2019

English For Critical Academic Writing(ELC501)

Pair Assignment (Group NBM2B)

ARTICLE REVIEW:
Article 1: Should mobile phones be banned from schools?

PREPARED BY:
HARIZ SYAZALI BIN HAMIS 2019997533 BA246
AHMAD ZAHAR HAZIM BIN AHMAD PAUZI 2018414692 BA240

PREPARED FOR:
GOPIGHANTAN A/L MYLVAGANAM
Should mobile phones be banned from schools?
1. "You'll have someone's eye out with that" used to be the refrain of teachers in my day. In
malevolent hands, a pencil, a rubber, even a piece of paper could become a lethal weapon in
class, and that's before we got on to compasses and Bunsen burners.

2. A mobile is the same: a potentially potent tool for learning but strangely feared in a school
pupil's hand, where it is assumed to wreak havoc with concentration, unleash cyber bullying
and surreptitiously video up teachers' skirts.

3. But isn't it also madness when schools that cannot afford modern IT facilities ignore the
powerful computers in every pupils' pocket?

4. I was amazed when I visited my old school recently: having remarked how sorry I felt for
teachers in the mobile era, several teachers immediately declared how useful they were in
class. There's even an acronym for it: BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device. As one teacher has
argued in the Guardian, this is the future: students using their trusted devices rather than a
machine they leave in school at the end of each day.

5. Jo Debens, a geography teacher at Priory School, Portsmouth, a comprehensive with a mixed

intake, was dashing out to take 30 pupils orienteering when we spoke: her students were
testing whether it was easier to use an OS map or a mobile phone's mapping services.

6. Earlier this year, the school drew up a "mobile device policy" in consultation with students.
Mobile phones are allowed in school and used in class at the teacher's discretion, with a
clear system of sanctions applied for misuse. Since the policy was introduced, only 1.4% of
negative behavioural incidents have been connected with mobiles.

7. Pupils record homework tasks on their phone's calendar (why do they forget homework
diaries but never their textbooks?) and in Debens's geography classes they use the camera
function to record things and report back to class. They also use mobile internet for
independent research.

8. "We're always being told as teachers that we should give pupils differentiated learning and
personalise it. Now they can," says Debens of using mobiles. "Like anything, it's only useful in
the hands of the user. They are not the be-all and end-all. We would have death by
Wikipedia if all people were doing was cutting and pasting from them."

9. "I was very anti phones," admits Nasim Jahangir, a business and economics teacher at
Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth I College, Leicester. Several years ago, however, she
incorporated smartphones into lessons as she "learned to teach in a different way" – with an
emphasis on independent study. She admits it is probably easier to ensure his A-level classes
use phones constructively but she thinks it has improved behaviour. "The whole atmosphere
in the class has changed," she says, becoming less adversarial, with students policing
themselves over inappropriate phone use.

10. What about pupils who cannot afford a smartphone? And what about children running up
big bills doing school work on their phones? Jahangir ensures his tweeting and mobile
phone work is accessible to all on the school's intranet. Debens says her school provides Wi-
Fi and portable dongles with Wi-Fi so pupils are not paying for their own study. "We have
people who come to school without a coat or without having had any breakfast," she says,
"but they always have a phone." Patrick Barkham
11. Mobiles are the curse of the modern age – in restaurants, on trains and, most of all, in
schools. Pupils are texting when they should be working; they use social networking sites to
bully fellow pupils; and they post pictures of their teachers on YouTube. Ian Fenn, head of
Burnage Media Arts College in Manchester, had had enough. "Mobiles rather crept up on
education and in our experience it was a nightmare," he says. Fenn has banned pupils from
making calls or sending texts on school premises and, according to the Daily Mail, the results
in terms of improved behaviour and reduced cyberbullying have been dramatic.

12. Mobiles in schools is one of many issues over which the Mail obsesses, but that doesn't
mean a ban is wrong. Indeed, in May an online poll in the Guardianproduced a three-to-one
vote in favour of a ban. The poll was prompted by a statement by Sir Michael Wilshaw, the
new chief inspector of schools and head of Ofsted, that mobiles in schools were disruptive.
When he was head of Mossbourne Academy in Hackney, east London, he banned them and
said the decision produced immediate benefits.

13. Ofsted has supported Fenn's decision, but it admits, despite Wilshaw's views, it has no
powers itself to impose a ban. "The issue is for schools to manage," says a spokeswoman.
There is, in effect, a policy vacuum, with each school being left to decide best practice.

14. "We introduced a complete ban on mobile phones two years ago because of the disruption
they were causing," says a spokeswoman for Cockshut Hill Technology College in Yardley,
east Birmingham, "and it has improved behaviour. If pupils want to bring them in because of
parents' fears for their safety getting to and from school, we provide lockers where they can
be kept. But if we see them in school, we confiscate them. If they're confiscated three times,
parents have to come and sign for them." The legality of similar schemes elsewhere has
been challenged, but the spokeswoman insists parents and pupils have accepted the policy
and that it has produced a much better learning environment.

15. Teachers union the NASUWT supports a classroom ban. In a recent survey, 46% of
its members identified mobiles as a cause of disruption and indiscipline, and the
union is particularly worried by pupils taking photographs in lessons and posting
material on YouTube and social networking sites. NASUWT general secretary Chris
Keates has said such material causes teachers "untold distress and trauma".

16. A recent report by the Scottish government concluded that mobiles were a "frequent and
distracting influence", with cyberbullying especially prevalent. "Mobile phones in the
classroom can be disruptive," says a spokesman for teachers’ union the Educational Institute
of Scotland (EIS), "and their use should be the subject of an explicit school policy. While we
understand parents might want their children to have mobiles with them because of
concerns about safety, we don't see any reason for them to be in classrooms. An outright
ban is very difficult and wouldn't gain parental support, but they need to be turned off
during teaching time."

17. The EIS says that sometimes the rules are fuzzy, which is where arguments over confiscation
occur. But the spokesman adds that the rash of "happy slapping" incidents a couple of years
ago forced local authorities to confront the issue, and gradually a consensus is emerging.
That consensus is that classrooms are for teaching not texting, and if the rules are clear
parents will accept temporary confiscation. Stephen Moss

Source:
http://www.theguardian.com/education/2012/nov/27/should-mobiles-be-banned schools
 A Critical Analysis of the Given Article
Based of the article “Should mobile phones be banned from schools?” written by Stephan Moss, he
explicitly tried to work out the rational for students to bring their phone to school as the main issue.
The author kept an indifferent tone almost throughout the article. He tried to make the article as
objective as possible without his personal opinions or emotions into the mix.

In early paragraph, it is clear that the main idea is how potent mobile phone is as tool of learning.
The author also implied throughout, while it is useful, it comes with disadvantages that can be
addressed through multiple means.

From the overall article, the author appears to be deductive in his reasoning. He earlier mentioned
how potent mobile phone is as tool of learning. Then he provides supporting claims such as:
 Using the phone’s mapping service during orienteering activities.
 Substitution for IT facilities in school, as stand-in computer.
 Note-taking tool.
 Reminder and calendar function.
 For in-class independent research.
 Communication tools for parents with their children.

He also reasoned deductively on how it can be a lethal weapon. Later in his article did he mentioned
the negative uses of mobile phone, as follows:
 Cyber-bullying.
 Video-up teachers’ skirts
 Texting and disrupting class.
 Posting teaching lesson and material into social media

Going by the trend, it can be seen the author try to answer the question of whether mobile phones
should be allowed in school by laying out two sides of opposing arguments; the advantages and
disadvantages aforementioned.

However, by the aspect of credibility within the supporting details from the arguments of benefits
and disadvantages of bringing mobiles to schools leave much to be desired. The authors try to
support the benefits of mobile phone in schools with several experiences from the educators. This
lead to more questions, since the experience they have is subjected only to their personal
judgements. The author had forgone the most important measurement for a quality learning: Does
the phone produce students with better results in exam? Or does the school’s ranking have any
changes?

The author probably biased towards supporting the use of mobile phone in schools. This can be
deduced by the lack of supporting points in regards of disadvantages of bringing mobile phones to
schools. In paragraph (2), the author explicitly “assumed” it to be major cause of crime mentioned,
which it could be a hearsay, or isolated case that happened. While he did give survey statistics that
mobiles are part of disruption and indiscipline, he didn’t mention how prevalent it is in regards of
cyber-bullying and illegally uploading lesson and teacher materials to social media. Seemingly, he
tried not to highlight the severeness of the harmful effect of mobile phones in schools.
The author loses the consistency to uphold the main issue by changing the objective of the two-
sided argument by trying to introduce solutions such as renewing rules and policy as measure to
solve some disadvantages of bringing phone to school.

The article’s title gave the impression that the focus of the article will be solely discussing fair views
of both sides, it isn’t. It can be seen from several lines, the author already has adopted a premise
that mobile phone is inseparable from the students in the future. For example, “this is the future”,
“curse of modern age” and “teachers in mobile era”, are the lines which make it is outright illogical
to reject the use of it in school. No counter-claim made by the author that mobile phone wouldn’t be
part of the future. Thus, this premise act as bias that led the author stray from objectivity of the title
to find out whether mobile phone should be banned or not. The author’s purpose later changed to
focused on how disadvantages of having mobile phone in class or school can be solve or deal with.

Hence, it failed to deliver the conclusion or closure of the issue, that is to find the clear-cut between
allowing, or banning the mobile phones.

From the banter of views and the myriads of laid out solutions, this article expected readers are the
parents, educators, students and policymakers because there is a lot of aspects involves their
decision, benefits and disadvantages.

In summary, while the author’s tried to give contrasting viewpoints, both sides share a common
ground with each other. That is, by limiting or revising the school policy and improving teachers’
method of teaching, the phone can be use at school. His last point stated that classroom is not for
texting, can be another way of saying phone can be use part of learning, just not for texting.
Confiscation can be method to control misbehaved actions in class or school due to phone. Overall,
it can be inferred that the author’s purpose was to harmonize the two views from the start.

(800 words)