DeMatha plans to institute a new cell phone policy which states that a student must place his smartphone in a classroom’s pouch before class. Previously, DeMatha’s phone policy banned the use of phones on the school campus at any point in the day, except during interim, in the cafeteria and outside of the buildings. This recent change caused legitimate controversy among the student body, having good reason to express their dismay.

First and foremost, this new rule completely undermines and contradicts DeMatha’s code of faith-filled gentlemen and scholars. If this restriction is added to the DeMatha handbook, there is no way to actually allow for the respectable qualities of honor and trust. The restraint and self-control of a DeMatha student with respect to cell-phones becomes obsolete when strict limitations restrict and micromanage every ounce of freedom and free-will. DeMatha is not North Korea!

Also, it does not make much sense to establish this rule based on the few students (out of hundreds) who cannot control themselves during class and subsequently use their phones during class. Those specific students can receive separate consequences, but to establish this rule, which has its negative side too, for the entire student body seems out of control.

Now, if DeMatha continues with this ridiculous rule, it will cause backlash. Parents and students against the silly rule will complain. The opposition may say, ‘Well, why don’t you just leave your phone at home?’ to which the response would be that technology, including smartphones, has become a fundamental tool in the improvement of education. Also, the basic purpose of a phone is to communicate with others, including parents or guardians.

After class is over, students would pick up their phones. The problem is that it is very common for students to forget to collect them at the end of class. In many cases such as in an event of a test or an exam, students are asked to leave their phones on the teachers’ desks, but naturally forget their phones in many instances. The same can happen with this absurd rule! Moreover, students may come late to their next class because of the time waiting to collect their phones from the pouch among all of their classmates from the previous block period.

Undoubtedly, the biggest issue with this new rule is that it wastes too much class time. The basis for a school is for education, and with the proper DeMatha instruction, sufficient time is necessary. Although to turn in and retrieve phones in the beginning and end of class may seem like such a small, negligible, and insignificant amount of time, those minutes accumulate into substantial class time by the end of the year. After all, DeMatha is a school that is meant to teach faith-filled gentlemen and scholars, not radically police its students!