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Italy Bans Mobile Phones in Classrooms

news.yahoo.com — Italy has banned schoolchildren from using mobile phones in class in an attempt to stop ringtones disrupting lessons and prevent pupils messing about with video cameras.

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  • malavalla, on 10/12/2007, -10/+1chow
    • JakeX, on 10/12/2007, -4/+58Cellphones should be banned in classrooms (shouldn't come as a shock). Students are there to learn not spell stuff incorrectly via acronyms on their cellphones :P
    • krinthekuz, on 09/16/2008, -2/+15what school in the US, UK, or rest of the civilized world has not done this yet?

      for the people who have dugg this, i have some news for you: the sky is blue sometimes.
    • lnf69, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I suppose you mean "CIAO".
    • smek2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"US, UK or rest of the civilized world"... as opposed to the "uncivilized world" i presume?
  • bredvad, on 10/12/2007, -1/+24High schools here did this years ago.
    • Otium9, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2yep same at my school
    • aikahanyou, on 10/12/2007, -4/+9In Canada, too. We've also banned mp3 players and PDAs.
    • jprater, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2my high school did this as well. except they kept saying that cell phones were drug related and you would be suspended for possessing one. one of my friends got ***** on b/c he kept a cell phone in his car. however, i do agree cell phones should be banned--kids are there to learn, nothing else.
    • mhockey14221, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Now they need to start doing this in colleges... my lord its annoying when you actually care about the class and some *****'s phone goes off in the middle of class.
  • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -11/+6Audacity --> Generate --> Tone --> 40,000 Hertz.
    Import into phone.
    Let it ring in class. People 25+ usually cannot hear it.
    • Dayz, on 10/12/2007, -6/+2thats pretty *****
    • Regulator980, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Totally not true. I was in the same room when that ring tone came on and the old lady next to me could hear it just fine. It's a lame marketing ploy.
    • foolfromhell, on 10/12/2007, -6/+5Nope. If you are more than 4 feet from the phone/speaker, older people cannot hear it. I have tested it with people who are 34, 42, 50 or 60 (not sure), and others. It works if they are more than a certain distance. And, how can it be a marketing ploy? Nobody is selling the sound...
    • DeFex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Lol nobody can hear 40,000Hz
      The frequency response of the crappy little speaker in the phone does not go high enough to get to frequencies "old people can not hear". (over 16khz)

    • daza, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2foolfromhell is correct. I have tested this with older people and they simply cannot hear it hurts teenagers ears (like mine).

      @ foolfromhell "Nobody is selling the sound..."

      Actually they are. A mobile content operator (Jamster) has been selling this for a few months now, advertising non stop on TV. Same annoying mob who were selling the Crazy Frog thing and every other annoying trend.

  • stealthduke, on 10/12/2007, -5/+3so this means the end of sexy amateur teacher thong vids
  • clockworkORANGE, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17I'm pretty sure every high-school in America banned cell phones a long time ago.
    • Tenlow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Schools around here banned them in the early 90's, when the only kids with cell phones were drug dealers.
    • sunexplodes, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7And Zach Morris.
    • hrdcregmer808, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yup. All my schools don't allow it during class, but if the teacher is cool, they let it go off and nothing happens, if the teacher is a complete @$$ then he/she takes it away. But we can use it lunch/recess, before, and after school
    • webwidejosh, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I don't know why they can't simply impose more strict punishments for simpler offenses, like when it rings in class. There is no reason that a phone not causing distraction should be an issue. Why punish people who can turn off their ringer and put the phone away? Punish the students who do cause distraction, and only those students. Punishment should suit the offense, and an unoffending cellphone is just that. How are you teaching kids to be responsible if they aren't responsible or have nothing to be responsible for?
  • growlzor, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Its probably a big deal since Europe has all the awesome phones we hear about. They can do a lot with them. Oh and they actually get reception
  • freefm, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3Yes, I don't know how many times some retard chick's cell phone goes off with some rap song with a deep bass line coming out of a .5 inch speaker, before some comprehensible utterances come crackling interrupting everyone trying to program their graphing calculators or listen to the teacher.

    Dude, my robot check was DDDug !
  • malavalla, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1jf you think thats ***** put a x in the box
  • sus3k, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Yea, my high school banned cell phones a LONG time ago. At least when i was there. I'm sure they still are too, probably along with ipods and other portable devices.
  • shannobn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Good
  • adarkmethod, on 10/12/2007, -14/+0wait... so kids record things with their phones.. which should be reported as crimes or at the very least misconduct... and the devices which are providing proof of the misdeeds are banned..

    Im not saying people need to hear phones ringing in class, but i used my phone to text almost everyday of high school, and in almost, if not, every class. My IQ is still higher than that of almost everyone else in my graduating class, and i got my diploma before they did. This is retarded. Lawmakers have bigger things to worry about, and Italy should be ashamed... pathetic at the very least
    • Rikkochet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Congratulations, you've demonstrated that you're intelligent enough to work the school system and get good scores on standardized tests.
      Unfortunately, school is there for learning. ***** like listening to your teacher, taking notes, getting an education. There's no mandate to allow you time to play with your electronic gadgets and distract the kids who aren't as capable at learning, nor interrupting the whole class when you forgot to turn your ringer off.
    • WiseElben, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@adarkmethod

      You don't really get yourself, do you? First, you basically state that you are smarter than everyone because you have the ability to multi-task. Yay. Second, you assume that lawmakers are coming up with these laws. Most of the time, it's not the law makers themselves, but other people like teachers and moms who push these laws. Not very many lawmakers would argue against something like this because it first, would hurt their reputation as a representative of the people, and second, they are useful laws anyways.
    • Onyxblaze, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Just because you have a higher IQ doesn't mean that you are necessarily smarter. Also, even if you are smart, you should follow rules, even if you think they don't apply to you. Colleges and workplaces look not only for smart people, but also for good people who can follow instructions.
    • bioskope, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Now I understand why parents say teenaged children are harder to upbring because they have such silly and stupid ideas ingrained inside of their heads. Now I know even though being dugg down so much would be a sign of a general consensus that your logic is suffice to say stupid, it still isnt going to make you see things in a different light for atleast a short while. That scares me about todays teenages.


      I suddenly feel a whole lot more guilty about whatever I put my parents through during a teenage years
    • rsmalley2009, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0
      First off, this shouldn't be news, becuase most high schools in America, Canada and the like banned cell phones, who didn't see this coming?

      @adarkmethod:

      Let's say that in a fantasy land, you were to be punished for recording something like that. Why? You aren't going to be able to use your cell phone on a test (teacher would see/hear it), and recording lecture sounds like a great idea. Moving forward, where in the hell do you get the right to say that you have a higher IQ than "almost everyone else in my graduating class, and i got my diploma before they did." Did you test all of your classmates and yourself to make sure that your IQ was higher? How can you prove that? Even if you could, this has no place in this article. No one really cares if you texted or not.
      And as for the lawmakers, as others have said, it is not only lawmakers that make laws, it is mothers and teachers with a desire for their child/student to be able to have a successful education without distraction. Italy is not pathetic in their act, just late.
    • JockTroll, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2adarkmethod: "My IQ is still higher than that of almost everyone else in my graduating class"

      In your dreams, masturbator boy. You must attend a school for sissies, anywhere else they would have thrown you from your self-made pedestal and beaten to a pulp.

      Or do you attend a school for retarded boys?

      Is that it, MENSA floor sweeper? Are you the only genius in your class who can actually use the toilet all by himself? Amazing! You can finish your wicker basket while playing tic-tac-toe on your cellphone (which obviously has large buttons to compensate for your lack of tactile skills).

      Whew. I heard Burger King is actively looking for people like you.
  • artificial001, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4my high school's never allowed cellies
  • Furi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Now if we can have people who can't use them while driving be banned from using them.
  • TheElectricMonk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4dude, does anyone else know about the video of the kids in an italian school whos teacher let them fondle her while she was teaching? one of the kids was sitting near her, with someone blocking her view to him while he recorded it, she was pretty hot too, and just sat there while they rubbed her ***** and ass, so if i was one of the kids other than the one who recorded it, and was traumatized by my loss of an in-school sextoy, id probably be pretty happy they banned cellphones(the video was made with a camera phone)
  • MScrip, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0When I was in high school... only a handful of kids had cellphones... Motorola flip phones or bag phones in their cars.

    Pagers ruled the day!

    Class of 1995
  • nhassan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1our school has some theory that we share answers with our cell phones. 0.o
  • Cleanlyness, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1hmm it can't be that clip of where the high school students were molesting that girl. ***** iTalians.
    +digg so the word can get out on this ***** up country.
  • RAEP, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Good. I'm glad more people are doing this. It's a shame American children would practically riot over such a thing though since they think class is a time to text message with their friends.
    • pyromouse, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Thanks for the useless, unfounded generalization.
  • androothebear, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1yea, so what?

    ive had this at my school since cellphones have been around. it makes sense.
  • Kalibr, on 10/12/2007, -4/+2who cares what italy does.
  • malavalla, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1now where are they going to hide their drugs
  • Onebaseman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I knew Italy's government was slow, unstable, and ineffectual, but this puts it on an entirely different level.

    Oh well, I guess it's par for the course for a country that didn't legalize divorce until the 1970s. They're only about eight years behind on this one. It may in fact be a sign of progress.
  • toby34a, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2High school students should not have anything in class, besides calculators in math and science classes. You don't need a cell phone interrupting Mrs. Whatsits during the middle of her lecture on the pre-Revolution economy of France. iPods and all other electronics should be left in the locker, and set on silent mode. In my knowledge, high schoolers don't have the maturity to be able to restrain themselves from these devices. Leave that ***** to college, where nobody gives a ***** and if you ***** yourself over by texting your girl every 5 seconds, then so be it.
    • eihwaz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Guess what? Most of the schools here don't have lockers, so students have to bring everything with them in the classroom.
      And mobile phones will never be really banned from classrooms... when i was in high school it was already forbidden, but we simply had to leave them in silent mode, and if we received a call we simply asked to leave the classroom to go to the toilet.
      Now they're making it all "official" just because, with camera phones and sites like youtube, we can all see videos of what students have always done for ages: bossy guys being violent with other kids, boys touching girls, boys smoking marijuana during break, students copying during tests and so on. We've had these problems in every school since the beginning of time, banning camera-phones is just a stupid way to think: "OK i don't see any more video so it doesn't happen anymore and everything is good".
      The fact is that it doesn't solve the real problem at all, it's just that they're sick of showing school videos on national TV news. You know, it's not healthy for the "style" of the politics to show these things.
  • victorc26, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0This seems pretty normal, and fair.

    In some classes, you'll get thrown out for keeping your cell phone set to ring/blast music.

    In others, you'll get your cell phone smashed into little pieces. Haha.
  • gemadouble, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0In Singapore, this has been enforced a long time ago. Even if you activate silent mode or switch it off, the discipline master will do spot check and you're *****.



  • pyromouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I'm so glad to hear it. I personally see no problem with someone bringing a cell phone to class if you can't tell they have it (because it's off or silent). What drives me crazy are people who answer their phones. I've seen it in theaters, lectures and restaurants. I attended a high school play and some girl actually answered her phone and started talking in the middle of the performance (for a solid 5min). Then gave people attitude when they politely asked her to turn it off. People of this nature ought to be hung at dawn.
  • Niallgriff, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2First off who is calling highschool students during class?

    Shouldnt their friends also be in school?

    oh and having a ringtone on once you leave your house to go to a place of business or a school, yeah its ***** rude/
  • Eddible, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2As if this is down as news. While phones are not officially 'banned' by the UK Government, no school in the country will let you have your phone out in the middle of a lesson.
  • dkreifus, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Actually, alot of people would be surprised how many high schools in the US have NOT banned cell phones. Why? Because there has been an ongoing fear of a 'Columbine' style incident, and many parents scream that they want to be able to be in touch with their kids. And if the school says "leave a note with the office" (as they did 10-15 years ago), the parents freak out.

    I wholeheartedly agree that there should be a ban on cell phones. But right now, they "ban them in classrooms", but not after school or beforehand. Teachers are also afraid of taking cell phones away (especially un-tenured ones), due to again, parents screaming and flipping a *****.

    There is NO REASON, and I mean absolutely no reason for a 10 year old or a 14 year old needs a cell phone. Everyone they know is at home, or the classroom around them. If their parents need to get in touch with them so urgently that they have to disrupt school, go through the office. Obviously it's important enough. Telling your kid that you are making lasagna for dinner does not qualify as "learning interruption worthy".
  • protogenxl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1At least they are honest in italy. In Edison, New Jersey they use the lame "drug deal prevention" excuse.
  • RADED, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1OMG Italy not that oh wait they did this in the schools in my town 3 years ago same for cameras, i guess the school doesn't want the parents to know whats really going on.
  • surfergurl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Geez - what's so important you need a cell in class?
  • roberto_deneero, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This is a no brainer people. Why are we even commenting about whether or not this is a good thing? Children did just fine in school without mobiles phones when I was younger. Let's remember, mobile phones are a luxury, not a necessity.
  • farther, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Damn right. A rare display of common sense.
    • daridave, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1yes. indeed.

      now lemme chew my freakin' gum [ it helps me stay awake! ] .
  • s0nicfreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I know I'm going against popular opinion, but... If a student uses the phone responsibly, (keeps it muted during class, doesn't answer it during class, doesn't text message when they're suppose to be listening to the teacher or doing work, etc) I see no reason they should not be allowed to have their cell phone in class. They're in school, not jail. I see no reason they should not be allowed to text message and browse the web on their phones once they're finished with their work and/or when they're between classes (and often times the school does not allow or there is not enough time to go to your locker between classes) as long as they aren't interrupting anyone else.
    • webwidejosh, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1You have to learn this kind of responsbility somewhere. This is where you learn when and when not to use your phone, when and when not to answer a call, and when to keep your phone quiet. All we need is another generation that becomes and adult and uses their phone EVERYWHERE. You don't use a phone when you're talking to someone in the checkout line, you have a vibrating ring and answer a call after leaving a meeting, etc.
  • Hortos, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hes lucky he was in a car designed from the power, I've ridden in half a dozen civics pushing over 300hp at the crank, that's a scary experience. You're in a tin box that can't brake or handle well enough to keep up with itself. As for power I have a turbocharged BMW and as much fun as it was stock with the added power its ridiculous, even accelerating in a perfectly straight line in the dry running over a piece of paper or any other object wide enough for the entire tire to go over it will upset the the car. Power is dangerous but so are stupid people. Knowing alot of people that would be considered "street racers" its funny how people always make the comments like you're going to die. But nobody talks about the soccer mom going 90 in a SUV who hasn't ever had to deal with emergency driving. Or the jackass who thinks he can weave through traffic in his 1990 Accord.
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