Text Messaging In Schools Finding 'Legit' Uses
Written on Thursday, October 16, 2008
I was reading this article on Mobile Marketing Watch, and it got me thinking. The gist is that they're thinking of running a program called 'Text a Cop' which will allow students in schools to text cops directly and 'anonymously' (I won't even go there), to
report suspicious incidents or other possible crimes.
In theory this sounds great, but do bear with me and follow my thinking.
At the moment, mobile phones are banned in the school(s) in question. I have no doubt whatsoever, that teenagers still go to great lengths to bring and use their mobile phones, while in school. From where we stand today, it seems certain that, as the years go by, this will only get worse. The mobile is an integral (and from my opinion sometimes quite inseparable) part of their everyday lives. So, the school has a difficult problem to solve.
The program, (well, to me anyway) just seems like an attempt to get over all of that. Not that that is wrong necessarily, but just a very good idea to bypass this difficult problem.
Otherwise, if mobile phones stay banned and children are only allowed to use them to contact cops, then any single kid seen in school texting, will automatically be seen as a snitch. I am guessing however that the rules will be even more relaxed, allowing for more general use of the mobile phone in school, which in turn just might actually give the program itself the ability to work properly.
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