To have a cellphone or not have a cellphone in the classroom: That is the question?

I want to be completely honest right off the bat. I was against cellphones in the classroom before I read these two articles. I never saw any good coming from the distracting cell phone in the classroom. Both sides of the argument brought up great points but I still believe cellphones should not be allowed in the classroom. Here are my three reasons ageist having cell phones in the classroom.

"Cell phones don't have a place in the classroom" Josh Allen

My first reason is cellphones are extremely distracting. With the new age of texting people, kids would be distracted all the time. They would be talking to each other over the texting and not paying attention to learning. Allowing the cell phones offers the students temptation. This is a situation that can be easily avoided by setting clear rules and expectations that involve no cell phones in the classroom.

The second reason is that not everyone owns a cellphone. I believe by allowing cell phones in the classroom you are leaving out certain students. Kids want to fit in and by encouraging cell phones in the classroom a teacher can indirectly seclude certain students. Our goals as a teacher is to bring people together, not to separate them.

The third and final reason is that cell phones are rude in certain situations. It is a pet peeve of mine when you are hanging out with friends and they are texting someone on their phone. This makes you feel that you are not important. This is the same idea in the classroom. Even though a teacher has put time and effort into a lesson plan, students will still favor a cell phone over their teacher. School is a time to learn respect and appropriate behavior. Students need to learn to be respectful to a teacher and a cellphone can hamper that important lesson of social conduct.

The question I have for this article is when is it ok to allow cellphones in the classroom? At some point cell phones will be allowed. Does everyone have to own one before this comes a reality? I don't know? I know in some classrooms it is already allowed. I want to know what rules teachers have implemented that work.