Cell phone parking: If you haven’t heard of it, consider yourself lucky. However, for those of you who know what it is, I’m sure you’re just as confused about why it exists as I am. A handful of teachers use this method of putting your cell phone in a box or slot to take it away from being a distraction. Some even offer extra credit. But let’s be real here, there are several flaws in this system.

Now I understand that phones can be a major distraction sometimes. I can testify that I have spent way too much time on my phone when I should’ve been doing something productive, but I wouldn’t say the distraction goes as far as needing to park it while in class. In fact, majority of students don’t even use their phones during class.

Cell Phones are a very useful resource, especially when the Tahoma wifi is down (which we all know happens very often). Cell phones take a lot less time to load information than the chrome books or dell computers do. Talk about efficiency. When you need access to quick information, such as translating a word in a foreign language class or looking up a question that a teacher cannot answer, a cell phone is the easiest and most high-speed method. However, if a cell phone is parked, then accessing this information takes a lot longer.

Another flaw in this parking system is the inconsideration of the amount of students who don’t have cell phones. Personally, I have teachers who offer extra credit for parking cell phones. How do students without cell phones receive extra credit if they have nothing to park? It just doesn’t seem very fair to me. Maybe there is a way that teachers have been able to account for the students who don’t have cell phones, but how would they know if a student is truly being honest about not having a phone?

If a teacher sees a cell phone out in class, there’s a simple solution: take it. There’s no reason for a whole class to have to put their cell phones in a bin or slot because in reality, most students leave it in their backpacks anyways. Overall, I see no logical point in cell phone parking, but for now I guess we all have to suffer together.