day.  I realize that was not the way to approach the situation, but hey I was a teenager.  Taking my personal experience, I can see the lure of cell phones and music, but some days I want to take those devices and stomp on them.  Last week was one of those weeks.  

I have been known to catch my fair share of electronic devices, usually in the hallway.  Students try to be sneaky, but really it’s pretty obvious.  Staring at the floor off to the side of your desk or your arm in a coat or hoodie pocket just screams “Look at me I am doing something against the rules.”  To me all this just points to disrespect to the teachers, the school, other students, and even to themselves.  Intrinsic motivation for learning is not present when students focus on texting or listening to music. 

Having stated my position on the devices, I found myself in a dilemma the other day.  A student came up to me during study hall (do not even get me started on study halls, it was not my choice to supervise) and asked if he could listen to his IPOD.  Of course I said no, to which he asked the eternal question “Why?”  Much to my surprise, I did not have a good answer and so replied “Because.”  “Because”  is a ridiculous answer to any question and the student knew it.  He continued to ask why and I struggled with a good reason.  I had an answer if this occurred during U.S. history or Economics, but this was study hall.  Personally I know I study better with some light music in the background.  I sympathized with the student, but ultimately decided that I had to uphold the rule even if it was problematic. 

Where do we draw the line on these kinds of issues?  Blanket rules seem to cause problems, but so do degrees and uncertanty of rules.  How do we police the use of electronic devices that we know the students (and most of use teachers have) but still uphold the concepts of personal freedom and educational diversity? 

The art room has a open use of IPODs during class periods.  Every art teacher that I have known has discussed with me the benefits of having music on during class to jump start student creativity.  So if the art classes can listen to them, why can’t my study hall student listen to them?   I still cannot come up with a good answer to this conundrum, so for now I will just answer with “It’s a rule and I enforce the rules.”